Fruit of the day: pera

not actually a pear

I have been waiting for this one to come in season, as I remembered it from when I first got here, then never saw it again. People around here say you only get pera once a year, so enjoy it. (Nope, I have no idea why.)

I can see why it is called "pera" (you guessed it--that means pear) even though the internet says it is a rose apple (also pomarosa). It looks like a pear--and kind of has a pear-ish taste. If a pear were softer and had less flavor. 

The skin is very waxy and onion-skin thin. In fact, of the 4 pera I bought the skin was split on all but this one. What looks like a pit is kind of a nugget of fuzzy stuff. Weird. I threw that right out. The flesh feels lighter than a pear or an apple would--and it looks like it's going to be very dry--but is surprisingly juicy. The flesh is mealy, grainy, and almost melts away as you chew it. The texture is closer to watermelon than apple.

The internet will tell you that it has a flavor of roses--but I think that's crazy. It mostly has the flavor of nothing. But if you close your eyes and concentrate you can almost convince yourself it is a very mild pear. And since you are not going to find any pears while you are in Nicaragua, you can enjoy it very much!