Rambutan. Related to the lychee with similar slippery, juicy white flesh around a black stone. It has stiff skin covered with hard, but not sharp red and yellow spikes, all of which is easy to remove. In Thailand they are in season from May to September. It is said that seeds in the wild only germinate when they have passed through a monkey's gut.
Custard apple. Sitaphal. A tropical fruit which comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. When buying choose very soft fruits indeed. The skin of all of them is green or purplish-green and scaly, almost fir-cone patterned, in appearance. Inside, the flesh is creamy in colour and consistency, but has to be sucked from the shiny black seeds. The flesh has a sweet-sour flavour, sometimes slightly custardy and larger ones have the luscious and complex taste of banana, mango and vanilla. They are often made into fritters, or sliced and steeped in wine. The custard apples include cherimoyas, sweet sops, sour sops and atemoyas. In Thailand it is in season from June to September.
Rice noodles stir-fried with egg, beansprouts, spring onions (US: scallions, salad onions) and meats.
Long coriander. Stinkweed. A herb widely used in seasoning and marinating in the Caribbean. It is also used extensively in Thailand, India, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia as a culinary herb. This variety of coriander dries well, retaining good color and flavor, making it valuable in the dried herb industry. It is sometimes used as a substitute for cilantro, but it has a much stronger taste. This name sometimes leads to confusion with coriander.
