Gastroculture

I was talking on the phone yesterday and one of the wonderful faculty maintenance/cleaning staff walked up to me, said hello and handed me 3 "things" that I didn't recognize. She is one of the most sweet ladies in the world and we have exchanged cordial conversation over the time I've been here. For some reason on this night, she decided I needed the gift of food? Yes, it was food. She explained, after I put my phone conversation on hold, that this was a walnut. But I know walnuts and this was no walnut. In her typically broken, Dutch-Island English, she explained that it was a fruit and that the insides could be eaten. She told me she just picked them and they were ripe and ready to eat. I asked what you could eat and she said "inside". I thanked her very much and went back to my phone call. As I did, I studied the "fruit" intensely. That's a cashew!! 

Now, I don't usually do this, but this morning, I carved up the fruit and put it in my oatmeal and ate it. What don't I usually do? I don't usually put an item in my mouth that I know nothing about on the word of another person. I got 1/2 way thru the bowl before I got on Google. Whew! You actually can eat this thing.

It tastes pretty good, but I can see that a juice or by itself, you may need to sweeten it. It tastes a little like star fruit and is often called the "star apple". And yes, you actually can make a cashew like nut from the top seed.   Officially it is the Spanish jocote de marañón, probably from Guatemala originally, and the seed at the top is the official fruit of the red pod.

But is some ways I felt the intrepid traveler and discoverer, eating something for the very first time. Can you imagine the person that first ate anything from the forest? Besides food sources, toxic poisons and medicines with profound effects were also discovered this way. I can happily say that after about an hour, I'm still breathing and have no signs of GI disturbance, but it is early. If this is my last day on earth, it's been fun!