Guava (Jamapandu, Amrud)
Ripe guava:
It’s has been a while since we saw and had a ripe guava. 6 years to be exact. They were not in season during our trips to Nandyala. But we got lucky in Toronto, Canada. Local Indian stores were carrying this precious Indian fruit and the real miracle is at a reasonable price.
One of life lessons, I learned is, its not good for health to feel nostalgic about home foods. But this fruit with its incredible fragrance, with just right amount of ripeness brought out symptoms of nostalgia. Eyes misted, mouth watered, brain couldn’t get enough of its smell and heart wanted more… .I don’t know when I’d have a taste of guava again, but for now, I enjoyed the fruit, feeling nostalgically delirious.
This cherished fruit with unique taste and fabulous fragrance when ripe is called Jamapandu in Telugu and ‘Guava, Amrud, Koiya Palam, Perakka and Peyara’ in other Indian languages. Ripening process makes the fruit go from hard to tender and skin colour also changes, from a shade of green to a shade of yellow. We usually eat the whole fruit including the skin and the tiny seeds, when ripe. Just sprinkle some salt, to give that perfect taste of salty sweetness. Pleasant but not flashy, both in looks and taste -that’s how I describe guava.
