Dining Guide
Fruits
The Philippines does not only have a Na-tional Anthem and a National Museum as other countries may have, but also a na-tional tree, narra, and a national flower, sampaguita. And if one asks a Filipino what the national fruit of his country is, he will immediately say mango.
But as a matter of fact, even though mangoes are delicious, they are neither the widest available fruit, nor the most affor-dable. On the other hand, who could ever proudly consider the banana a national fruit?
There is an abundance of bananas in the Philippines, more than 50 different kinds. In the provinces, bananas are even cheaper than rice. Yet, or because of that, bananas are sometimes looked down on. Aside from bananas another kind of tropical fruit found everywhere is pineapple.
Imported fruits became widely available in the Philippines since 1987 as an effect of the import liberalization policy of the Aquino government. Californian apples, before a symbol of luxury commanding a price of about 40 pesos each are now available everywhere for a price as low as 10 pesos apiece. Imported oranges are also common - like apples at a lower price per kilo than what is paid for mangoes.
Many tropical fruits growing in the Philip-pines are less known to people of the West because they cannot be exported over long distances. Among them are papaya, jackfruit, mangostines, rambutans, star apple, custard apple, rose apple, lanzones and pomello.
A unique tropical fruit also found in the Philippines is the durian. In the Philippines it grows best in the area surrounding Davao City on Mindanao. The most photographed monument of Davao City is a sculpture of a durian. Fruits in detail:
Avocado
SeasonMay to July
Price 8 to 12 pesos per kilo
Taste fleshy, only slightly sweet
Size irregular, basically oval
Color green or red
Grows on trees
Custard apple (Atis)
Season September to November
Price 3 to 5 pesos apiece
Taste soft and fleshy
Color green
Grows on trees
Many seeds, similar to those of melons.
Duhat
Season March
Price around 10 pesos per kg
Taste like black cherries
Size like cherries
Color dark, almost black
Grows on trees
Durian
Season September, October
Price 50 to 100 pesos a piece
Taste like cheese, very creamy
Size like pineapple
Color light brown
Grows on giant trees
Thick hard skin with thorns like nails. The edible part is only found in five sections, where it surrounds very big seed stones.
Guava (Bayabas)
Season July to October
Taste quite sour, hard texture
Price around 5 pesos per kg
Size round, from the size of apricots to the size of grapefruits
Color green or yellow
Grows on trees
Many seeds
Guyabano
Season August to October
Taste sweet, the juice is milky
Size around 300 grams, irregular shape
Color green outside, white inside
Grows on trees
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