kaimito, star apple milky summer delight

Kaimitos for sale in the Tuguegarao City public market.

It's summer time again, and so with some of the seasonal fruits that we so eagerly anticipate. Like kaimito, or star apple (Chrysophyllum cainito). In the Philippines, this is a childhood favorite. As a child who grew in the barrio, you used to feast on this fruit come summer, March and April, where it fully ripens to its so-sweety and so-milky goodness, the purple ones and the greenish-white ones. Never mind if its sticky latex builds a thin "mustache" around your lips, you climb the tree to pick the sun-ripened fruit, taking care not to fall or break its brittle branches laden with numerous balls of delight. Or shoot them with a palsiit (slingshot). Or pick them down with a long bamboo pole.

Purple kaimitos halved.

Purple kaimito opened.

Oozing with milk!

My kids enjoying a summer delight.

Greenish-white kaimito.

Greenish-white kaimito (detail).

My city-born and -raised daughter Sirmata having a taste of her childhood through readily bought in the market kaimitos.  

|||