It was the perfect day to search for local strawberries. But with no time to pick my own today, I called Farm and Flower Market, 15 Webster St., and was told that they did, indeed, have fresh local strawberries from Hollis.
I scored two large containers for $6.99 each, and felt satisfied with my hunt – until I saw what looked like containers of alien strawberries – odd little spiky fruits nestled between the more familiar berries. A clerk explained that the mystery fruit was actually called rambutan, which eats like a lychee. You have to peel the spiky shell which reveals a grape-like inner fruit with a small pit.
“Takes like a pear,” she told me.
I couldn’t resist. So for $3.99 I got a small container of rambutan, which you can see is an odd fruit that looks like a nightmarish strawberry from planet Yikes.
According to Google, it’s native to South East Asia.
My impression: Easy to peel, and tastes like a tough, sweet grape. The pit inside the one I
sampled was broken, and was a little hard to peel from the fruit, but I think kids will especially enjoy this multi-process tasting experience.
Check them out for yourself!
