TROPICAL FRUITS: GUAVAS

The first time I remember eating guavas was while living in Tabuk, Kalinga in the early 70s. My family had relocated there as my father wanted to carve a political career in the region. My father was a lawyer and often times his clients would pay him in kind -- a chicken or two, a pig perhaps, vegetables. Once, a jeep-load of guavas was delivered to our front yard. My mother immediately took to making guava jelly, something she had picked up from her mother although my Lola Felicing was known more for her strawberry jam (that will be another blog post in the future).

The guava Psidium guajava was native to C. America and the West Indies but found its way to Asia thanks to the Portuguese explorers of yore. The guava fruit is generally small and round but varies in color, texture and taste. The inner core may be pale green, yellow, yellow-green, pink depending on the variety and degree of ripeness. The guava is best eaten raw, I believe, when it is in its semi-ripe stage. You will have a delicate tartness and tender flesh to chew on, and the seeds will easily separate from the flesh. Overripe guavas are best for cooking jelly, making syrup, jam preserves or as a base for sinigang -- the Filipino broth known for its sourness. Eating overripe guavas can make you queasy as the texture is like mush and may be too pungent for comfort. Also, ripe guavas may have a worm or two. Although that would signify its organic and pesticide-free state.

I like eating guavas with salt and vinegar. Or patis (fish sauce) with some chillies. What you do is wash the guavas thoroughly, quarter them, and soak in your preferred dip for a few minutes. Guavas are seasonal but there are guava candies in some provinces. Or those sublime guava jellies from Bukidnon made and sold by the monks in a monastery there. The guava soda at the Cafe by the Ruins is the best. I've tried. Ever.

Guavas are rich in vitamin C and fiber. In the Philippines, guavas are thought to be medicinal. In the summer of 1975, I was circumcised in the hospital. I was brought home and made to wear a skirt. My grandmother had instructed our help to steep some guava leaves as a salve and a rinse for my 'wound' down there. To avoid swelling -- tapnu haan nga ag camatis (so it won't swell like a tomato). The old folks believed in the antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties of the guava. Heck, I couldn't care less how they were going to treat me -- I WAS WEARING A SKIRT! YIPEE!!!

Now, dear reader, every time you eat a guava and/or tomato, I want you to have a visual of me as an 8 year-old wearing a skirt. I do all the time. And that is the point of this blog post.