Custard Apple High

As a drug-addled twenty-something traveller, I first tried this exotic fruit on the sands of Kovalum Beach in India. In a post-chillum haze, my sensory perceptions maximised, I declared the custard apple an eating experience I would never forget. My travelling companions and I threw superlatives around with wild abandon but no one word came close to actually describing it. Paradise was mentioned but we agreed that was too much of a cliche.

The setting had something to do with it - sunset, beach, southern India. No doubt the appetite had been stimulated, too! But the custard apple itself, together with the fact I'd never encountered it before, is central in this foggy memory...

Paring back the green diamond scales of skin with my fingers, the mushy creamy flesh that truly does taste like custard, the smooth black marbly pips, the sticky fingers afterwards...

In Hanoi, whenever I run across custard apples (mang cau) being sold off the back of a bicycle, it takes me back 15 years to that time. And I try to re-live the experience by getting myself a kilo or two.

Minus the sense-altering substance, the fruit's still good but it's never quite the same.

Fruit Fee

A late summer fruit, expect to pay about 20,000VND (USD$1.25, AUD$1.50) per kilo.

Comments

[anh]

omg...those fruits are my all time favorite. Makes me drool just looking that the pictures! =)

[Viet]

one might get better quality of the fruit in the south

[Shoshauna]

I absolutely love custard apples. I miss them from VN. I wish I could find them here in Colorado!

[Vi]

Hanoian call this fruit "NA"

[Thao Hoang]

In Hanoi, there are different between 'na'(those in your picture) and 'mang cau'. Try yourself to know the taste of them!