Have just come across something in my bloghopping this Saturday afternoon. Karen of The Pilgrim's Pots and Pans wrote about sampaloc. I was instantly transported to my childhood many many years ago in Malolos, and also in La Union and later in Marilao. My sisters and cousins and I were forever clambering atop guava trees -- this was in my maternal lolo and lola's old house by the river in Atlag -- and the camachile trees nearby my father's parents' place in La Union. Later on, when we moved to Marilao in Bulacan, we had a few aratiles trees planted in the front yard and I would spend hours and hours perched high in the branches, hidden by the foliage, waiting for my mom to come home from work.
I seldom see aratiles trees nowadays in Manila. Guess they're kind of old-fashioned. The berries are lovely: plump, glossy, green or yellow or red depending on the degree of ripeness. When you eat them when they're very ripe, they burst on your tongue with a slightly gritty, sugary sweetness. You then spit out the skins, or not, as you like.
(Thanks to stuartxchange.org for the image)
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