Sweet and Sour

The season of the year has arrived, everywhere we go there are rainbows of colours, red hairy, green spiky and golden yellow jack..by the road side, at pasar tani, nite market..you name it..and this is the best time to pack your things and head back to kampung (especially for those who seldom have time to do it..?) jenguk-jenguklah orang tua di kampung..sambil penuhkan kereta dgn buah..;-)

Living in Alor Setar with no orchard and relying on pasar malam makes me excited when the season came. I remember when I was about 7, we had a visit from my granny who lives in Yan, she came with a gunny full of fruits especially mangosteen..she was too old for her age to take a bus ride all by herself..I hardly knew her and I think that was the last time I ever met her, and until now everytime i look at the purple fruit i will always remember her..semoga Allah mencucuri rahmat ke atasnya.

Some people might hate the smell of durian but to me its heavenly..how can't we not enjoying this smooth yellow flesh with strong aroma? There are some with bright yellow and firm flesh,some with smooth and greyish flesh..there are also different names for these durian..some call it kucing tidur, maybe because of the form of each ulas. And the worst nitemare is durian with big white worm...yucckkk!!! I was told not to eat durian during this period, its too hot for pregnant woman..but different people will give different piece of advice..mom said ok..as long as I take it in small amount, but I just want to be safe.

I'm not an expert in agriculture but I think there are some species of fruit trees are common in Kedah especially nipah, this is not seasonal fruit and there are easy to find along river bank, the sweet white flesh are best enjoyed with it's juice in a hot sunny day.Has anyone tried nira nipah? there's one stall before plaza tol (A.S Selatan )selling fresh nira nipah.

There's one exotic fruit that I think hard to find now, maybe some of you might came across of this 'nanam' fruit. I knew about this fruit back in the 80's somewhere in Langgar, Kedah. It looks like guava trees but we don't have to climb or used stick to pluck it because it grows at the base almost touching the ground. We can't eat it fresh but best eaten as jeruk due it its strong sour taste..

Hmmm..how I miss my hometown and its exotic fruits..but I have to take care not to over indulged. From my MIL point of view, pregnant women or anybody who try to conceived shouldn't eat too much fruits due to it's acid level, even an apple! Contradict to medical opinion but it's up to us to whether to believe it or just to put it aside and head to durian stall..:-)