How to Eat Mabolo without the Added Fuzz

Mabolo fruit

This is my second time to eat mabolo. First time was yesterday when I saw it being served in the Barretto-David household in Zambales. They cut it in a way I have never seen before and I thought it was another fruit.

Halved fruit looks like an apple

To my surprise they said mabolo.  I have always known mabolo to have a fuzzy exterior thus I equate eating it similar to santol. You break the skin and you eat the fleshy parts, which is actually disgusting.  You see and feel the velvety skin.  You could also smell the overpowering scent of it.  that is why I never actually tried to even taste the fruit before.

Quartered and peeled fruits

Today I asked our cook Edison to prepare the mabolos which the Davids gave me to bring back home.  First he cut the fruit into quarters then to eighth portions. He removed the large seeds from the sectioned fruit parts. Then he ran the knife very close to the peel to cut out the fleshy part from the velvety skin.  After which I asked hime to place it inside the ref till eating time. A few minutes after we enjoyed the mabolo without the hairy exterior and the strong smell. Yum!

Ready to enjoy!

Mabolo is Diospyros blancoi syn. D. philippinensis and D. discolor. The tree is sometime referred to as kamagong. Though it is closely related to persimmons, the fruit is commonly called velvet apple.  I always thought that it was called such because it has a velvety exterior. But finally eating it similar to the way an actual apple is prepared, made me realize that mabolo tastes somewhat like what else, an apple.  But when you place it in your mouth, the texture is smoother than the crumbly feel of the real apple.  It is a rather enjoyable fruit to eat, which I would look forward to in the next seasons to come.