Look at the pictures very, very closely. The topmost is of fruits with leaves growing out of their flesh. The leaves make the fruits seem as if they have wings, like Mercury the messenger of the gods.

This has recently been the subject of speculation at the Book of Rai forum. Jacqui, one of the members in Jamaica, found this growing in her mother’s greenhouse. The fruits grow from a vine, are approximately 2 cm. in diametre, have 3-4 soft black seeds and have the feel of thick-skinned grapes. The vine seems to bear fruit once a year, in December.

The bottom left picture shows a fruit on a spoon. That’s the size. It also shows a vertical cross-section. The picture on the right shows the leaves where they grow out of the skin.

Jacqui says:

“I notice that when I open the fruit close to the skin there seems to be a small fibre which seems to be where the leaf attaches to the interior of the fruit in the second photo I have tried to show this fibre.”

Have you seen anything like this wonderfully mind-boggling piece of creation? What is it called? Where is it from? Feel free to download the graphic to post on blogs, fora and boards. OOOHHH please do let us know what it’s called before nothing’s left between our ears. Hmmm… I should speak for myself, hehehe! My drain’s about to bry out.

Update: Stef found out from someone at the GardenWeb forums that the fruit indeed comes from a climbing leafy cactus, the Barbados gooseberry - Pereskia aculeata Mill.

Yikes! And I thought drinking fresh orange juice (Citrus sinensis) was healthy!

Whether in the country or abroad, at home, in hotels or restaurants, every chance I get, I try to have my fill of orange juice, preferably freshly squeezed or at least the pure and unsweetened product in cartons and cans.

Aside from loving the sour, sweet and tart taste, I think of all that Vitamin C. A glass easily provides me my recommended daily allowance. What cola/soda can be more refreshing and more natural?

Apparently, my beloved beverage is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. To paraphrase Leo Hickman:

The manufacturing process is harmful to the environment: for every glass of Brazilian orange juice, 22 glasses of processing water and 1,000 glasses of irrigation water were required. To produce 10 glasses of juice, one glass of crude oil is needed. More water and energy is required if the juice is pasteurised, concentrated, frozen, shipped, then rehydrated at the destination country.

Then there are pesticides. The residues may not permeate the flesh and are left on the peel but then again, that’s where I get my marmalade! Gasp!

Read the complete article from the Guardian: Is it OK … to drink orange juice?

Perhaps I should just stick to the juice of calamansi / calamondin (Citrofortunela microcarpa).

Photo sourcing and doctoring compliments of Mike at lafang.

All throughout the world today, tomatoes are one of the most highly-consumed produce. This berry is indispensable in many Filipino recipes, one would think it an indigenous plant. What adds to the confusion is that some varieties, like the one in the picture above are called “native camatis“. Perhaps nativised but far from indigenous for our beloved camatis has come to us most probably by way of the long Pacific journey.

Let’s learn more about the tomato.

The plant is native to the Andes where the Aztecs domesticated it first with the name xitomatl. Now globally popular, the tomato was feared to be poisonous during its early migration to Europe. Although grown in gardens and called poma amoris, pomme d’amour (love apple), Paradice Appfel (apple of Paradise) and later on poma d’oro to the current Italian pomodoro (golden apple), it wasn’t until the 1700s that the Southern Europeans, particularly the Italians, found the tomato acceptable but only mainly for garnishing.
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