mexican street fruit, illustrated

this what we live for in mexico. you can make your own combinations but we consistently order pepino (cucumber), jicama, mango, papaya and tuna (which is prickly pear, a cactus fruit) because altogether it's a great balance of sweet and cooling. your selections are then freshly chopped, covered in a chili sauce and finished with fresh lime juice and, if you're into that sort of thing, they add this agressive rock salt. we try to steer clear of the extra salt as the chili sauce is salty enough as is and you could chip a tooth on those salt rocks.

i know it sounds crazy, but mexican street fruit is pure bliss to eat. between 11am and 3pm you can usually find the street fruit vendors pushing their carts or posted at thier standard spots around our neighborhood. it costs around 20 pesos ($1.47 as of today!) for a large container and trust me, that's money well spent. trying getting that much tasty fruit at whole foods for under $1.50!

here are photos of a local vendor doing his thing. this guy likes to to start an order by letting you sample how delicious the mango is that day. the mango was pretty yummy today, but not as yummy as 2 weeks ago when we ran into him!

notice the piles of mangos next to the vendor and the green bucket of his own chili mixture. once you get to the end of your serving there is this spicy lime juice sludge that the pepino and jicima taste lovely in, although it can be a jarring contrast with the sweeter fruits. 6 likes to lick the lime/chili off the fruit we give her before she eats it, cause she's mexican like that!

salivate and enjoy!
m.