What’s Cooking Blog

Jump to Comments

…Continued from episode 1

To recap…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.

Each day breakfast is accompanied by a variety of fruits, the majority of which are familiar. Chef Esteban, however, also includes some that are typical to this region (and completely foreign to us.) The purple and white fleshed Caimito, or Star Apple, is one such fruit. It is native to the tropics and can easily be found during the dry season (December to April). When the fruit is cut in half, the pulp and seeds form a star-like pattern, from which it’s English name derives. The best way to consume this fruit is to cut it in half with a knife, and scoop out the flesh with a spoon. The fruit near the rind and the seeds both contain latex, which sticks to the lips. While the flavor was mild and slightly sweet, it was difficult to get past the slimy consistency that reminded me of raw oysters. I gave this fruit a 1.

The Pitaya or Strawberry Pear comes from a cactus native to the American Tropics. The pulp can be either bright red or white, and is flecked with black seeds that are slightly larger than sesame seeds. My whole family compared this fruit, both in texture and flavor to the kiwi. Our kids were not thrilled with the abundance or texture of the seeds, which I found offered a pleasant crunch and texture contrast to the soft fruit. When we tasted the Pitaya on a subsequent day, we found it to have a flavor similar to a honeydew melon that was less than ideal. We gave the Pitaya a 2.

Tune in soon for more…