Return to Frankie's Nursery

Back to Frankie's Nursery for the first time since November. I spent over three hours walking around with Frank, realizing only later that I had become a buffet for mosquitoes. Rubbing citronella grass on my legs was too little, too late. We harvested bamboo shoots and nibbled on the stem of a taro plant, from a variety of taro that's low in calcium oxalate--the stuff that usually makes your throat itchy if any part of the taro plant isn't cooked thoroughly. We probably ate a dozen or so fruits, Frank scrambling up trees to pick them, as lithe as a ten-year-old. Unfortunately, I remember the names of few of them and my hands were too sticky to take pictures.

What I did manage to document: above, nutmeg, flanked by yuzu and a fruit similar to a plum.

A star anise-like variety of spice.

Jackfruit as big as a linebacker's torso. 

Cut open, there's something so primal about jackfruit...so fleshy and large. Tastes of pineapple and cantaloupe. Frank sent me home with a champedek, similar to a jackfruit, but has hints of garlic. As it ripens, it smells like natural gas...Ben kept moving it to the farthest corners of the yard, as far away from our house as possible. Frank has many stories of people who have called inspectors to investigate a gas leak, of valets who are afraid to start a car all because of a champedek ripening inside.

Miracle berry. First heard about it in a New York Times article...still have "throw a miracle berry party" on my to-do list, even if it's so last year. Without thinking, I ate it halfway through our farm ramble, and everything afterwards just tasted absurdly sweet. I went through the citrus grove, sucking on limes and lemons while Frank got a kick feeding me unripe fruit. After an hour, I felt like I had drank a six-pack of soda and was craving something, anything, salty or sour.

Lotus flower...when they open, they're as big as my face.

When the "shower heads" dry up, they open and you can pry out the lotus seeds. Perfect for the next time I make ba bao fan.