Memories of my childhood bloom every day in my mind. Longings that come from yesterday, to dedicate this publication to all the friends who visit this blog. Today I want to talk to you about the wild fruits that evoke walks through my past; as a child I knew and tasted many of those fruits that we find in the bush, such as the guamache, the maya, the corozo and others that I knew today and not exactly in the bush or in the countryside, such as the neem, the foreign uvero or pesgua.
When I was just a little girl, the oldest of my cousins lived at my paternal grandmother's house, and he loved to go to the bush to look for maya and corozo. We would take the almonds out of the corozo and with the maya my aunt would make mazamorra. This was at my father's mother's house.
On the other hand, my maternal grandmother lived in the countryside; she had a conuco in the bush and along the way there were several wild fruits that were totally unknown to me. On that road I ate semeruco, guamache, pichigüey, and other fruits.
Well, I will mention several of these wild fruits that, it is possible that in other places, have a different name and for that reason I have not found much information about it, nor many photos. However, the intention is to offer you some content that I keep in my mind to share with you. Some of these fruits are hardly available today; in this case I had to resort to the web.
I recently found this fruit in Margarita, Nueva Esparta Venezuela. It is a leafy and wild tree. I could not find the species to which it belongs but I am almost sure that by its appearance, flavor and shape it is related to the jobito (spondia mombin). Although the flavor is a little different, it has a sweet semi-acidic flavor, a little cloying that I did not like very much. The fruit is yellow, quite similar to the jobito, but the seed is pear-shaped and hard.
The foreign pesgua is native to India but is also cultivated in Venezuela. Its fruits are purple in color, acidic in taste, and somewhat astringent. It is called grape for its organization in small segments and for its purple color, although when they are not ripe they go through a process of green and red coloring until the color that characterizes it. These grapes are used to make juices and wine.
The corozo is a fruit like a miniature coconut that to extract the almond, I remember that we used to hit the fruit with a blunt object. My cousin always brought a big bunch whenever he went up the mountain. The corzo palm is thorny; so I have no idea how my cousin used to get the bunches down.
Reading about this fruit I found that there are several edible species and that one of these families is used to prepare the liquor called Ron de Píritu which is made by macerating the fruit in liquor; I remembered that an uncle used to prepare this drink, which you had to be careful of because it produced a good rasca. The fruit for this drink is small and red in color.
The fruit of this prickly cactus is very intense fuchsia or pink in color with abundant black seeds. It is a little slimy or sticky in texture but has a pleasant flavor. The cactus is round, not tall and before flowering, it forms a small bed of white fluff for the flowers and later for the fruits. It is also called melon de cerro. I used to eat these fruits when I went with my grandmother to her conuco; she used the tip of her machete to pick them.
It is a tree-like cactus. Until now I know that it is not a tree because I remember it as a medium sized tree, my grandmother would reach for the fruits and if they were too high she would pull them down with a stick. The fruit is small and round with leaves around it, green and yellow in color, and with small seeds.
I have never seen this plant but I did get to taste the fruit but it is a long time ago. It is a large and elongated fruit of red color and a very peculiar sweet flavor. It can be eaten naturally and sweet. It is said that the plant is a vine but it can climb very high; it is also known by the name of calabaza de olor.
The tigüi tigüi fruit is also known as maracuyá silvestre or parcha silvestre, it is a kind of climbing vine with edible fruit that owes its name to its resemblance to the parchita. This small fruit, I know it from my childhood, is round, covered by a kind of vegetable mesh; it is yellow and very fragile, with a sweet flavor and black seeds similar to passion fruit.
This species is native to Venezuela, pineapple family. The maya is a tropical, wild plant that requires little care for its development and the fruit is used in the elaboration of sweets, mazamorras and infusions. Its pulp is juicy and sweet and sour and has many seeds. When eating it, be careful because it peels the lips, my aunt said it was because of the shell. It has an intense yellow color, with orange tones. It is very tasty.
I got to know this fruit recently, just this year (2021), I was given several as lemons. It has a tangerine flavor, the least it tastes is lemon. The juice is very refreshing. It is a small, juicy fruit. It seems to be a hybrid between lemon and tangerine.
So far this information that I hope is important for everyone and allows you to know a little of our wild fruits of which we do not have much knowledge. If you know them, what name do they receive in your locality?
References of the images
The photos of the fruits of paují, pesgua and mandarin lemon are my own, taken with a telephone Redmi 9.
I am familiar with citrus lemon as it is widely available. And also the tigui tigui, when I was a kid we usually searched that wild fruit in the bushes.sadly I forgot what was the local name.
I am familiar with citrus lemon as it is widely available. And also the tigui tigui, when I was a kid we usually searched that wild fruit in the bushes.sadly I forgot what was the local name.