Fall Fruit at the Market

It's always exciting to me to see the seasons change in the market. Here you see the new purple and green grapes next to the last of late summer's plums. It'sad to see the plums go but they'll be back next year and there are so many other fruits to take their place.

These pears, I discovered in Italy. If they are sold in the States, I don't know about it. The Italians call them "Decana" but in French and English, they are "Comice". Julia Child claims that her culinary epiphany that brought her from a job in the American Foreign Service to a position at the top of the world of cooking, was brought about by one perfectly sweet and juicy Comice pear. She never knew food could taste that good.

Pomegranates are as fun to open as they are to eat. Their edible parts being made up of sections of sweet-tart, juice-filled seeds. Persephone of Greek mythology ate 3 of these tempting jewel-red bites and landed in the underworld for 3 months every year. Was it worth it?

Persimmons. In the States, there are 2 general varieties for sale: the "Fuyu" that looks like a short, stout, orangey tomato and can be eaten while still crisp. The Italian variety similar to this is "kaki di vaniglia" you see it's yellowier and rounder than the ones in the States. You can eat them plain to appreciate their sweetness or you can drape them with prosciutto just like you would a summer melon.


The other type of persimmon that must be eaten extremely ripe (and I mean, like with a spoon! Notice these on the left are being held in styrofoam crates so they don't fall apart) is the "Hachiya" persimmon shaped oblong, like a large, orange roma tomato. The ones here in Italy are again, rounder but really have the same soft, sweet flesh. These you have to eat alone, hidden away, where nobody can see you licking the juice off of your fingers.

Then to the right you see the Miagawa. Sounds Japanese, doesn't it? I don't know much about them except that I love their look. They are sweet citrus on the inside and look like tart limes on the outside.