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Pithaya

Frank - 9-5-2005 at 08:45 PM

When do Pithaya come into season? How far south do I need to go to get some?

Al G - 9-5-2005 at 08:50 PM

Do you have a Pithaya recipe? I don't know what they are, but thought this would be a sneaky way to ask :saint:

Albert

[Edited on 9-6-2005 by Al G]

Frank - 9-5-2005 at 09:02 PM

Its a fruit that tastes like strawberry, so I hear. I havent had a chance to get a hold of one. I read about it in a Baja book, the one where the guy walked around the entire coast. I cant remember the name.
Looks like all the Baja experts are too busy discussing OTHER things.... to answer a question aabout BAJA.

Boy was I

Al G - 9-5-2005 at 09:09 PM

heading down the wrong path :biggrin:

I thought you were on your boat headed south for some fish I hadn't heard of :lol:

Your right most are busy yelling at JR :lol:

Albert

Mike Humfreville - 9-5-2005 at 09:10 PM

The season is coming right up for some parts of Baja at least. In a small village I frequent the locals all head for the desert for the harvest. There are sweet and sour varities. Easier, you can buy it in some stores when it's in season.

David K - 9-5-2005 at 09:13 PM

This photo (and more of pitayas) is in my web site at http://vivabaja.com/1104

Look for them late fall... this photo was taken along Mex. 1 in San Quintin, Thanksgiving weekend.

David K - 9-5-2005 at 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Frank
Its a fruit that tastes like strawberry, so I hear. I havent had a chance to get a hold of one. I read about it in a Baja book, the one where the guy walked around the entire coast. I cant remember the name.
Looks like all the Baja experts are too busy discussing OTHER things.... to answer a question aabout BAJA.

Frank, that was Graham Mackintosh in his first book: 'Into A Desert Place' http://grahammackintosh.com

Here is me eating a pithaya... they are awesome!

David K - 9-5-2005 at 09:18 PM

Antonio (BajaCactus) shows how easy a pithaya is to peel (once the thorns are knocked off with a knife... Just bite in...

Frank - 9-5-2005 at 09:21 PM

Looks like I will be on a Pithaya bender come late Fall. Thanks for the replies.

jerry - 9-5-2005 at 09:31 PM

on a few trips down to bcs i had the oppertunity to try this fruit it was being sold by street venders at a pemex prepared with the thorns knocked off just needed to cut it in 4ths and eat it right out of the skin very tasty oh might want to wear a red shirt couse its bona have red pokadots soon have a good one
jerry

Looks rich and juicy David

Sharksbaja - 9-5-2005 at 11:06 PM

What time of year are they present? I saw some out on Pta Concepcion but no fruit. Do they fruit same time of year in norte y sur? Thanks

David K - 9-6-2005 at 06:39 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Sharksbaja
What time of year are they present? I saw some out on Pta Concepcion but no fruit. Do they fruit same time of year in norte y sur? Thanks

They are a FALL fruit... ripe in late fall. I describe the taste like a cherry popcycle! Juicy, crunchy like soft ice, and the seeds are tiny, like strawberry or kiwi fruit, so you just eat the whole thing.

bajajudy - 9-6-2005 at 08:30 AM

I am surprised not to see anything about the second harvest?
The indios used to gather at the time of year that the pitaya were ripe. It was the time when the tribes all got together and choose mates , etc. Since the pitaya was the only fruit of the desert it was cherished...twice. The families would have certain spots to do their morning rituals and after the festival they would gather up their own feces and strain the seeds out and use them for bread. Of course the missionaries put a screeching halt to that but think about how hungry they must have been to have even thought of this way to use the seeds.
I assume that this is true although I have no first hand information to support it.
If you are ever at the Ignacio Springs B&B ask Terry if she has any of her pitaya perserves for sale...to die for!

[Edited on 9-6-2005 by bajajudy]

rpleger - 9-6-2005 at 09:07 AM

I will sure try some this year.............

Anonymous - 9-6-2005 at 09:10 AM

PITHAYA?

What does the cactus they grow on look like ??

vandenberg - 9-6-2005 at 09:11 AM

Soorry!! forgot to log in :lol:

Now I ask you

Al G - 9-6-2005 at 10:58 AM

Bajajudy,
Why would they not strain the seeds before eating!!! Then they could make bread and do PITHAYA turn overs
:lol:

Pitaya

Sharksbaja - 9-6-2005 at 11:18 AM

I spotted these on Pta. Concepcion near the mine. Are these them?

A second look at the Second Harvest

bajalera - 9-6-2005 at 11:44 AM

The notorious Second Harvest wasn't quite as revolting as commonly described. For starters, it didn't involve "gathering up feces" or "picking out seeds."

A diet consisting almost solely of pitahayas [which I once lived on for a week or so] seriously disrupts one's digestive system. What the padres referred to as "deposits" amount to little more than seeds and liquids. [If the seeds had been embedded in the usual solids, I doubt they would even have been noticed, they're so tiny.]

Padre Miguel del Barco's account in Spanish is the only one I've found that describes the processing of this food in detail. Each family set aside leaves or flat rocks for its deposits, to keep them out of the sand and dirt. [So don't think they weren't picky!]

At the end of the season, women crumbled the material ["as if running their hands through flowers," Barco says] in their large, flat trays and winnowed it--tossing it up forcefully so the seeds dropped back into the tray and the chaff was whisked away by the wind. Hot coals were added to the tray, which was shaken so the seeds toasted without burning. The seeds were then ground.

Padre Piccolo was offered this food on a visit to a mission outpost, enjoyed it and thanked his hosts graciously. And was subsequently reminded of this "with some amusement" whenever the padres got together. Poor guy!

Historian Pablo L. Martinez rejected the idea of the Second Harvest, implying that Padre Baegert made it up, and a book published more recently in La Paz claims it was practiced only by a few groups during starving times. But in his history of the Jesuit period, Ignacio del Rio Chavez points out that it was reported by other priests as well, for the entire peninsula.

Woodes Rogers and George Shelvocke--English sea captains [each of whom captured a Manila galleon off Cabo San Lucas]--were both provided with the Second Harvest by the Pericu, and thought it tasted okay.

Bon appetit!

Lera

bajajudy - 9-6-2005 at 02:37 PM

Pompana
That doesnt look like any pitaya I have ever seen. Looks more like a guanabana to me. Do you know what variety it is?

Lera
Poop is poop no matter what you have eaten to produce, dont you think!

bajalera - 9-6-2005 at 03:58 PM

Pompano, pitahayas--both sweet and tart--have teensy little black seeds, evenly scattered throughout flesh that's usually bright red when ripe. You're the only person I've ever heard of who prefers the sweet ones, so maybe you're thinking of something else?.

Judy, I've thought about doing a complete study of the Second Harvest, but to be valid that would require a Ph.D. or at least an MA.

Chemistry would do nicely. Braulio? Pam? Here's your chance to carry out a project that would make you famous or infamous. Whichever.

Lera

elizabeth - 9-6-2005 at 04:21 PM

Pompano
Looks like a cherimoya to me...also a great fruit, kind of custardy. The big seeds are kind of a drag, though.

bajajudy - 9-6-2005 at 04:59 PM

Elizabeth
Guanabana is the local name for cherimoya. The local popcicles still have the seeds in them
And Yes Pampano that is a guanabana/cherimoya.
I really love the fruit. Have a tree in my yard but it has yet to produce. It is a mix of apple and pear taste...really yummy.

provecho

elizabeth - 9-6-2005 at 05:05 PM

Bajajudy
Thanks...don't know why I never made the flavor connection!!!! When I read your message, it was one of those light bulb moments. I always ate "cherimoyas" fresh and "guanabanas" in juice...

David K - 9-6-2005 at 07:03 PM

Cherimoya and guanabanas are related annonas (custard apples), but not the same. Soursop is another name for guanabana if I recall correctly... Cherimoyas are from western South America (Chile to Ecuador) and are grown also here in Southern California (Vista). Beautiful large trees with vevety green leaves, when rubbed smell like lemon...

Pescador - 9-6-2005 at 07:55 PM

Sweet pitaya start about late June and August from Santa Rosalia on south. The indians generally preferred these and they are much larger, juicier, and as the name implies sweeter. The missionaries were really frustrated because the indians would not work at that time of the year and would lay around and gorge themselves on the fruit. Some suggested that if eaten really ripe that they would ferment really quickly so there may have been some alcohol content to the fruit.
Sour pitaya come in a little later, like October in the south of Baja and a little later in the north. We have picked them around Santa Rosalia in early November to mid november. While called sour, they are pretty good too even if they are not quite as sweet. We cut them in half and eat the insides with a spoon.
I made a really fancy contraption to pick them from the cactus plants but was out one day just outside of La Ventana, when an old man came by and was laughing at the fruit I was picking. It has to be picked exactly when it is ripe, as one day late and it breaks open, and the birds eat the whole thing within a day or so. Picked too green and you are going to get a stomach ache and they don't taste very good. Anyway, he had taken an alumunim can, cut off the top, made 2 to 3 inch slots down the sides, and then used this as a grabbing tool. He showed me that when the fruit is ripe, the thorn clusters fall off fairly easily, which he did with a twig, while holding the fruit in his home made picker.
Once cleaned, they will last quite awhile in the refrigerator and we have tried several times to keep them over two weeks, but they always seem to disappear.
Finally, the guide to Baja plants has a good reference to the "second harvest" and I have seen it in several books. I used to teach on the Apache Reservation in Arizona and that was also a common practice with the prickly pear buds which are similar and a slightly larger seed.

bajajudy - 9-6-2005 at 08:52 PM

DK
You are correct. I have labored under the misconception that cherimoya was also soursop.
So many fruits so little time

bajajudy - 9-6-2005 at 08:57 PM

Annona muricata
Annona cherimola

Can we get the chemists in on this?

the first pitahaya i ever tasted...

eetdrt88 - 9-6-2005 at 09:42 PM

was at the inspection station above san felipe on a really hot day...as i sat in the passenger seat of my buddys car one of the soldiers was munching away on one of these,he looked over to see me drooling and offered me and my buddy one...unbelievably good,especially on a hot day :tumble:

today from El Univeral

bajajudy - 10-8-2005 at 09:20 AM

Fruit seeds fight dengue

October 08, 2005

VERACRUZ Scientists in this Gulf coast city have discovered that seeds from the tropical fruit guanabana are a powerful insecticide against the mosquito responsible for transmitting the dengue virus, even eliminating the insect's larvae.

"This bio-insecticide not only is more effective than the traditional pesticides, but also is light resistant and less harmful to the environment," researchers at the University of Veracruz told EFE Thursday.

Molecular biologist Veronica Dom?nguez said this natural insecticide to be used against the Aedes aegypti mosquito that transmits the dengue virus could be used to control dengue outbreaks worldwide.

After several tests of natural extracts and store-bought chemical insecticides, the researchers found that the seeds of the guanabana a fruit with a hard, green skin and white, juicy pulp contained the lethal agent.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), two-fifths of the world's population are at risk of dengue infection and more than 100 countries have been hit by classic or hemorrhagic dengue outbreaks.

The WHO estimates that some 50 million people come down with classic and hemorrhagic dengue fever each year. A total of 500,000 are hospitalized with the disease and 20,000 die annually.

Dom?nguez said one of the main problems in fighting the spread of dengue is the resistance that the Aedes aegypti mosquito has developed to traditional pesticides, as well as its rapid adaptation to different environments.