Fruit ninja

Driving through Champs Fleurs early one morning I saw a young lady selling small parcels of fruit, expertly weaving her way through the traffic. The small clear plastic bag contained 1 banana, 1 pear, 1 apple and a peeled orange. That’s breakfast to many Trinis, more so just before carnival. Less and less costume fabric means more and more dieting, running around the Queen's Park savannah for assured carbon monoxide poisoning and grumpiness borne out of hunger - “The Hangry Trini".

The Ministry of Food Production has a lovely poster highlighting some 84 fruits grown in Trinidad, in addition to some of the less well-known more exotic ones. See link below:-

http://www.agriculture.gov.tt/images/tips/Fruits%20grown%20in%20Trinidad%20and%20Tobago.pdf

The younger generation and the more urbanized among us are less familiar with these exotic fruits. This is a shame as these fruits sustained many during times of little. In the country-side, sucking on a borrowed do-dos mango while meandering to school was common back in the day.

Fruit stalls can be found on most corners and by fruit stall, I mean from 4 red bricks upon and a piece of plywood situated on the pavement with the proprietor sitting on a pig tail bucket, to grand establishments along the roadside. I particularly appreciate the neat stacks of pomerac in 3s, mango in 3s, Portugal in 3s, oranges in 3s… 

Slight prompting of how sweet the pawpaw is was required here

Fruit is consumed either as the main meal or as dessert or as a healthy snack during the course of a long workday. One small tip: don’t get into a taxi and start eating portugal unless you want to be cussed out for “smelling up” the car.

Grapefruit, sapodilla, pineapple, bananas, balata, caimite, tipee tamboo, tamarind

Remember the NAR reign in the 80s? The National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) was the governing party in Trinidad and Tobago between 1986 and 1991. Christmas without apples and grapes, but we survived it. Now, these and other foreign fruits abound year-round thanks to an astronomically high food import bill. But I digress…

Peewah

Tableland for aromatic pineapples…Manzanilla for the sweetest watermelon. And mango? The National Mango Festival began in 2009 by the Network of Rural Women Producers, Trinidad and Tobago (NRWPTT). NRWPTT was formed in 1995 and is a national umbrella organization comprising a membership of over 60 small businesses and individuals. The network is committed to membership in the Network of Non-Governmental Organizations for the Advancement of Women, (with UN ECOSOC Status) Associated Country Women of the World (ACWW) (with ECOSOC UN Status).

The Tableland Pineapple Farmers’ Association also hosts an annual National Fruit Festival in partnership with iTHINK Global Consulting Services.

People are very much into juicing and superfruits now. I think there are hidden treasures in the exotic fruits grown in Trinidad. I mean look at current status of the once humble acai berry, Euterpe oleracea, which is mostly native to Brazil, Trinidad and other parts of Northern regions of South America. It is the superstar of anti-oxidants!

Acai palm with berries

Although fruits in Trinidad are used to make jellies, jams, preserves, chutneys, chow, punches etc. they are eaten and enjoyed in the natural state, juices running down your arm and splashing you in your eye.