When traveling I like to get the local experience as much as possible. I also really love to try different fruits and foods that aren't available in a typical back home grocery store. That said, the farmers market today was a real treat. Some lady told us to be there by 11:45 even though it opened at noon. I walked up to a crowed of people standing in front of a line of orange cones separating the crowd from a road leading to an unseen land of goods. It resembled the beginning of a race only a very slow-paced courteous one. A man with a big straw hat and a very long gray beard was making announcements. He urged us to make sure and ask about the food, where it was grown, and who grew it so that we could have a connection with it. (After all, this is Hawaii). He had all of the elderly, disabled, and pregnant persons go first so that they could situate themselves and be included in the purchasing. After they had disappeared up the road, he let the rest of us follow to a small area with tables and car trunks and lots of fruit and flowers. We weren't allowed to buy though until the sound of the whistle(didn't I tell you it felt like a race?)Below are my findings:
The Lychee (Lie-chee) fruit has the same texture of a grape once you peel off its' skin but is a lot sweeter and has one big pit in the middle. It looks a little creepy peeled, kinda like an eyeball or something.
These are called Apple Bananas. They taste like regular bananas.
The far right fruits are called Mountain Apples. They may be competing with some Utah company but these are the Hawaiian sibling. I haven't tried them yet.
These last ones were my greatest find. The lady calls them "Wing Beans". She got the seeds from some many from Uruguay. How he got the seeds from Uruguay and through Hawaii customs I don't know. They are bitter and have pea-like seeds in them. they are really rare around here. She may be the only lady who has a Wing Bean plant on the Island. It was a fun day at the market.
i love lychee! so jealous!
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