The rainy season is officially upon us. Although I am a little bummed that beach trips will have to take a back seat for now, the rains have actually been a nice change from the sweltering heat. Who doesn’t enjoy bed weather, right?
Fruits that contain tannins are known to have medicinal purposes. Duhat is known to help in curing a bad stomach flu.
One fruit that I associate with the rain is duhat (black plum) and this is probably because my love affair with this seasonal fruit occurred when the rains started to come. I remember feeling quite low that day and was just wandering around the house, trying to keep myself preoccupied. I stumbled onto our garden and found our duhat tree studded with fruits and decided to harvest all of them. Then it started to rain. It rained so hard it felt like I was in a six-jet shower, but I didn’t mind. There’s something about the rain that feels cathartic and picking fruits from your own backyard that relaxes you. So now, whenever I see that our duhat tree is starting to bear fruit, I get all giddy and excited knowing that I will have the pleasure of gathering them later and be reminded that all will be well.
duhat (black plum) shaped like a tear drop
There are several ways to enjoy this fruit but I particularly like chilling them in the ref and shaking them with some rock salt right before consuming. The taste is a mixture of sweet , sour and bitter (and saltiness of course, from the salt). But it also leaves a dry feeling in your mouth which is from the tannins of the fruit. Tannins contain astringent which is what causes one to pucker up when eating unripened fruits or even red wine. Some people don’t like this about duhat but I absolutely love it.
ready to be chilled
Now if only they would chill faster…
Miss Maimai is a teacher by profession, a recreational photographer and an aspiring cook who enjoys spending her free time by the sea.
ginger said
i miss u duhat tree …. icy cold duhat shaken in tupperware with coarse salt …. yummm …
missmaimai said
Yes, she paid excess for excess baggage. ha ha ha
Thanks finsmom. I also like green tea a lot so this was quite a joy to make (and eat).
Samson said
I brought home a 10 lbs of fresh Duhat from my last vacation in the Philippines . I put it in the 1 quart zip lock and put it in my ice cooler that i brought home, I also brought home 70 pieces of freshl frozen seedless carabao mango and declared everything upon my arrival @ SFO the agriculture inspector in SFO check my declaration form and check everything and ,he asked me to open my cooler full of fruit from the Phil.and check the seedless mango and the duhat and also seedless camachile ,and he even Thank me for bieng honest of declaring all of the fruits that i brought from the Islands. I, was aware that fruits are not permitted to to bring home specially from Phil. Bu ,I took a chance and I found out that even if you bring home a contra band fruits as long you declare every thing the agri-inspector will thank you and even shake your hand with a big smile that is the key to bring home fresh frozen seedless mango and other fruits, DO NOT LIE be honest what you’re bringing home, this my 2nd time to bring fruits home same procedure., Put the fresh duhat in a zip lock put it in the buttom then put the fresh frozen seedless carabao mango on top 3 mango in each zip lock goodluck and enjoy.
Samson
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