Mystery Fruit

One of my favorite things about living in the tropics is FRUIT. There always seems to be a new species and varieties in every tropical country I've visited or lived in. My appreciation is heightened coming from a developed non-tropical country. Tropical fruits in the grocery store are usually only one variety and the original growing conditions and transport are highly unsustainable. I will never forget my surprise on my first stay in the tropics; there are different varieties of bananas?!?!?

The mystery tree in question. Obviously a palm of some type.

Seeing as it's my fifth year in the tropics, I have been seeing less and less fruits that I am unfamiliar with. Still, there are always different varieties throughout the world and they can be as exciting to try as a totally new fruit. The latest new fruit I've tried appears to be the member of the palm family. No one knows the English name and I've tried to use the internet to figure out exactly what variety of palm fruit it is but have come up with nothing. I have seen that it's more popular with children and I asked a co-worker why. He said that it is very time consuming to eat, though it is sweet. Sure enough, at our next village outreach we were offered a bunch of these things from the village chief.

One of the fruits, with a puppy for scale. 

To "peel" the fruit, you basically slam it against a rock or a hard surface until the fruit is "broken". It's kind of like a softer version of a coconut and you don't need a machete or anything to eat it. When you are done breaking it down, you peel off chunks and chew the inside. It's kind of sweet and has the same sensation as eating a very stringy mango. There is an absolutely absurd amount of fibers that get in your teeth; when I was finished I felt like I needed braces.

Charles, Ana, and myself eating the fruit. You can see the fibers stuck in my teeth. 

The fruit has a very nice small, something akin to a mango. I suppose I would compare it to a big, more fibrous (stringy),  less tasteful mango. The other strange thing about this fruit is the residue on your hands doesn't wash off like a normal fruit juice would. When it comes into contact with water it becomes sticky, kind of like when trying to remove sap from a fir tree with water. Either way, I don't see myself eating a lot of these things in the near future.