And, now, a fruit identification challenge for Pickle Project readers! Yesterday, at a sidewalk market in Yalta, we encountered these little guys. They have smooth, firm orange skin and are sweet. We asked for the name in Russian, which I earnestly repeated several times, then, immediately forgot. (Moosh something?) The woody stem suggests a larger tree. This fruit is equally mysterious to eight of eight Crimean Tatar friends and colleagues sampled. Any ideas?
Strange... Had they been bigger, I would have guessed pomegranates, but they are so small. So, no idea. Quince (ru. айва)???
ReplyDeleteAny chance they are medlars?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/8363028@N08/3433981774/
or loquat?
ReplyDeleteDrum roll please; I believe we have a winner! These do appear to be loquat, also called medlar or Maltese plum (not to be confused with the Maltese Falcon). And, in Russian, мушмула германская. (I knew it was moosh something..) If we encounter these again, we promise to buy one for a taste test. More quizzes to come!
ReplyDelete> мушмула германская
ReplyDeletethat translates as 'moosh-something from germany' - just to really confuse what that is! :-)
I-)
мушмула
ReplyDeleteYes, German Mooshmoola (as repeated by other Russian speakers), Maltese plum, Japanese medlar, Chinese plum. The loquat apparently has quite the illustrious past!
ReplyDelete:-) as opposed to calling them 'loquats'. :-)
ReplyDeleteimperialism at it's best - we will sell your products, but we will call them what we want.
I-)
If you look up loquats on Wikipedia, then click to read the page in Russian, it takes you to the Mooshmoola Yaponskaya page (Japanese mooshmoola).
ReplyDeleteAlie says in Tajikistan, they are called "baiyarka" (buy-are-kah).
HAVE THEY GOT BIG BLACK SEEDS ENCASED IN FLESH?
ReplyDelete