美味水果釋迦：恐龍外表珍珠心
They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, and the same should go for fruits. Take the cherimoya. This prehistoric-looking tropical fruit has thick, scaly green skin and looks more like a Jurassic Park prop than a yummy dessert choice. And yet it’s a symphony of sweetness. It’s no wonder why the Incas reserved it as a treat for royalty and Mark Twain called it “the most delicious fruit known to men.”
人們常說你不能光看一本書的封面來評判它是不是好書，水果也是一樣。番荔枝（俗稱釋迦）就是一個典型的例子。這個擁有史前長相的熱帶水果，有着厚厚的、醜陋的綠皮，看上去更像《侏羅紀公園》裏面的道具，而不是美味的甜品。然而事實上，它卻是香甜的代名詞。難怪印加人把它視作皇家珍饈，馬克·吐溫稱它是“人類吃過的最可口的水果”。
Native to the inter-Andean valleys of Ecuador, Colombia and Bolivia, cherimoyas grow in big, bushy trees and are very popular in Latin American cuisine. They’re easily found in street markets around the region — and under myriad names. In Brazil, people call them graviolas; in Mexico, poox; in Belize, tukibs; in Haiti, cachimans laChine; and in Venezuela, chirimorrinons — quite a tongue twister. They come in hundreds of different varieties, with names like Deliciosa, McPherson and Chavez, and while they do well in tropical climates, they are also grown in places like the south of Spain and California.
釋迦生長在厄瓜多爾、哥倫比亞和玻利維亞的安第斯山谷間高大茂密的樹上，是拉美非常流行的美食。在這塊區域的街邊市場上很容易找到這種水果，而且有着多種多樣的名字。在巴西，人們叫它格拉維拉斯；在墨西哥，人們叫它普科斯；在伯利茲，人們叫圖克普斯；在海地，叫卡西馬斯拉西尼；在委內瑞拉，叫希瑞莫瑞勒斯（是不是有點像繞口令）。釋迦有多個品種，比如帝力希爾薩、麥克弗爾森和夏維茲，它在熱帶地區生長良好，同時也可以生長在西班牙南部和加利福利亞。
What does it taste like? Well, it’s difficult to describe but resembles a mouthwatering cross of other exotic fruits, including banana, pineapple, papaya and mango. This odd combination makes it taste more like a dessert: custard, fruit pudding or even bubblegum. “It’s one of those very particular tastes that either you love or hate,” says Carmen Pons, a fruit vendor at a Barcelonian market.
它吃起來像什麼呢？很難描述，不過感覺像集合了各種異域水果的味道，輕輕地從你嘴裏滑過，包括香蕉、菠蘿、木瓜和芒果。這種奇怪的多重味道讓你感覺更像是在吃甜點：牛奶沙司、水果布丁、異或甚至是泡泡糖。“這是一個很特別的味道，讓你又愛又恨，”一位巴塞羅那市場的水果經銷商卡門·龐斯說。
The soft, beige interior might not seem very appetizing. The cherimoya has the texture of a rotting pear and is filled with big, black (slightly toxic) seeds, but use a spoon to scoop out its squishy insides, and you won’t be disappointed. What’s more, packed with antioxidants, vitamin C, protein and dietary fiber, this fruit turns out to be quite a superfood.
那軟軟的、淡黃色的果肉看起來像是並不太開胃。釋迦的果肉非常鬆軟，裏面還有很多大的、黑色的（輕微有毒）種子。但是如果用勺子挖一塊裏面軟乎乎的果肉嘗一口，定不會另你失望。而且，果肉富含抗氧化成分、維他命C、蛋白質和膳食纖維，這款水果簡直就是個超級食物。
So why isn’t cherimoya already on the menu at every restaurant and smoothie shop? Chalk that up to the fruit’s formidable reptilian exterior appearance, fiddly interior and high cost. “Restaurants tend to prioritize less-exotic ingredients because the profit margins are so low,” says Spanish chef Bertant Basany. Banana and pineapple, which taste somewhat the same, are “way cheaper and easier to find, and might give you a similar result,” he says.
那麼爲什麼現在很少有餐廳和甜品店把釋迦列在菜單上呢？原因在於其可怕的像兩棲動物一樣的外表、精緻的內在和昂貴的價格。“各家餐廳都想少採用一些異域食材，因爲利潤實在太低了，”西班牙廚師波爾騰特·巴塞裏說。他補充道：“香蕉和菠蘿嚐起來味道差不多，但是價格卻要便宜很多，而且更容易買到，如果用這些水果也能做出相似的味道。”
Still, for the adventurouss fruit eater who refuses to let mere aesthetics guide his or her diet, the cherimoya might be a wonderful new ingredient for smoothies, flans and sorbets. They could even serve as a great social crutch: If you’re having particularly boring people over for dinner, one way to keep them entertained is to serve them some cherimoya and then ask them to guess what type of fruit they’re eating.
不過，對於一些喜歡冒險並且不太在意審美的水果吃貨而言，釋迦是一個製作牛奶沙司、果醬餅和冰沙的很棒的食材。釋迦甚至可以用來作爲社交潤滑劑：如果你正和特別無聊的人一起共進晚餐，一種使他們高興的方法就是讓他們嚐嚐釋迦的味道，並讓他們猜出是哪種水果。
