The Pizzazzy

Monday is fruit day in office. The break out area has two fruits of the season placed strategically so that anyone visiting there for coffee or tea will notice the fruits. And everyone ends up picking up a fruit or two. Today with the bananas, a permanent item making its appearance every week there were these small berries, light green, slightly yellowish and slightly reddish also. They looked like ber, an Indian drupe.

I had a look and thought wow.. for a long time I have not tasted ber. I took some of these so called ber and came to my desk. My colleague who shares the cube with me told me they were ju ju’s. I thought it sounded funny but took a bite from one. It tasted bland, but there was a faintly spicy, kind of sweet smell about it. Something similar to Cinnamon.

The fruit is like apple or ber to bite at but of the same size as ber. That also reminds me of the pickled ber, which we get in Manipur. We call it boroi there. I make it a point to ask for it from anyone visiting from Manipur.

Now this fruit I was telling you about, I did not like the taste so much first but the second one I tasted was better, more sweetish and juicy. Then I was really interested in finding more about this fruit I was enjoying while trying to keep work at bay on a Monday morning.

I first checked juju on wiki, it took me to something completely out of context. Then I tried all possible combinations of ju ju, fruit, date and singapore. Finally I read in one article a description of something similar to the small dates I was having and referred to as jujube.

So, I chucked the article and went to Wiki with this new name and read all about jujube pronounced jujubee. After a long time I have tried some new fruit and liked it. Jujube, red date or chinese date is so unlike ber except for the looks in taste and texture of the fruit and unlike ber, which causes soar throat this one cures soar throat. Will be buying this fruit next time I visit fair price.