美味水果释迦：恐龙外表珍珠心

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.”

人们常说你不能光看一本书的封面来评判它是不是好书，水果也是一样。番荔枝（俗称释迦）就是一个典型的例子。这个拥有史前长相的热带水果，有着厚厚的、丑陋的绿皮，看上去更像《侏罗纪公园》里面的道具，而不是美味的甜品。然而事实上，它却是香甜的代名词。难怪印加人把它视作皇家珍馐，马克·吐温称它是“人类吃过的最可口的水果”。

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.

释迦生长在厄瓜多尔、哥伦比亚和玻利维亚的安第斯山谷间高大茂密的树上，是拉美非常流行的美食。在这块区域的街边市场上很容易找到这种水果，而且有着多种多样的名字。在巴西，人们叫它格拉维拉斯；在墨西哥，人们叫它普科斯；在伯利兹，人们叫图克普斯；在海地，叫卡西马斯拉西尼；在委内瑞拉，叫希瑞莫瑞勒斯（是不是有点像绕口令）。释迦有多个品种，比如帝力希尔萨、麦克弗尔森和夏维兹，它在热带地区生长良好，同时也可以生长在西班牙南部和加利福利亚。

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.

它吃起来像什么呢？很难描述，不过感觉像集合了各种异域水果的味道，轻轻地从你嘴里滑过，包括香蕉、菠萝、木瓜和芒果。这种奇怪的多重味道让你感觉更像是在吃甜点：牛奶沙司、水果布丁、异或甚至是泡泡糖。“这是一个很特别的味道，让你又爱又恨，”一位巴塞罗那市场的水果经销商卡门·庞斯说。

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.

那软软的、淡黄色的果肉看起来像是并不太开胃。释迦的果肉非常松软，里面还有很多大的、黑色的（轻微有毒）种子。但是如果用勺子挖一块里面软乎乎的果肉尝一口，定不会另你失望。而且，果肉富含抗氧化成分、维他命C、蛋白质和膳食纤维，这款水果简直就是个超级食物。

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.

那么为什么现在很少有餐厅和甜品店把释迦列在菜单上呢？原因在于其可怕的像两栖动物一样的外表、精致的内在和昂贵的价格。“各家餐厅都想少采用一些异域食材，因为利润实在太低了，”西班牙厨师波尔腾特·巴塞里说。他补充道：“香蕉和菠萝尝起来味道差不多，但是价格却要便宜很多，而且更容易买到，如果用这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.

不过，对于一些喜欢冒险并且不太在意审美的水果吃货而言，释迦是一个制作牛奶沙司、果酱饼和冰沙的很棒的食材。释迦甚至可以用来作为社交润滑剂：如果你正和特别无聊的人一起共进晚餐，一种使他们高兴的方法就是让他们尝尝释迦的味道，并让他们猜出是哪种水果。