ENDEMICAL FRUIT

 

The salad to be discussed here has a particular singularity because of its use of the mabolo—  a rare fruit only found in the Philippine Islands, it is a type of peach crossed with permission (as a picture of it shows, googled), it is fuzzy skinned and has ribboned hard leaves on top, but the flavor is delicately distinct in sweetness rousing the palate for implacable description; it is after all indigenous to said country and endemic original nowhere else. Its taxonomic life , thankfully, is protected, and this one-of-a-kind tree species is safeguarded with strict harvesting control laws for sustainability. I consider myself one extremely lucky cook to have found this fruit on Maui— and therefore honorarily I must use for its most beautiful potentail. Again, there is neither tart/acidity nor bitterness to the fruit’s firm flesh on bite (like a Bartlett pear), and in reflection I had decided that it was going to be perfect with guavas, strawberries and some dandelion greens dressed in lime juice to coat, plus salt and pepper tossed, and all combined on a bed of local avocados perfectly sliced. The result is amazing, and it is to the credit of all the ingredients en masse hereby interconnected. On the side I had with the mabolo salad was a strong brown bread with European butter already in room temperature for ease of spread on the pan. I couldn’t ask for more.  

I remember this fruit growing up on a tropical farm (in my previous posts I had mentioned it was ancestral and traditionally designed as an orchid and tree nursery teeming with ornamental plants and palms, and my beloved grandfather was the master gardener and gourmand cook I considered my first teacher). It is located in the province of Laguna known as the fruit-growing region of the Philippines, also famous for its coconut pie and water buffalo artisanal milk and cheese. With Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, all southeast asian countries sharing a common environmental latitude with the Philippines, boast fabulous fruits to their names such as the durian, rambutan, mangosteen, lanzones and atis, among others— yet the mabolo is prized for its individuality. It is true that the Philippines is geographically surrounded by the “seven seas” (like the Hawaiian Islands), and therefore the impact of several marine confluences at once to its coastlines, from an ecologic perspective of biodiversity nativism, uniqueness and exceptionality determine its species outcomes. (Similarly there are no poisonous snakes on Maui, the forests and the streams are “unwild” and it is an interesting anecdote that the mabolo, the legend says, too, was the last surviving “tree of knowledge” brought by paradise.) I am very proud my country’s food heritage. And one of them, to say the least, is a best kept secret.