Guavas ( Psidium guajava) are so much a part of childhood like nothing else. Our orchard boasted of about 9-10 trees of fruit-bearing age. Each of the trees produced fruits of unique tastes, flavors, colors, shapes and sizes.
This is rose apple (Syzygium jambos), a delicious tropical fruit with rose fragrance. We have a lone tree in front yard of our home in India. This tree is rare in that region, so draws lots of attraction. The medium-sized tree with dark-green, lanceolate leaves and the greenish-white flowers is a glory of our house garden and testimony of my father's passion for growing exotic plants. Many sweet memories of my childhood lingers around the tree. I have played among the branches and relished dozens of the yellow skinned, oval fruits. Even the dark colored spheroid seeds had been great play items. It's sad, the tree is fast approaching senescence, every summer some parts of the canopy are scorched. The rate at which the tree size is shrinking and the trunk getting hollow, I fear it will last only few years more.
Indian jujube (Zizyphus mauritiana). These green-orange, red, brown colored oval drupes are deeply linked to my childhood. Not to forget the sneaking into others backyard and stoning the heavily fruit-laden drooping trees, not withstanding the spines strewn on the ground. Then, picking them and devouring the sweet-sour fruits with salt and chilli powder, spitting only the stony seeds. Gorging on the raw fruits often left us with coughs, but who cared, as long as these tasted good.
Basketful of custard apple or sugar apples (Annona squamosa).... tucked in a warm bed of straws covered with a jute sac, left for few days for ripening....then they look like this..
Luscious litchis........
King of the fruits 'mango'...
Sliced coconut........
Spanish lime.....
Jamun.....
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