Another first time fruit for me, also picked up when we were in London's Borough Market the weekend before last.
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Partially peeled fruit held in my fingers
1 comments — live from bluesky
Kavey 😁 · 3 · 1d ago These are Matoa fruit (biological name Pometia pinnata), but the fruits are also known as tava, island lychee, Pacific lychee, Fijian longan, kasai, and buaha in different countries / regions.
Kavey 😁 · 2 · 1d ago Pometia pinnata is a tropical hardwood species that originated in Sri Lanka and the Andaman islands but is now found across southeast Asia including New Guinea and the Pacific islands.
Kavey 😁 · 2 · 1d ago It's part of the soapberry family which also includes similar fruits like lychee, rambutan, longan as well as ackee, Spanish lime and guarana.
Kavey 😁 · 3 · 1d ago Individual matoa fruits are a similar size to lychees but their skin is a thicker and hard shell that I needed to apply pressure to in order to crack open, and it broke into pieces that I pulled away from the fruit.
Kavey 😁 · 3 · 1d ago The inner layer of the skin may stick to the fruit (as it does with lychee) in which case you'll need to peel that off too.
Kavey 😁 · 3 · 1d ago The peeled fruit looks like longan with similar translucent flesh but rather than spherical it's more of an oval lychee shape. You can see the reddish brown seed through the flesh, it looks almost pink.
Kavey 😁 · 6 · 1d ago The taste is pretty much a cross between lychee, rambutan and longan and it's similarly sweet and juicy.
Kavey 😁 · 1 · 1d ago Have you come across these before? Have you tried them? Would love to know your thoughts!