The great achacha search

I was reading a foody newsletter from a blog that I follow. The writer mentioned the achacha, a fruit native to South America. I began to wonder about this fruit. With some googling I found the Australian site of the growers/suppliers. On the site was some information about where to buy the achacha. Okay, so this is where it gets interesting. I trekked along to a few fruit shops. No go. When I was on the tour at the Wholesale Fruit and Veg market the other day, I asked the tour leader about the fruit and she had not heard of it. She asked one of the wholesalers at the market. They had a couple of boxes, but said they hadn't been selling so well. I think this is the first year they've been on the market so maybe a bit new just yet.

The other morning I went to Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne and saw no achachas. I asked a couple of stallholders who had tropical fruit, but they hadn't heard of them. I was thinking that maybe Prahran Market might be the go as they seem to have a few speciality items/stalls. So the trek continued. I'd been to about four fruit stalls without success. Got to Pino's. 'Do you have any achachas?' 'Yes.' I picked myself up off the floor. Eureka! I go the impression from the guy that served me that they weren't flying off the shelves. I got a couple and also purchased some lychees just for comparisons sake.

The achachas are bit bigger than a lychee, but the flesh looks similar and the taste is similar. The fruit acutally reminded me of a loquat. I didn't mind it. Both fruits have a largish pod inside. Will purchase again. It's probably good party food, maybe you wouldn't buy it every day, but it would be lovely on a platter of fruit at the end of lunch or dinner.




Postscript: I was at Little Saigon Market in Footscray during the week, buying some veges and having a general snoop at the place and saw achachas at Tan Tien stall, along with red dragon fruit and white dragon fruit, but that's another story.