Ugli on the Outside

Don't judge a book by it's cover. We've all heard the age-old adage. I've heard children admit that they do, in fact, judge books by their covers. And why not? I know I sometimes do. If the right artist was hired, the cover of a book can lure you in faster than any poetry or prose found inside. And, seriously, why even check out the text if the cover is off-putting?

I sometimes think food is like that. Not all food, but produce. Fruits and vegetables are beautiful because they have to be. Their bright colors and sweet fragrance are what draw animals to the plant. The beauty of a fruit is what keeps it fertilized, growing, spreading new seeds.

Enter the ugli fuit. I've heard of it before, as it's the only item listed under the letter "U" in our beloved Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert. At this point, there are very few foods in that book that we haven't all tried. A few are not available here, like the small Chinese watermelon, xigua. But some are simply hard to find, and ugli fruit is on that list. Trust DePiero's, my local market that always carries intriguing seasonal and imported produce, to provide something new. I was just there for a quick errand and couldn't resist wandering the produce department. I walked out with three new things, goldenberries, flat beans, and an ugli fruit.

Apparently, according to my friend the internet, goldenberries are also known as gooseberries. I thought they looked similar, but not quite the same. Maybe the ones I got today are just more ripe, or more golden. Naomi and I agreed that we "tried it, but didn't really like it." The flat beans, clearly a relative of the string bean, are crispy and sweet. These looked so wonderful today that I had to buy a bunch. Naomi loves raw string beans, often munching on a few while we walk around the supermarket. Why not bring home some slightly wider, slightly flatter, slightly bigger and squigglier flat beans? These were a big hit.
The ugli fruit seems to be some kind of citrus hybrid. I like pluots and tangelos, so I think I like all hybrids, I even drive one, actually. (Though after a more careful search it turns out I don't even know most hybrid fruits exist, check out this list!) I was excited to try the ugli fruit, and excited to cut it open with my curious kid who likes all things green and yellow, and is always game to taste a new fruit.

We cut it open and found the center to look like any citrus, but a bright golden color. The color was really beautiful. Our ugli fruit was very juicy, had big sections, and was a bit sour. Naomi and I agreed that it grew sweeter after a few bites.
Hooray for new fruits! Glad we didn't get scared away by the name.