Golden Apple- Fisiter

The Golden Apple resembles an elongated apple about 5-8 cm long, which is green and turns golden yellow when ripe. The flesh of the unripe fruit is whitish, firm and sour in taste while the ripe flesh is yellow and juicy with a very fruity taste reminiscent of the pineapple. It has a large spiky stone and much care should be taken when handling the fruit. The fruit originates from Tahiti which was named by Bouguinville as La Nouvelle- Cythère, hence le fruit de Cythère. Cythère or Kythira in English is an island in Greece lying opposite the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese peninsula.

It is mostly the green fruit that is used in the creole cooking whilst the ripe fruit is enjoyed as a snack, although rarely, juiced. The most popular dish made from the golden apple is the satini, whereby the green fruit is peeled, grated and tossed in hot oil, with onion, lemon juice, salt and pepper and chilli. Like most chutneys, it would be consumed as accompaniments to curries and most fish dishes.

Grated golden apple also adds a tarty flavour as well as texture to a grilled fish when it is added to the marinade and inserted into the incisions made in the flesh of the fish. It is also made into a salad which is a sweet and sour salad and to which chilli and onion are added. It can also be eaten with salt and pepper, or at times with some chilli added. In this case, it will be peeled, cut into wedges which are prized open from the spiky core or stone, a favourite of mine. Crunchy!