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- Title:
- Fairest of Fruits
- Date Created:
- 2021-02-17
- Description:
- Navarrete in vignette 6 said LI CHI was the Chinese “queen of fruits”. Some priests described its taste as similar to sweet grape. He added that NANGKA is the “best fruit in the world”with some of them weighing over 40 libras (28 pounds) each. Its nuts or seeds were savoury when eaten raw or roasted. The Dominican, like other missionaries, called ATES (Anona squamosa L.) the “most superior of all the fruits God created” because of its aroma and taste. As the second colonial century started GUAVA (Psidium guayava) introduced from America had spread so fast it was destroying the pasteurage of cattle that in some areas multiplied greatly. Crows and other birds ate the fruit and dropped the stones to the ground where they took root. Guava was eaten raw or cooked into desired preserves and jellies. (Archaeological digs dated before Spanish settlement reveal guava seeds that could be a Philippine or Asian variety.) PAPAYA from the New World was growing well. There were at least eight kinds of native banana and orange. Manila’s lemons were small. They were DAYAP. One could not tell anymore which fruits were immigrant. The favoured fruits united indios and colonials through food.
- Subjects:
- Domingo Fernandez Navarrete O.P. Litchi Jackfruit Annona Guava Papaya Mexican lime
- Exhibition:
- 100 Minus 8
- Source:
- Guava from a German plant book. 1887. The graphicsfairy.com. Public domain
- Type:
- Image;Still Image
- Format:
- image/jpeg
Source
- Preferred Citation:
- "Fairest of Fruits", Philippine Food History, Felice P. Sta. Maria
- Reference Link:
- felicepstamaria.net/items/coll185.html
Rights
- Rights:
- Public domain
- Standardized Rights:
- https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/