Ice Apple, A Summer Fruit that Brings Back Childhood Memories
Ice Apples, pen, ink & watercolour by Purvi Rathod.
Ice apple is a jelly-like fruit, almost similar to litchi in texture. It is encased in a tough, brown shell which is broken open to reveal the delicate, tropical fruit inside. It has a mild, sweet taste with a hint of coconut, making it a refreshing treat. This summer fruit offers a delicious way to cool down and stay hydrated.
In India, you can find ice apples in the southern and western parts of the country. They go by different names: "tadgola" in Marathi, "taalphadi" in Gujarati, "nungu" in Tamil and Telugu, and "tale hannu" in Kannada.
Purvi Rathod from Vadodara shares the memories of relishing her favourite summer fruit.
Just as I entered the city from the National Highway onto the city roads of Vadodara, there were rows of street vendors sitting on the pavement, one after the other under the hot summer sun of May. Each vendor was surrounded by other people, eager to buy this rare summer fruit. Hardly able to contain my excitement, I stopped by and found a nice spot where I could stand and see the vendor working his way through the hard palm nuts with his sickle-shaped knife. It was such a joy to see him slice through the nuts with precision to take delicate ice apples out from them.
As I waited patiently for my turn, memories from childhood flashed in front of my eyes. I grew up in the coastal city of Surat where this fruit grew in abundance. Every year, we would look forward to a short time of eating this fruit, as it is not available throughout the summer.
On weekend mornings, my father would get them from the local fruit market selling only ice apples. It was always a negotiation with the fruit vendor to give us tender and soft fruits. My sister and I would circle my mother to have this succulent fruit. Peeling the skin of an ice apple requires patience and nimble touch, something we lacked as kids. Mummy would carefully peel the ice apple with a knife and we would open our mouths wide to eat them!
The ice apples have a very subtle flavour. They are slippery, smooth and wobbly, a bit like jelly and easily glide from the palm of your hand. They are very cool in the heat and the juice inside is delicious. This fruit is rich in sodium, vitamin B, minerals and fibres. It has digestive enzymes and is very helpful for the digestive tract. The fruit grows on a Palmyra palm tree. The tree grows up to 30 metres in height and produces around 50 fruits at a time. The fruit looks like a small coconut with purple-black skin. Inside each coconut has about three ice apples. The fruits contain water between the transparent walls and are a hydrating treat during the summer months.
As we sat around the table and ate the fruit, the nostalgia filled our hearts. But the fruit tastes different, not as nice as the ones we ate in Surat, many years ago and not nearly as fresh as the fruits then.
Purvi is a Service Designer & a Researcher by profession and an illustrator by passion. Her venture, A Pocket of Peanuts is aimed to create beautiful illustrations for people and their memories, and in turn, build deeper connections with those who appreciate art.
