Fruit season: Pineapple and Mango

One of my absolute favorite things about living in the tropics is the presence of tropical fruit. Not only are there exotic fresh fruits available year round but there you also feel the rhythm of the seasons. As a result of living in a medium sized hub city, most of the fruits are available year round though if they are out of season they are costly in comparison to seasonal fruit. So every once in a while I'll buy a pineapple out of season but the chances that it is low quality, along with the price, discourage such practices to become regular.

Some fruits are available pretty much year round, like papaya and bananas. However, most are seasonal like oranges, pineapple, mangoes, watermelon, and passion fruit. At the peak of the seasons the fruits are ridiculously cheap. For example, out of season a single orange may cost 300 TZS ($0.17). But during peak season most vendors won't even sell individual oranges, though if they do they are 100 TZS ($0.06). Most will persuade you to buy in bulk and if you buy around 20 you will get them for 1000 TZS ($0.60). These seasons have a lot of overlap in the calendar year and there always seems to be something available.

Another sign of the season is the presence of fruit carts on the streets as well as mobile vendors. Oranges and pineapples are particularly popular items to sell like this. Customers can either buy in bulk, buy individually, and even have pre-cut pieces available for sale. The carts seem to be ubiquitous so you don't have to look hard to find a juicy piece of pineapple.

Pineapple cart. The plastic bin contains already sliced pineapple. 

More fruit carts. 

Now we are enjoying a boon in pineapple. From about the beginning of November for another month or so pineapples will be cheap and delicious. As stated earlier, the biggest risk with buying out of season is that you will get a piece of fruit that has been ripened off the vine and probably came from another region in Tanzania. The vast majority of locals find purchasing fruit out of season to be a huge waste of money and impractical so vendors often face longer turnover. But now in the height of the season I can be nearly guaranteed I will get a great pineapple!

Unfortunately the markets here don't seem to have a whole lot of variety of pineapples. There are maybe three or four different types that I see but what lacks in diversity is made up in quality. Being a fruit I haven't grown up with, it's taken some years to learn how to identify a pineapple ripe, one ready for tomorrow, or one that needs to sit for some days. It's also taken a while to get the cutting technique down though if you're inexperienced you can always buy pre-cut pieces. The "lazy mans" method is cutting the pineapple in half and just scooping it with a spoon.

Awesome fruit cart with a variety of mangoes, pineapple, watermelon, papaya, oranges and bananas. 

Bounty from the market, including a papaya bigger than your head. 

Fruit vendor at a bus rest stop.