Haikou, 5 May (ZXS) -- Hainan tropical fruits "strange" eating methods unlock alternative deliciousness

China News Agency reporter Zhang Xiyi

The unique geographical climate has given birth to the unique "fruit taste" of Hainan Island, and the various "strange" eating methods of the locals are even more surprising to visiting tourists.

Diced fruits such as mango, guava, pineapple, lychee and other fruits are tossed with chili salt or soy sauce to make them sweet and salty. Hebei tourist Ling Xiao exclaimed after tasting it for the first time: "Chili salt wrapped in each piece of fruit, salty and sour, sweet and spicy, several flavors collide and merge in the mouth, stimulating the taste buds, the more you eat, the more addictive it is!" ”

Chili salt and tropical fruits can be described as the "killer app" for Hainanese people to capture their taste buds.

"For chili salt fruits to be delicious, first of all, the fruit must be of good quality." Chen Mei, a fruit stall owner at Haikou Night Market, told reporters, "Mangoes should choose ivory mango or green mango; Pineapples must be ripe and juicy, perfume pineapples are best; Guava is generally made with white heart, and it tastes crisp and sweet. ”

Why is the fruit dipped in salt, the sweeter it gets? Zhang Weimin, deputy dean of the School of Food Science and Engineering of Hainan University, explained that salt can accelerate the dehydration of fruit cells, reduce the water in the pulp, concentrate sugar and amino acids, and naturally increase sweetness.

"Old salt series" occupies the "C position" of Hainan's Internet celebrity drink. Yellow bark, star fruit, lotus mist, red heart barley, avocado, dragon fruit... It can be combined with old salt to make fruit tea. Take a sip, salty, sweet, sour and slightly bitter, mixed with the coolness of ice cubes sliding into your throat, swept away the sultry heat.

The picture shows the fruit banquet of Hainan Tropical Fruit Road Fruit Theme Restaurant. Photo by Zhang Qianyi, reporter of China News Agency

Tropical fruits into the qiong vegetables, let alone the same.

Coconut pigeon, roasted scallops, pork ribs and mangosteen soup, sour star fruit fish soup, avocado baked shrimp, cold dragon fruit clothing... Various innovative "fruit dishes" continue to emerge.

On the menu of Hainan Tropical Fruit Road Fruit Theme Restaurant, there are nearly ten kinds of dishes related to passion fruit alone, and all kinds of dishes that use fruits to be cold mixed, fried, grilled, roasted and stewed are even more varied.

Passion fruit grilled eel is popular with diners. Soak the fresh eel in the prepared passion fruit juice for half an hour and bake until golden brown on both sides. Drizzle with fresh passion fruit juice before serving, and the sour aroma of the fruit instantly activates the umami taste of the eel. The tender "Q bomb" eel meets the sour crispiness of passion fruit seeds, and the aroma seems to spread in the mouth.

The picture shows passion fruit grilled eel. Photo by Zhang Qianyi, reporter of China News Agency

Yellow peel is one of the tropical fruits with high nutritional value, with a faint woody aroma in the sweet and sour, with the effects of quenching thirst, strengthening the spleen and nourishing the stomach, clearing heat and reducing fire. Roast chicken with yellow skin is a classic. Marinate Wenchang chicken with special yellow skin sauce, stuff the medicated food into the washed chicken belly, wrap the fresh yellow skin and yellow skin leaves and bake for 3 hours. In the steaming heat, the layers of yellow skin leaves, a unique fragrance of yellow skin comes to the nose, the whole chicken is slightly yellow, the skin is shiny, tear a small piece and dip it in the marinated yellow skin sauce and chew slowly, tender and fragrant.

Southern folk have the saying of "hungry lychee, full of yellow skin", compared with Lingnan, Hainan lychee matured earlier.

Huang Chuanjian, who has been deeply engaged in qiongcai for more than 20 years, has developed <> or <> kinds of lychee dishes, such as lychee cod rolls crispy and delicious, noble cuttlefish cubs sweet and sour, lychee stewed fish gelatin sweet and chewy, lychee osmanthus cake fragrant... Huang Chuanjian said that lychee into the dish can fully absorb the sweet and sour taste of lychee, and the taste is light but not light, fresh and beautiful. For example, lychee duck soup, fruity with fresh sweetness, tonic but not dry, nourishing and quenching thirst, strengthening the mind and refreshing the mind, replenishing qi and nourishing blood.

The picture shows pineapple cheese baked scallops. Photo by Zhang Qianyi, reporter of China News Agency

"The chef makes different fruit dishes according to different seasons." Zhou Lanfang, general manager of Hainan Tropical Fruit Road Fruit Theme Restaurant, said that fruit dining can not only reduce the burden on the stomach, but also have a good taste and balanced nutrition, which is loved by many young women.

"The unique natural environment and climate of Hainan Island make tropical fruits rich in resources, distinctive and highly nourishing." In Zhang Weimin's view, these "strange" ways of eating fruits into vegetables and drinking sweets and salty reflect the dietary characteristics and folk wisdom of this side of water and soil. (End)