This week I saw on Facebook a post from Teacher Fábio Emerim, who teaches English as a foreign language in Brazil, about how to say some fruits in English. In the list he mentioned pitanga: I learned that it's called "Surinam cherry" in English.
The mention of this tiny round, somewhat mandarin-shaped (because of the apparent wedges it has), bright orangish-red cherry made me smile and brought back sweet and aromatic childhood memories for me. In my mind, I saw myself once again perched on a Surinam cherry tree (pitangueira) branch above the sandy gray soil beneath, in a coastal month of February, plucking off these juicy scarlet ornaments for my own summer delight. A genuine Brazilian flavor dream.
Image by Gustavo Torres from Pixabay
Pitanga, or Surinam cherry, is undoubtedly my favorite fruit. It's sweet, but not much; it's a bit acid, but only a tiny little and by no means does it make your lips feel prickly; it's succulent; its stones are smooth and slightly soft, not causing any trouble and even agreeable to chew; and it gives off a pleasant and unique, sweet-sharp scent.
Doing a little research on Google, I found out that pitanga can also be translated into English as "Brazilian cherry", though this might not be a precise term. It is apparently used to refer to a range of species, one of them being jabuticaba, a black cherry that grows on the trunk of a tree (another good one to try!).
Anyhow, it makes me feel good that my preferred fruit is one of my own homeland. I don't really know why the Surinam cherry, as well as other native species, does not have a commercial value. Maybe it's because its quality depends on specific soil traits? That's pure guessing, though. I once tried a pitanga on my university campus in Porto Alegre; much to my disappointment, it had a very weak flavor and no aroma at all...
Those ones from my childhood memories, however, in a native tree garden near the Atlantic seashore, were the real deal. And that very tree I am perching on in my thoughts still bears fruit to this day in real life. My uncle and aunt (piblings?) even make jam out of its cherries. (But I would rather eat them fresh from the tree!).
But, oh... how I wish there were Surinam cherry ice creams to be found anywhere around... and popsicles, ice pops, candies, juice, soft drinks, jams, and all the other treats they make out of fruits. Unfortunately, this is not the case in Brazil, whose people seem to sometimes turn their backs on what their homeland's nature has to offer. Or maybe that's just my cherry resentment speaking 😁
So, if you ever come across pitangas, the tiny cherries that you can see in the picture above, don't hesitate: try them. If you live in Brazil or if you ever come to Brazil, maybe you will be lucky enough to find a tree. It's not like it can be found anywhere, but it's not rare either: it is a legit Atlantic Forest element. So much so that some specialized gardening shops in the region sell Surinam cherry saplings; my mother-in-law even bought one a few months ago.
In case you have been wondering what the other fruits I like best are (you were probably not wondering), apart from the East South American delicacy I just described above, here is my personal top 10 fruit ranking:
1 - Pitanga (Surinam cherry)
2 - Maracujá (passion fruit)
3 - Pineapple
4 - Kiwifruit
5 - Melon
6 - Strawberry
7 - Grape
8 - Mango
9 - Banana
10 - Mandarin
What are your top 10?
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