Madiera is known for bananas and there are bananas EVERYWHERE. I did visit a banana planation, but the highlight was a visit to a agricultural research center on the island of Madeira with a guide. It wasn’t exactly the best time to taste the fruit they were growing there because of the season. But, I was fortunate to see and taste two different fruits I wasn’t familiar with.
The first one I tried the guide called Pitanga which I learned is also called Suriname cherry, Brazilian cherry, and Cayenne cherry. I think Cayenne cherry would be the best describer of this fruit. It looks a bit like a misshapen red-orange tart cherry and grows from a stem as a cherry does. The flavor is tart with a surprising subtle peppery (not spicy) flavor. When the guide described it she made it sound like it would be awful. It wasn’t at all! I thought it had the perfect flavor for a jam or a salsa type spread. Unfortunately, I forgot to ask how they ate it.
The second fruit I tried she called Jaboticaba also known as Brazilian grape. It grows in a fashion that is quite something to see. It appears almost like cancerous purple round spheres all around the trunk and the branches of the tree. I wasn’t able to get a good photo because there were so few fruits to try that day. The fruit is dark almost black purple with a slightly tougher skin like a grape. And the inside has a couple of small seeds tightly packed together like a grape does. The flesh was white with a purple cast and it was sort of a gelatinous pulp in texture. It was actually quite tasty despite the description. The guide described it as a blueberry taste, but it didn’t taste like a blueberry at all. It was sweet and tart and wasn’t exactly like anything I’d eaten before. I thought it was really good and would absolutely grow it in my backyard if I had room.
And by-the-way there wasn’t an aftertaste or stinky smell to either fruit!
