One of the things I look forward to doing when I visit Madeira is eating really ripe, locally grown fresh fruit and vegetables. Here is the self-assembled fruit bowl in my hotel room last week. The difference between this sort of produce, and that which has been picked unripe, refrigerated for months, flown to a foreign country.. and sold in a supermarket, is vast! If you have ever smelled the perfume of a really ripe guava, or a ripe passion fruit you will know what I mean.How do we expect young people, and adults to eat their five fruit and veg per day when we sell such crap in our supermarkets! Any sort of fresh produce if it is just picked and perfectly ripe is a heavenly treat. I was reminded of this when, on Christmas day I went down to the allotment and dug up the leeks and parsnips for Christmas dinner. I could smell these vegetables as I was digging them out of the ground!
By the way, the green fruit that looks like a pine cone is a delicious fruit from the plant Monsteria - known as 'Swiss cheese plant'. It tastes like a cross between a pineapple and a banana. I have forgotten the name of this fruit - can anyone help?