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On our family adventure with Special Expeditions, we journeyed through the Panama Canal and to Costa Rica on a 60 passenger cruise ship, staffed by naturalists. Inspired by a friend from the blogosphere, who has been engaged in a culinary vegetable challenge with her children, we decided to have a series of taste tests with the plethora of tropical fruits on our voyage. We decided to score fruits on a scale of 0-3, with 3 being the best and 0 the worst. Amelia wanted to begin the ranking with fruits from home that she could immediately score. She quickly and easily gave a score of 3 to some of her favorites: kiwi, strawberry, banana, grape, apple and pear. She was unsure about any fruits that would earn a “1″, but said that if beets were a fruit, this was the score she would give them.

Salad, on the first night, was garnished with what looked like small yellow cherry tomatoes. However, when I took my first bite, I was surprised to find that this had a very different flavor and consistency than what I expected. The menu identified this fruit as a Uchuba or the Bolsa de Amor, which translates to a “bag of love,” which describes the delicate paperlike capsule that covers the fruit when it grows. It is also known as a Cape Gooseberry or Goldenberry, and is native to Peru and Chile. Its flavor was tart and its consistency was firm - a delightful addition to the salad and a nice change from the tomato accompaniment that we are used to in the United States. Most of the people in our family gave the Uchuba a score of 2.

Tune in soon for more fun fruit reviews and photos…

(photo of the Cape Gooseberry is from fotosearch.com)