Sweet TnT Magazine Trinidad and Tobago Culture
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By Marika Mohammed. I know it as mammy apple. This fruit creates a buzz when I give it to someone to eat. Many people may have heard of it but never seen or taste it while others may not even know of its existence.
What is a mammy apple?
It has a coarse, cantaloupe texture on the outside but it is sweet and soft on the inside. It varies in sizes and cannot be picked. This fruit requires patience since you have to wait for it to fall to decide if it is ready to eat or not. It does not have a particular season like mango or pineapple so it’s a plus to have a fruit that’s year round.
The inside is orange and delicious. It looks somewhat like a big plum with a huge seed in the middle. It definitely doesn’t look like a fruit since it looks dry but when you bite into it, the texture and flavour will absolutely leave you thinking, “This from Trinidad?” One thing for sure mammy apple beats an ordinary apple.
February 2014 – Issue 8 www.sweettntmagazine.com
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Balata – a first for me
By Marika Mohammed. It’s the first time I’ve heard of such a thing, balata. It has a nice ring to it though. Balata, like a song. But what is it really? Continuously awed of the things grown right here in Trinidad, balata is another little rare gem.
The rare balata
First off, it’s a fruit. It’s rare to see nowadays and the only way I got my hands on it was by going to the bush and talking to the old folk who lived there. They continuously told me that it’s something young people know nothing about, myself included.
Balata is brown on the outside and looks like a little cherry. It’s colour doesn’t mean it’s rotten, it means it’s ready to eat. The inside is white, soft and juicy. In the middle, sits a jet black pit. This is not edible.
The taste itself is strange to me and the only thing I could compare it to would be a plum. It goes to show we need to explore more of what Trinidad has to offer and all its locality.
August 2016 www.sweettntmagazine.com
