Recently I saw a beautiful purple fruit at the store that I have never seen before. When I asked my husband what it was, he excitedly told me it was akebi.
Akebi is a fruit that used to be found in the wild (and still is), but started to be cultivated by farmers about 20 years ago. It is only available for about 2 weeks each year. It grows to about the same size as a russet potato. The wild variety splits open when ripe revealing a sack of clear-ish white pulp with black seeds. The cultivated variety doesn't split.
I was excited to bring it home and try it. Purple fruit is so rare. I found it intriguing.
Since ours was cultivated, we had to crack it open. Using a knife, my husband gently cut back the thick outer layer to reveal the inner flesh. He then plopped it into a bowl.
We then took turns slurping the fruit. It was mild in flavor and very gelatinous. It reminded me of tapioca without the vanilla. I liked the slightly sweet pulp. The part that I didn't like was all the seeds.
Although technically the seeds can be eaten, they are very bitter and I had no interest in swallowing them. So, after sucking all the flesh off the seeds, I then spit them out. It felt pretty weird.
Since the pod can be eaten, we tried to soak it for 30 minutes (to mellow the bitter flavor of it) before sautéing it with other vegetables. My husband and I were working together in the kitchen as we prepared dinner. He decided to make a sauce for the veggies while I cooked the fish. Unfortunately, he grabbed the bag of salt, thinking it was sugar, and ruined our side dish. We still tried the akebi flesh, but we did not like it. It was still pretty bitter and a bit slimy. The excess salt didn't help either. I guess next time we should try it fried. Everything tastes better fried, after all.
The fruit was fun to try. Will we be buying it again? Probably not. But it was still a fun experience.
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