Tamarillos and Other New Experiences

As part of my "41 Things to Do Before I'm 42" list, I tried a new fruit. It was a Tamarillo. I saw it at the grocery store and bought it, despite its high price tag. It was on sale, for $3.50 a piece. That's a lot for a fruit the size of a Roma tomato, especially when you are out of work, but I decided it was worth it to get the new experience.

A day later, in the late morning, I was feeling like a snack, so I got out the Tamarillo. I had already looked it up online to find out that the skin is inedible so I peeled it. The skin is bright red and comes off rather easily. Underneath is bright orange. It is like holding a bright orange softboiled egg in your hand and removing the red shell with a knife. The whole thing would hold together but feel squishy and move in my hand as I removed the skin. It was very weird.

Once peeled, I sliced it in half. The insides are a bit like a small pomegranate so that you have an orange fruit whose insides are mostly tiny red seeds (which I read were edible). I put each half in a bowl with a spoon and gave one bowl to my husband and sat down to have my new experience.

I took my time, smelling it (sort of like a tomato) and poking the seeds with the spoon. The color combination was certainly odd. Then I cut off a piece (texture: again, sort of like a roma tomato). When I bit into it, my face screwed up tight, and my feet kicked out. It was slightly sour and very weird. Kind of a cantalope with tomato seeds inside, but a little sour too. Each bite confirmed the experience. It was fairly hideous. I can honestly say, save your money on this one. I don't think the Tamarillo will be the next hot fruit to eat.

The interesting thing is that I don't regret my experience. I wanted to try something new, and I did. When I see this thing again, I'll know exactly what it was like and will have a strong, vivid memory of eating it. I broadened my horizons. That was really what my list was all about, anyways.

Not all experiences in life are good ones, but every experience teaches something and leaves a memory. Even bad experiences, when remembered later, can take on a warm glow of fond memory. Some of the worse travel experiences become funny stories later and some of our strongest memories.

I got my $3.50's worth of experience out of that tiny Tamarillo. I just won't be repeating it again anytime soon!