Fruit To Try and Fruit Recipes from around the world

 

Fruit bought from Fairprice supermarket in Singapore.  Water melon, pineapple, and figs. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Your favourite fruit in summer was the subject of my table topics (impromptu speeches) on Friday June 17th at Singapore International Dynamic toastmasters club on zoom, and we had a wonderful entertaining session with surprise suggestions from around the world.

Mango with sticky rice, in Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Mangoes can be made into a milkshake for a quick snack meal, we learned from our recently joined member Shobhana.

Fruit in Belize, Central America

President Edward told us that in Belize in central America, coconuts are sold by the roadside all year, and you can buy coconut milk in pints, quarts and gallons! He described how you can add coconut milk to rice when cooking (straining out the bits of coconut, then adding the coconut later). He also told us how to make coconut into cupcakes, and coco crust, like a patty.

Edward said he ate fruit tarts and kidded himself that he was not putting on weight because he was eating fruit. He used a great rhetorical question, 'Who doesn't like fruit tarts, that person hasn't been born yet!'

Grapes

Edward told us how grapes were the fruit of love, in romantic novels, and grapes and apples are popular in Belize at Christmas. Contrast that with the UK, where we eat dried fruit in mince tarts and Xmas pudding.

Grapefruit

Edward described how his first experience of grapefruit was of what looked like an orange but turned out to be sour. A decade or two passed before he visited the doctor, suffering from a cold or flu, and a couple of old ladies advised him that graefruit (full of vitamin C) might help. He tried grapefruit again, decided that it benefitted his health, and after eating it for two or three days had grown to like grapefruit.

Fruit In The Middle East - Dates

Khalid, on Zoom from the middle east described how the palm tree was the source of life in the old days when every part of the tree was used, logs for building houses, fibres for the roof, and carpets, as well as dates eaten fresh in summer, dried for winter, also used for sweet date syrup. 'Trees provide oxygen,' he said, 'so be kind to your trees'.

On our second round of table topics,

Bananas

Sridhar told us how green bananas can be sliced and spiced with spice and cinnamon and salt and fried in oil to make crunchy banana chips.

Mangoes

Sridhar said mango or any fruit can be mixed with milk to make Indian style ice cream and mango lassi (drink).

UK Fruit - dates

Dates. Picture from Wikipedia.

I, Angela, spoke about how dates are an amusing party food, with the stone removed and replaced by almond, and the stufffed dates placed on toothpicks stuck in a wooden holder if you have one, if not into a large round fruit to look like a hedgehog.

Oh too many great ideas to tell you all. Come to our next meeting, every Friday at 9.30 pm, Singapore time to join in the table topics session which starts the meeting.

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1Singapore International Dynamic Speakers