Sapodilla. A fruit which can be round or oval. Its thin skin is slightly rough and the flesh is dull, beige to terra cotta in colour and slightly granular with flat black seeds. Peel the skin away to reveal the apricot-coloured, honey-flavoured flesh. If it is eaten slightly under-ripe it may leave a residue of gum in the mouth. This can be dispelled by eating something fatty or wiping the lips with butter. One variety provides the gum for chewing gum. In Thailand they are in season from September to December.
Longan. This fruit is a relative of the lychee and the rambutan and, like them, has succulent and refreshing. They should be squeezed beteen thumb and forefinger and the pulp will emerge from the dull, beige skin. They are grown in northern Thailand, around Chiang Mai, and are in season from June until August.
The lang-sard is a Thai fruit which is succulent, with a slightly tart flavour. The beige, dull-skinned fruits cluster almost like grapes. When the thin skin is broken the translucent, juicy flesh is revealed. This falls into five segments It it has seeds they should not be eaten. The flesh is usually eaten raw. In Thailand they are in season from July to October.
Lang-sard. A Thai fruit which is succulent, with a slightly tart flavour. The beige, dull-skinned fruits cluster almost like grapes. When the thin skin is broken the translucent, juicy flesh is revealed. This falls into five segments It it has seeds they should not be eaten. The flesh is usually eaten raw.
Papaya. There is great discussion about the difference between papaya and paw paw or papaw. Essentially, they are all the same thing. It just depends where you are. The size of a large avocado, it has soft-textured, fragrant, apricot-coloured flesh with small black seeds which must be stripped out. It is a great breakfast fruit. It should be cut lengthways as this facilitates the removal of the seeds. If you have an unripe papaya which you wish to ripen overnight, pierce it with a sharp knife several times. In Thailand it is available for most of the year but is at its best in the hot season from March to June. It is often shredded before it ripens, mixed with lemon juice, chillis, peanuts and dried shrimp to create som tam, a spicy salad.
