Savor rare fruits in San Diego
During my Thailand trip, the most exciting thing was to try out new tropical fruits. Back in Japan, the variety of fruits you see at the store is relatively limited. (Probably much better than colder countries, but still…)
It was this trip that I tried durian for the first time. It had buttery, rich taste. I am not sure if I can eat a lot of them, but I never thought it is too stinky to put on my mouth.
The other fruit I enjoyed there was rambutan. Oh, I wonder when I can visit Asian tropical countries again. I want to eat rambutan once again.
Good news is I can enjoy rambutan here in San Diego. I stopped by California Produce in National City aka Filipino Town.
California Produce
You find this local produce shop at the entrance of Filipino Town, right off of I-805 Plaza Blvd Exit. Once you get off at Plaza Blvd, you head to the West and this shop is on your left side.
It’s really hard to notice when you are driving. The sign is there but not noticeable. BUT this store seems to be here forever, it must be a good sign, right?
And I found rambutan…!!!
So, this is the inside of California Produce. I found dreamy rambutan right at the entrance. Hooray!!
You know how I found this rambutan sale? Actually the owner (?) of this store are on FB market place spreading the info. That’s how I know it 😀
Wait, what’s fuzzy melon…? I looked it up and it was young winter melon. In Chinese it’s called 毛瓜 (maogua).
I knew the word fuzzy means ambiguous, but I didn’t know it also means hairy….
Castus fruits. Something you don’t get to find back in Japan.
Look at how fresh these vegetables are! Produce store cannot beat regular super market on this point, right? I grabbed one of these bitter melon as it’s Tiger’s favorite.
By the way, how do you cook bitter melon? I like Okinawan style Goya Chanpuruu with veggies and eggs, but I also do Chinese style with salted duck egg, which you can find at Chinese markets. It’s super easy, just soak bitter melon in salty water, then sauté with salted duck egg with vegetable oil.
I assume the owner is Filipino since it’s in the Filipino town? You find some South East Asian desserts.
In this shelf you see some SE Asian goodies.
All You Can Eat Rambutan lol
So… these are the fruits I brought back from California Produce: rambutan, Pineapple hecho en Mexico, and quince!
I didn’t know about this fruit called quince until I came to the U.S. I wrote a bit about it in my blog post on Persian market.
Rambutan is a bit similar to Longan and Lychee, but it looks hairy, and it is not too sweet like those. I love it.
It has tropical, sweet, refreshing flavor in it. What a sexy fruit, don’t you think??
Oh, I ate like rambutan buffet lol. Fully satisfied!
I love mangosteen too…!
One more thing, when it comes to tropical fruits, I need to talk about mangosteen. You know in Japan, the confectionary company called Lotte used to sell this chewing gum with mangosteen flavor. I loved that one and every time I had that I was wondering how the actual mangosteen would taste like.
So, I contacted the owner (?) of California Produce through FB Market Place asking when they will have mangosteen in store. A few days later, I went back to the store for mangosteen.
Finally I got mangosteen! Yay!!
Did you know mangosteen is known as queen of fruits? I didn’t. So, durian is the king of fruit, and mangosteen is the queen of fruits.
I cut the skin in half at the equator, and you see the white fruit inside.
Very flavorful, elegantly sweet this fruit from the south. So good. And I sense the after taste like the Lotte Mangosteen Gum!! lol
From the skin, red-purple-ish water came out, it must contain lots of antosian and polifenol.
And the skin’s texture is like passion fruits, though the color looks totally different. I am gaining more knowledge on tropical fruits here.
By the way, in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), there are fruits that heat up your body, and fruits that cook down your body. Durian is the former, and mangosteen is latter.
Also, I want to note that in Chinese mangosteen is called 山竹(Sanzhu) or mountain bamboo…!
Listening to the little lecture by Tiger, we consumed lots of fruits in our household. (And the skins and seeds directly went to our compost)
1736 E. Plaza
National City, CA 91950