After exiting Pike Place Market in Seattle, we walked across the street heading towards the Original Starbucks for a cappuccino, when I was stopped in my tracks.
First, the colorful fruit stands caught my eye, then the temptation of Ugli Fruit.
I am a sucker for trying stranger foods, though mostly of the non-vegetarian sort; duck gizzards, lambs tongue, pigs tails, etc. Never have I been so intrigued by a fruit or vegetable.
Ugli fruit is a citrus fruit exclusively grown in Jamaica and made by hybridizing a grapefruit, tangerine and orange. Jamaicans pronounce it OO-glee.
I picked up the most repulsive looking one there, “I’ll take this Ugli Fruit.”
The clerk grabbed my choice and put it back in the stack. He then handed me to two other options. “Which one is heavier?” I thought this was a joke or at least some sort of magic trick.
“I don’t know” I said, trying not to be the butt of this one.
He took them back an selected the heavier of the two. “The heavier the fruit, the better.” Ok.
He sliced it in half to reveal a juicy, orange interior. My mouth started to water. The man went one step further and segmented the interior for easy access, claiming that he does “not do this for everyone”. Lucky me.
The fruit was sweet and tangy. Definitely better than lamb brains.
Peter, who finds my giddiness about trying new things slightly humorous, decided to video tape the Ugli Fruit transaction.
Have you ever tried Ugli Fruit? What is the strangest fruit or vegetable you have ever eaten?
