It’s the end of winter here where I live, and with the help of kiwifruits (among other things!) I’ve managed to keep my mood lifted.
This got me thinking about what my five favourite fruits would be, and I’d like to share that with you for a bit of fun this week (because it’s been a bit of a week) and hopefully hear about your favourite fruits.
Some of these are debatable whether they are true fruits or not (and I wouldn’t be surprised if I got at least one smart-ass comment), but I’m a fan of keeping things simple and I’m a curious layperson not a serious scientist.
So here we go, from five to one, these are my five favourite fruits (at the moment and subject to change).
5) Strawberries
These little berries are a summer favourite of mine. I managed to grow some last season and they always seem to be smaller but sweeter than the store bought ones.
I freeze them for smoothies, I cut fresh ones up in pieces to put in my breakfast of overnight oats, or I just eat them whole.
Some people eat them with the green stalk bit. I personally don’t.
One of my favourite ways to eat strawberries is cut up in a nice bowl of So Good Vanilla Bliss Ice-cream, which I’m absolutely thrilled to bits to say is back in stores in Australia after a long hiatus due to factory flooding. It is actually so good.
4) Bananas
These are a staple of mine and I eat one nearly every day. There was a campaign a while ago in Australia about bananas making your body sing. I’m not sure that they make my body sing, but they do me a lot of good.
I prefer bananas slightly green. When they get brown spots it’s time to make banana bread/cake, or I cut them up to be frozen for a later smoothie or in cooking. Bananas can have a strong smell and taste when put in smoothies and with other fruits in a salad. I usually just eat them as they are – peeled and whole on their own.
3) Mangoes
I didn’t eat a mango for a long time because a) I didn’t think I liked them (having never tried them that I can remember) and b) I didn’t know how in heck to cut the damn thing.
To cut a mango, there are a few ways (if you’d like demonstrations, let me know and in summer when they’re in season and available I can put a tutorial video up on my YouTube channel, which is quite empty at the minute).
I cut it most often the way I saw it demonstrated in a film adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Poirot, “The Theft of the Royal Ruby,” Season 3 Episode 9 (which I can’t add a good video of in this post but if you type this into a search engine along with “mango cutting scene,” you should be able to find it…).
Here’s the gist of it: Cut it sort of like an avocado with a knife to make an incision all the way around the outside. Then you stick a large-ish spoon in through the cut and wiggle it around until you get one half separated from the seed, and then wiggle it again to get the seed out of the other half. You should then have two halves, and I just eat these by scooping out the mango bit with a spoon. With those detailed instructions you should have no problems…
After perusing YouTube, there are so many videos out there; if you’re unsure of all the methods and which you’d like to try, have a look.
I only in recent years got the hang of the criss-crossy thing you can do, where you cut it in sections and then pop the thing out to eat it in chunks without the aid of a spoon. I still like to just scoop the flesh out with a spoon though and enjoy it on its own.
2) Dragon fruits
As far as I know, dragon fruits come in two types: red/pink and white. I personally prefer the vibrant look of the red ones (pictured above), but much prefer the taste of the white ones which are less sweet and milder (it’s hard to describe and you’ll just have to taste them yourself).
The way I eat a dragon fruit is just on its own. I cut it through the middle so I have two halves (sometimes when you get them in store you don’t know which type you have unless they specify because the skin is always the same pink, so it can be a bit of a surprise) and then scoop out the seedy flesh with a spoon and eat it as is.
You can also cut it in half lengthwise, from top to bottom.
The inner seedy flesh can be cut up into chunks and added to a salad, but I just like to enjoy it on its own.
Dragon fruits have a really nice taste and texture, with the little seeds giving it a nice crunch and very slightly nutty flavour.
1) Zespri SunGold Kiwifruits
My absolute favourite fruit of all time. Not just any kiwifruit, specifically the Zespri SunGold Kiwifruit.
I’d like to point out here that this isn’t sponsored, I just really like these kiwifruits (and I’m just going to remind you that my email is [email protected] for no particular reason).
I’m not a fan of regular green kiwifruits with their furry skins. Trying the SunGold kiwifruits with smooth outer skin and sweet juicy inside changed my mind about kiwifruits in general.
I personally don’t eat the skin and just prefer to eat the inside fleshy bit with a spoon after cutting it in halves like I did with the dragon fruit, but I know that some people eat the skin (understandable with the SunGold ones, but with those furry green ones just thinking about it makes me gag a bit).
I promise I was a big fan of these kiwifruits before the dancing ones on the Zespri ad (whoever came up with the marketing and advertising for that needs an award or a raise or something and trust me you’ll thank me later when you get this stuck in your head), but it didn’t hurt. They do deliver on their promise: they are crazy tasty and do lift my mood.
There are also red kiwifruits, which are on my list of fruits to try (I don’t actually have a physical list, it’s more of a mental list).
Do yourself a favour (if you’re not allergic to them obviously – I know two people who are allergic to kiwifruits) and go out and find a Zespri SunGold Kiwifruit while they’re still sort of in season.
Final Thoughts
It was difficult to pick my top five, and honourable mentions would go to pears, pink lady apples, lemons, and avocados.
What are your favourite fruits, why are they your favourites, and how do you best enjoy them?
Let me know in the comments below, or email me directly at [email protected].
Love,
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