Of late, I have been trying to eat healthy. My wife had been making sandwiches of whole
grained wheat, raw leaves and onions for me to nibble on while stuck in
traffic. I have eaten nothing but veggie
food this weekend and I expect my bowels to turn green anytime now.
I am beginning to
miss the intoxitication that thick pork fat and chicken skin bring me after a
heavy meal washed down with 500 ml of Coke. It’s a good thing we do not have mirrors in our home or I may have
cursed myself a thousand times already for being, plainly and simply, a
glutton.
Believe it or not,
there was a time when my belly wasn’t a problem everytime I pull up a pair of
pants. Back in those forgotten days, I
could button my shirts up to the neck area and wear a tie.
Those were the days
when, while I had ready access to Coke and junk food, I always would prefer the
delights available in our backyard. While
my father is an agriculturist and he planted some fruit trees of his own, it was
actually my maternal grandfather who planted the many fruit trees I used to
enjoy in my childhood. He had access to
seedlings of the latest hybrid varieties in his time. My favorite part of every afternoon was being
in the backyard, neck craning and looking up at the branches heavy with fruits.
The ones I remember:
1. Guava—before the advent of guapols, those large yet bland guavas
readily available on Manila streets, my siblings and I
used to enjoy the sweetest and the biggest guavas we knew of. Our guava tree was huge and it bore fruit
profusely. Being a reasonably good tree
climber I was almost always successful in getting to the biggest fruits even if
they grew from the farthest of branches. While some fruits exploded to be as large as today’s guapols, our guavas had red flesh and
are terribly sweet when ripe. But we
loved our guavas somewhat manibalang
and we drown them in cane vinegar with lots of salt. We sure saw lots of whitened lips because of
the vinegar.
2. Jackfruit—right beside our guava tree was
our thick and shriveled jackfruit tree. I think this was the oldest tree in our backyard. It was so old that fungus turned its trunk
bright green and airborne orchids started growing on its branches. But this jackfruit was a wonder—it had
humongous fruits. They were so huge that
before they ripen, we had to tie nylon ropes around them and secure the other
end on the nearest branch to prevent them from breaking off and falling
prematurely. And you bet they smelled
curious and and you bet they tasted good. I did not even care if I smelled of langka
when going to school.
3. Star Apple—The common star apples had
oblong-shaped fruits and somewhat pointed. Ours were perfectly-round, thin-skinned and, when perfectly-ripe, were
colored deep purple. A dozen or so of
these wonders could already fill a small basket. And they were the sweetest around. It didn’t matter to us if the sticky juice
would dribble all over our shirts; we’d be sucking like mad ‘til all the fleshy
rinds are gone and the smooth and black seeds were all that were left.
4. Balimbing—Have you seen balimbing
boughs hanging so low because they were so heavy with fruit? Our balimbing tree was like that. Again, we sliced them crosswise so they looked
attractive, star-shaped and all, and we devoured them soaked in cane vinegar
and salt. I have fallen once from this
tree and that was when I knew for the first time the meaning of the phrase,
“got the wind knocked out of me.” (Until
I met my wife, of course.)
5. Avocado (Alligator Pear)—One thing I
remember most about our avocado tree was that its lowest branch stuck out
straight as an arrow and thick like a log. This branch was perfect then to hang a swing from. My elder cousins had lots of fun with this
swing and so did we. And, of course, its
big, fleshy fruits were sweet too. No
need to add sugar and milk. (Did you
know, btw, that avocados are the most nutricious of fruits? And if you are on a
diet, avoid them at all costs because of its high fat content.)
6. Hawaiian Mango—Planted smack center of our
backyard was this old hawaiian mango. Of
all the trees I mentioned, this is the only one still with us. Being partial to indian mango (green, not
ripe), I didn’t pay much attention to this tree. Its fruits just fell to the ground and we didn’t
pick them up sometimes. But this is
actually the sweetest mango variety there is. Smells funny, though.
7. Coconuts—my friend Tirso and I tried
climbing our shortest malabaga (red)
coconut once. The shed roof we were
standing on collapsed on us. Got my foot
injured and I still have the scar. But
the mala-uhog (ali!) flesh of a young coconut was always worth the trouble.
8. Bananas—while most of our bananas were latundan, we had some manila varieties
too. I ate them both.
9. Pomelo—our pomelo was pale yellow with
white flesh, unlike the red-fleshed davao
variety we have in groceries and on street corners here in Manila. Their fruits were as big as coconuts. This is another fruit
great-with-vinegar-and-salt combo. But
they were good eaten on their own. They were
that sweet.
10. Atis (Sugar Apple)—I hated our atti tree. It did not bore fruit as much as the others
did, maybe because it had so many aphids. The tree had this strong unpleasant smell. I only remember it now because the few times
that it bore fruit, they were comparatively big and sweet.
11. Papaya—we hit it big one time, although
our profuse papaya came much later. I
was already in my teens when we had this tall papaya tree with huge trunks and
even bigger fruits. We ate its fruits
when they were ripe and sweet or unripe dipped in vinegar and water. (Rosal
vinegar made oodles from us.)
12. Chesa–We had one. Did not like it; do not like it still. Looks too much like a baby’s pooh when a bit masticated to be palatable. This fruit I gladly gave away. (The others, we sold what we could not consume.)
I remember of one
other fruit tree whose name I don’t recall now. It had small, shiny green leaves and huge thorns. The fruits look like violet grapes, only
sour. Appreciate it if someone here
could tell me its name.
The only downside
to having all these trees then was the unending chore of sweeping and burning
their fallen leaves in the morning and in the afternoon. And whenever we had strong typhoons, broken
off branches would litter our backyard and I sometimes had the unenviable task
of clearing it all up.
While we had our
hearts full with the fruits available in our backyard, I still raided our
neighbors’ fruits trees that we did not have:
a. Bignay—the Datuls had the biggest
bignay (vunnay to us Ybanags) tree I
ever saw. I credit the dozens of
carabaos tettered to its trunks and their pungent dung for making this tree so
profuse. (There were so may nylon ropes
tied around its trunk that it turned smooth and shiny. In its glory years, the tree would have so
many berrylike fruits that its crown would burst from into red and slowly to
black as the berries ripen. You bet they
were eaten with vinegar and salt.
b. Mabolo—at the western edge of our
barangay were two tall mabolo trees owned by the Bernagas. Sometimes we would try our luck and scour the
grass around their trunks to see if any fruit has fallen.
c. Chico—the
Bauzas had the most wicked chico
trees around. For you foreigners out
there, chico fruits look like
kiwis, only brownier. They smell like
stale beer but their grainy fleshes are very tasty.
d. Breadfruit (Rimas)—In front of the
Roman Catholic chapel was a huge breadfruit tree. It has been said that my mother took a liking
to breadfruits when she was having me. Boiled, they are dipped in unrefined brown sugar and eaten like, you
guessed it, bread. They taste like one
too. Come to think of it, if
superstitions about lihi are to be
believed, my personality is much like breadfruit—coarse and brown like carmelized
sugar on the outside but soft and filling inside. (Ano ba
itong pinagsusulat ko?)
e. Santol—Gerald’s family had santol. So did our school. Before the bangkok variety made the dare
impossible, I used to swallow whole santol seeds which would later cause me
trouble inside the john.
f. Soursop (Guyabano)—Edgar Abaya used to
give us guyabanos. That was, I think,
when he had a crush on Jing, my sister. (Now he’s married to a classmate of mine.) Good guy; good fruit.
g. Tamarind—I did not like tamarind
much. I only included it in this list
because when we were kids, we believed that the big tamarind tree behind the
Home Economics building in our elementary school housed a big kapre.
h. Pineapple—only the Bauzas had
them. Being close relations, we got some
too during picking time.
i. Siniguelas–the Dayags has this empty lot at the western portion of the barangay which is dominated by an old siniguelas tree. imagine a tree with gnarled trunk, leaf-less branches and a crown that could only described as Haydee Yorac’s twin–that’s how it looks for the better part of the year. but lovely, lovely fruits. so fleshy and juicy when fully ripe. looks can be deceiving. ask those who really knew haydee yorac.
i. Watermelon and Melons and Corn—Gerald
Guzman let us have our way in their many farms. But when we were in high school, he let the girls more than he did us
guys.
There are other
fruits whose names now escape me. Sometimes, all that I remember are their tastes and smells.
I miss them so much
after a lunch of wheat, lettuce and onions.
I took a three p.m. lunch today and while waiting for the Ilocano Igado to be served, I picked up a copy of today’s sports page. My jaw dropped and I lost my appetite when I read the main section story–the Red Cubs got swept by the Junior Stags in the NCAA juniors finals!
