Custard-apple / chirimoya o anon.

Custard-apple fruit ( chirimoya)

This month is custard-apple season in Australia, as I see the fruit in every market. I was pleasantly surprised the first time I saw it here. Some locals do not know the fruit.

It is a fruit that brings to me memories of children in Cuba throwing stones at the tree in order to get the fruit down or asking the adults if it is ripe and counting days for it to be ripened. Most of the time we could not wait that long, the same story happens with mangos.

I like the custard-apple to give its gentle flavour to a milkshake. You must take the ebony seeds out before mixing its pulp with a cup of full cream milk, a tablespoon of condensed milk and some ice in the fruit blender; the result is a pale, creamy drink with a flavour that reminds me of vanilla and makes the effort of taking the seeds out rewarding.

Mango.

I do not know if every Cuban shares my enthusiasm for mangos but I know my brother does. To me this is the top fruit pick and I really miss them when the ripening season is too far away to wait. I also dream of making quick trips to Singapore or Hong Kong to catch up with their mango seasons there.

In Cuba it seems like we cannot wait either because children start eating them unripe. I was surprised it is completely normal to find unripe mangos in Asian dishes as a salad ingredient.

Recently I was so happy to get a box of Kensington Pride frozen mango cheeks. I feel so smart; imagine having tasty mangos when they are out of season.

I wondered why Australia offers other fruits like avocado, strawberries or pineapples year round but not my heavenly Kensington Pride mangoes. But anyway I smile thinking that if I did have them so often I would not put them on top of my list. I patiently wait for the season to start when summer arrives in the north.

This week I am over the moon with my box of frozen mangos, ah like a child with a box full of candy. Of course I have to do something special with it, I found in a book a recipe I want to try, called mango fool, it should go well with blueberries.

2 mangos or equivalent (5cheeks)
200 ml pouring cream
½ cup sugar or less

1. You must thaw the mangos and then put them in a food processor with the steel blade and puree them.
2. Mix mango and sugar and put away until needed again.
3. Whip your pouring cream.
4. Fold the cream into the mango and pour in mould to refrigerate. Cover for 2 hours.


A simpler version is to fold the mango puree in natural yogurt, something you can serve at breakfast straight away.

You can try also to make a delicious milkshake. Just after you have puree the mango in the food processor, put it in the blender with a cup of milk, a tablespoon of condensed milk and some ice cubes.

Roast suckling pig / lechon asado.

On very special occasions Cubans like to celebrate with a roast suckling pig cooking slowly in their backyards. The look of it screams “f i e s t a” party.

My mother’s father cooks the best roast suckling pig I ever tasted; he is a master at this. I tried to repeat the experience in Miami Florida as that city is like Cuba in America, but it did not happen to be that good, their pork tastes totally different, like a different animal, probably because the pigs diet is unlike what they eat in Cuba.

This is a Total Cuban experience; the roast suckling pig being delivered on the “bicitaxi”.
This time the pig was cooked to perfection at the local bakery. There were fears of rain and that would ruin the backyard cooking.