Sampling Fruit from an Asian Market

By Billa

Last week, my husband Martin and I stopped at HL, a fully-stocked Asian supermarket, on Hylan Boulevard, in Staten Island.

There were so many unfamiliar items. Martin selected 3 unusual and unfamiliar fruits.

Ya pear, aksu apple, and dragon fruit

We were excited to try them. Here's what happened:

The Dragon Fruit:

We cut it lengthwise and scooped out the skin with a spoon.

I found it to be very tasty, mildly sweet, and similar to kiwi.

The seeds gave it a nice crunch,

The Ya Pear:

The ya pear is a type of Asian pear, though it has the usual elongated shape you'd expect from a pear, whereas the more familiar Asian pears look like apples.

I found it to be very crispy, not too sweet, with some floral notes.

It tastes more like an apple than a pear, I thought.

The Aksu Apple:

This aksu apple was bigger than any apple I’ve ever seen.

It was as crispy as a Honey Crisp apple.

Juicy, but not too sweet; I would characterize the taste as a very subtle apple taste,

That was interesting. I think we’ll do it again soon.