On my first semestral break here in Iligan, I was excited to go home and bring pasalubong to my family in Manila. The problem was, what was I gonna bring. The only thing I can think of was Durian (which was cheap and available almost everywhere) and lanzones from Camiguin. It was lanzones season then so I didn't have any trouble finding good ones. When I brought it back home, everybody raved about the sweet yet cheap lanzones. I initially intended to bring mangosteen too, but I seem to have missed out on the mangosteen season. I was told that the next harvest would be sometime in December. I was disappointed of course, because my brother Chou loves mangosteen. I also bought pomelo which was also cheap here.

Durian costs around P35-50 per kilo. A medium sized durian costs roughly P150. That's already cheap considering small ones sell for as much as P200 in supermarkets in Manila. I bought the lanzones for only P20 per kilo. It was small, firm and ultimately sweet. The lanzones from Camiguin are very different from the usual ones in Manila that are harvested in Laguna. The pomelo costs P25 per kilo.

Another fruit that I found in abundance here was Marang. It's my first time to have seen one and also the first time I've tasted one. It costs P10 - 20 a piece. Basically, most of the fruits that are sold here are either grown in Marawi, Bukidnon, Davao or Camiguin. There are also those imported fruits from China like apples and ponkans. There really isn't much variety in fruits here. Probably because the people tend not to splurge on fruits.

Saturday, February 23, 2008
Categories: food. Author: Unknown