Hungry jackfruit. (Photo from the Internet)
When I came home from work, I just pushed open the door and smelled a faint smell of honey. Experience has taught me that there are mature wooden pineapples at home, and you can eat jackfruit again.
Wood pineapple is also known as jackfruit, tree pineapple, large tree pineapple. According to records, during the Sui and Tang dynasties, the wooden pineapple was introduced to China from India and was called "Pinnazi", which was renamed jackfruit after the Song Dynasty.
In Zhanjiang, wooden pineapple is not unfamiliar, in the courtyard, in the park, next to the street... Everywhere. Wood pineapple, originally grown in India, prefers heat to cold. The climate is warm, the sun is abundant, the soil layer is deep, loose and fertile, and the drainage is a good place for its cultivation. Hometown East China Sea Island, sandy soil, high temperature, strong sunshine, almost every household is planted with wood pineapple. In front of and behind the house, walking around, you can always see the unbridled growth and fruit of the wooden pineapple. The wood pineapple of Donghai Island is famous for its large fruit, rich aroma, thick flesh and sweet taste, and is one of the signature fruits of Donghai Island. During the season when pineapples are ripe, many friends from other places flock to the East China Sea Island to buy wooden pineapples.
A wood pineapple that grows unscrupulously and bears fruit. (Photo by Feng Gong)
Five trees were planted in the family's courtyard, but now only 2 are left due to typhoon destruction and poor breeding. Of the only 2 remaining wooden pineapples, one of which is a little more effective in shading the sun, symbolically hangs one or two fruits every year, declaring to us that it is a genuine wood pineapple to avoid the disaster of logging. The other is much better, with a lot of fruit, large and small, uneven. Every year during the pineapple ripening season, we can feast and feast on the sweetness of the "Queen of Tropical Fruits".
Fruits large and small hang from the branches. (Photo by Feng Gong)
The aroma of wood pineapple is overflowing and unique, and the fragrance is not as strong as durian. A wooden pineapple is placed in the room, which makes the whole room fragrant, and even the air is filled with sweetness, making you salivate. Mature wood pineapple, the skin has turned yellow-green or yellow-brown, the ends of the jagged soft thorns have shrunk, no longer tied hands, can be touched casually. The skin, which is thinly supported by the flesh, can be broken by blowing, and with a light stroke of a sharp long knife, the skin cracks open a small opening, and the rich aroma immediately disperses. After cutting, the golden flesh emerges. Individual jackfruit and even the small filaments between the flesh are golden yellow, full of golden eyes. Some of the flesh is cut from the middle by a knife, and the sweet juice in the flesh slowly oozes out, making you salivate. Every time I opened the pineapple and saw the yellow and brilliant flesh, I always couldn't wait for the fine cutting, so I couldn't wait to use my hands to pick a little taste, comfort and comfort myself, and after eating a few, I was satisfied and waited for the fine cutting.
The cut wood pineapple is full of golden eyes, and it is difficult not to drool. (Image from the Internet)
The wooden pineapple is large, not like melon, apple, pear and other fruits, and can be eaten by one person. Wooden pineapples seem to be inherently shared, and the scene of a group of people cutting pineapples and eating pineapples is all too familiar. Every time the family cut the wood pineapple, my mother always divided the pineapple into several portions and arranged for our brothers and sisters to give it to the neighbors. When I was a child, I was hungry, afraid that it would be too late to come back, the pineapple was eaten, and every time I ran to the neighbor's house at the speed of a hundred meters sprint, knocked on the door urgently, hurriedly put down the pineapple, and pulled my leg to run. When I got home, I picked up a piece and devoured it, eating it with my hands stained with pineapple mucus. The wood pineapple does not bother to collect its fragrance at all, always releasing it freely. This rich aroma is often a family eating pineapple, and several know it. When cutting pineapples, some neighbors and friends are often invited to taste the sweetness and smoothness of jackfruit. We also often eat jackfruit from neighbors. Eat a lot, whoever eats which pineapple tree hangs from the fruit tastes a little bit.
Wood pineapple, an unsemblished fruit. (Image from the Internet)
Every time you cut a wood pineapple, it's always full of anticipation, like opening a blind box. Before cutting, it is never known whether this pineapple has pulp to eat, whether it can be eaten, whether it is delicious or not. Generally speaking, good varieties of tree species, hanging fruit is not bad. But there are exceptions. Individual pineapples, oval and oval, the shape is good-looking, no one is recessed, there is no bulge, is the pretty guy in the pineapple world. However, a knife went down, very disappointed. A friend once bought a large pineapple, and after a few days at home, he felt that he had matured, and invited several relatives and friends who lived nearby to eat pineapple together. However, this big pineapple seems to be deliberately joking with everyone, and in the midst of thousands of expectations, there are only a few pitiful flesh, and the flesh is white, there is not much sweetness, and the typical gold and jade are defeated in it. But there are also some pineapples, which are very inconspicuous in appearance, convex on the left and right, and small in size. If it is a gift, it is absolutely impossible to get it. But this kind of pineapple, but often give us unexpected surprises, after cutting, the number of flesh is not much, but each flesh, the size of a small baby's fist, the taste is very sweet. Pineapple is also an unsightly fruit.
Note: This article was published on August 24, 2021 Zhanjiang Daily A07th Edition Read + Hundred Flowers.