Sweetness from the top of the tree

Sweetness from the top of the tree

The male is shaped like a fork with the central prong much longer; the three pronged like a knobbly green tuber, buy both can be used.  When they look ready, the villagers prop their  ladders against the tree, just a bamboo pole with rungs on each side, and climb up.  Syrup can be harvested from both flowers, but they have to be ‘ready’, turgid and yielding slightly when squeezed. If there are too many flowers on a single tree, they remove some of them off to concentrate the yield. Then... Read more »

A Muse on Fruit

A Muse on Fruit

Alfred Russel Wallace, who nearly beat Darwin to the discovery of evolution, described it like this.  “It is like buttery custard, flavoured with almonds intermingled with wafts of flavour that call to mind cream cheese, onion sauce, ground cherries [sherry wine?] and other incongruities.  It is neither acid nor sweet... Read more »