Out Here: All hail the mighty loquat
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010
My six-year-old takes an after school Spanish class at the home of a wonderful woman who lives in Thousand Oaks. After one class, he came out carrying a fistful of large brown seeds. They reminded me of avocado pits but were a quarter the size. The next class he came out with a handful of small apricot-colored fruits, resembling tiny peaches or apricots. As far as fruits and vegetables go, I like to think I’ve really been around. However, I had no idea what these fruits were. And my son was absolutely crazy about them. After subsequent classes he would continue to raid his Spanish teacher’s backyard tree. Once, she told us they were kumquats (she actually knew the correct Spanish word for the fruit but didn’t have the English one right). I knew they weren’t kumquats. Since the kid was obsessed with them, we made a special scouting trip to Whole Foods. The first trip we came up dry, but the next we found just a few containers with the magic fruit: loquats! My son started devouring them in the car and by the next day they were completely gone. At Whole Foods a medium-sized container of the small fruits was $10. So, indeed, we were left with the impression that they were magic, or gold, or rare, or something like that.
Imagine my surprise when I was walking my dog with a friend the other day and looked up and thought I saw one of these trees in our neighborhood. Upon further inspection, it was a loquat tree absolutely bursting with fruit. Later that day I was out with my husband and son and down our very street there were several loquat trees also bursting with fruit. We nabbed a few and could barely keep Nicolas from devouring them before we got home. We’ve lived in this house since late 2001 and I never once came across a loquat (or maybe I dismissed them as some other fruit). A few of my friends who have lived here even longer also told me they didn’t know about the fruits.
Loquats are native to China and Japan but the coastal areas from here to San Diego also have loquat trees. There is a reason, however, that they aren’t widely known. They’re a delicate fruit that is hard to mass harvest and even more difficult to transport to large grocers. At times you may see them at farmer’s markets or speciality grocery stores, but you’ll probably never see them in Ralph’s or Von’s. There’s some lore associated with the loquat too. In Japan they are sometimes babied during growing and cultivation and them presented — unbruised, of course– in special boxes, much like we do a box of prized chocolates. In China, loquats are sometimes sold in clusters, still on the branch, tied with string and emitting an alluring scent. In traditional Chinese lore, the loquat and its blossoms are linked with courtesans!
The taste is hard to describe. To me, it’s a blend of apricot, plum and cherry — with perhaps a little pear mixed in. There are recipes for loquat tarts, etc. but they are small fruits and seem to be best when simply eaten. Each fruit contains between one and five large seeds. One interesting fact I found is that when eaten in larger amounts the loquat is said to have a mild sedative effect. Of course, I’m encouraging my son to eat as many loquats as he can handle. But if you want to partake, hurry up. The loquat season here winds down come the end of June.
