Growing up in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, we are fortunate to eat a variety of fruits in each month of the year. Each month has a different fruit in season, but unfortunately the Teacher does not discuss such small matters with their students, as the syllabus of the "O" and "A" level C.X.C. Examinations have not caught up with such local events as yet.If you asked the overseas-based Vincentian what was the season for sour-sop or for mammee-apple, I wonder how many could answer such a question. With this in mind, I have put together a short description of the fruits, and when they appear on the vine, and on the bramble.Avocado Pearalso called "Zaboca", the trees are about 14 feet tall, leaves about 5 inches long, dark green in color. In February - March, small yellow flowers appear, later followed by the small fruit. The season runs from June to October, November.BreadfruitThere appears to be several varieties of Breadfruit, which bear at different times of the year, so it appears that breadfruit come in more than "one season". The tree grows to a height of 30 to 60 feet tall, and the wood is used to make coffins, and furniture. When picked, the fruit drips a thick white sap, which stains the hand or clothes on contact. The leaves are 10 inches long and 7 inches wide.
The breadfruit is plentiful from February to October. The bread-fruit was introduced into S.V.G from Tahiti in the Pacific by the famous Capt Bligh in 1765. The fruit can be boiled, roasted, baked or fried.Bow-leeor Calabash, the wood is very hard. The tree grows to 15 to 18 feet tall, the leaves are shiny bright green and 5 inches long; the fruit is oval in shape, and from 4 to 14 inches in diameter. The calabash has a hard shell, about 6 milli-meters thick, and is filled with a soft white pulp. The fruit is seen on the tree from November to June.Cherrythe trees have thorns on the branches; thin stems spread out from the trunks. On maturing, the fruits are red in color; they ripen from October-December. Some are acid sour, other are slightly sweet; the ripe fruits when crushed make a refreshing drink.Dounce-Plumthe tree grows to about 14 to 18 feet, and is difficult to climb, as the trunk bears thorns. The fruit is a small solid pulpy cherry, with a slightly sweet taste, and a small seed internally. The fruits are ripe February to May.Golden Applethe tree is good for shade, and is 30 to 40 feet tall. The small flowers appear in March followed later by the green fruit. They ripen August to December; even when ripe, the fruit has a slightly sour taste behind the sweet.
The fruit is called "June-plum" in Jamaica. The fruit is about 3 inches long, and yellow on the inside. The seed is very spiny; the golden-apple makes a delicious jelly.GuavaThere are many varieties of this fruit; when ripe the fruit varies from 4 cm. to 7 cm. diameter. the larger ones are white inside and outside, the smaller ones are most plentiful in November to December. Guava jelly, guava jam..The tree is about 6 to 7 feet tall.Java PlumThe tree is very tall, up to 50 feet, with a strong trunk. The flowers appear in March, and the ripe fruits seen July to Sept. The ripe fruit is about 3 cm. long and soft and pulpy on the inside; the color is dark purple and almost black, with a yellow-green seed on the inside. Beware! the sap of the fruit stains on coming into contact with clothes. When squeezed, the juice of the Java-plum can make a fruit drink or wine.LimesThe tree grows to a height of about 12 feet. It has thorns about the leaves and fruit, so one has to be careful on picking limes. It is easiest to use a long bamboo pole with a nail affixed at the end to pick the limes. The tree is an evergreen, meaning that the leaves do not all fall off at the same time; compare this with Bequia plum tree, whose leaves fall off completely at a certain point of the growth cycle, and is called a deciduous tree.
Small yellow-white flowers appear February to March; then the small lime-buds are visible. The fruit is available from June to October, November.Lemonsthe crop runs parallel to the lime crop.Lobstersthe lobster caught in S.V.G. is much bigger than the variety caught in Maine and other North American locations in S.V.G. it is illegal to catch a female lobster; the fisherman is only allowed to capture the male lobster. The lobster season runs from October to April; if any are caught from May to September, that is an illegal act, and the fisherman can be prosecuted. This is designed to prevent depletion of the resources.Mangoesare easily the most popular fruit in S.V.G. There are many different varieties, starting with the Paul-Over, DeBique, Horse, Scuttle, Boucan, Celon, Grafted (Julie) and the Imperial.The tree is an evergreen, and the yellow-red flowers appear in clusters in December to January. Many bees and other insects are attracted to the flowers, and help to pollinate the flowers and to produce a large crop. Soon the small mango buds appear, and grow larger. The Paul-Over crop runs from May to August. The Grafted mango has a longer season, and you can get odd ones from February through September. The grafted mango can be grown from cuttings only; the other types can be grown from planting the seeds or from the cuttings.
The green mango can be used in combination with spices and herbs to produce chutney, a very tasty side dish at meal-time. The mango is a supplier vitamin A and C to the diet; the average mango provides 130 calories. The mango that ripens on the tree is so much sweeter than if is picked half-ripe, but it has to be picked in this way to be shipped overseas to be sold in the super-markets in New-York or London. In Jamaica and Puerto Rico, there are industries built around canning the mango juice, to be shipped overseas. We have not tapped this resource in S.V.G. and this is something to be developed, because a lot of fruits fall to the ground is wasted during the height of the crop.Mammy Applegrows on a tall strong tree, about 20 to 30 feet tall. The fruit is 6 inches in diameter, with a thick skin, a yellow flesh about 4 cm. thick and a large seed in the middle; the flesh is boiled to make a delicious jam.Orangesmany varieties exist; the tree is about 12 to 15 feet tall. Like the lime tree, the tree bears thorns, and the fruit is best picked with a long bamboo pole and the attached nail. The fruit is available from June to December.
PlumThere are 2 types of plums in S.V.G., and they are both deciduous trees in that they shed their leaves at some point in the year; they are the Bequia and the Jamaican Plum.Bequia Plum:The tree sheds all of it's leaves in December, than the small flowers appear in January, followed by the leaves in February. The small fruits mature during the dry season and reach full maturity in May to June. This plum is oval in shape, about 1 inch long, and has a nipple-like protuberance on the end. It is red-brown on the outside, and yellow on the inside. They are quite sweet on ripening, much sweeter than the Jamaican plum. Both types of plum grow from cuttings, and not from planting the seeds.Jamaican Plum:The tree is about 12 to 15 feet tall, just like the Bequia plum. Both trees are fairly easy to climb, and there is a local folk-lore that if a girl climbs the tree, then the fruit is less sweet, but this is mere myth. The tree sheds its leaves in March, and the small flowers appear followed by the leaves. The small fruit appear in July and the ripe ones are ready by September to December. Even when ripe, the fruit has a slight acid taste behind the sweet.The plum has an oval shape, and it is about one inch long.
