Devil Fruit

September 19, 2008

When I was a kid, like most kids, I was superstitious. Step on a crack, break your mother's back. Don't walk under ladders. But eventually I outgrew all of that. I've owned black cats. I've broken mirrors and chain letters and have lived to talk about it. And my mother's back, after many stepped upon cracks, is strong and healthy.

Then we discovered Devil's Fruit at Uwajimaya the other night and all my childhood superstitions came flooding to the surface. Never in my life have I seen anything so strange and, well, frightening! I mean, they're black and look like tiny horned demons.

Barnaby, excited as a leprechaun who'd finally discovered that pot of gold, was tossing them into a bag, giggling, "I've never seen anything like! They're so cool!" I, on the other hand, was tossing handfuls of garlic into the basket.

"What's all that for?" he asked.
"I dunno. To...well...ward off something," I stammered.
"Like what? Vampires?"
"One can't be too certain!" I said, grabbing the basket and heading to the checkout counter.

I have to say though, these little guys could come in handy at Costco on a busy Saturday afternoon. If I super glued one to the front of my cart I bet that would keep the zombies at bay. You know the zombies. Those shoppers who forget they are in a crowded public place, park their carts right smack in the middle of the aisle and wander around like they're the living dead. One look at my black horned hood ornament and they'd scatter to the side. Hmmm, there's a thought...

Anyway, we took our little devil fruits home (also called Ling Gok) and cracked them open. At first I thought my eyes would fall out or I'd grow extra fingers, but instead I found them surprisingly good, not unlike coconut and similar to a water chestnut. I still think I should leave some sort of offering out just to appease the spirits. Maybe a mandarin and a bottle of sake will do.

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Comments

Jenna's picture

How weird! I have never seen those before, glad that you were brave enough to try them. So did you eat it raw or cooked?

Grace Piper's picture

Wow,
Have never head of this fruit. What do you think you could do with them? Evil Jam? Evil Fruit Slump? :)

Grace
www.fearlesscooking.tv

Thumbbook's picture

This is an interesting fruit(?) You can boil them first and add them with your salad according to a<a HREF="http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1216/is_n2_v187/ai_10996365" rel="nofollow">recipe here</A>

Great photo! :)

TastyNewEngland's picture

The fruit I've never seen. The zombies at Costco? Oh yeah, I'm quite familiar.

Syrie's picture

Fascinating. Thank you for introducing me to something so strange and new. I hope I get to try them one day.

JJR's picture

I have heard that you need to cook these before eating, as they contain toxins.

Kay's picture

They grow in the shallow water and quite common in Southeast Asia. They are so yummy - you can boil them in salted water. You can eat them just like that or toss them in with you fav salad.

The Wind Attack's picture

Wow, that's really neat. They look to weird to be real.

Heh heh! Costco zombies!

Dee's picture

I like to try new fruit, but these are just too creepy. However, I can see them in the next Batman movie, for sure...

Maggie's picture

They're pretty scary. I wonder how I could get ahold of some for Halloween.

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