Well, let me tell ya somethin’ about this here fruit, looks like a tomato but ain’t no tomato, ya hear? Folks call it all sorts of fancy names, but I just call it that “red thingy.” Chinese fruit that looks like a tomato, that’s what they asked me to talk about, so here we go.
Now, I ain’t no fancy scholar or nothin’, but I seen a thing or two in my days. And I tell ya, this fruit, it’s somethin’ else. First time I saw it, I thought, “Well, ain’t that just a funny-lookin’ tomato?” But then ya bite into it, and it’s a whole different story. Sweeter than a peach, some of ’em, and soft like butter, if the butter was a fruit, ya know?
- It ain’t got that tang like a tomato
- It ain’t sour, just sweet and kinda… I dunno…slippery?
Some folks say it’s called a persimmon. Persimmon, now ain’t that a mouthful? Sounds like somethin’ a preacher would say. But persimmon it is, I guess. They got different kinds too, I hear. Some are hard as a rock ’til they’re ripe, and then they turn all soft and mushy. Them’s the good ones, the ones that melt in your mouth like candy. Other ones, they stay kinda firm, but they still taste good. Just different, ya know?
This here persimmon, it grows all over the place in China, or so they tell me. I ain’t never been to China, but I seen pictures. Big ol’ country, lots of folks, and lots of strange lookin’ fruits. China’s fruit is somethin’ special, that’s for sure. They got fruits I ain’t never even heard of, fruits with hair on ’em, fruits that smell like flowers, fruits that look like somethin’ out of a nightmare. But this persimmon, it’s one of the normal lookin’ ones, ‘cept for the tomato thing, of course.
Now, why does it look like a tomato, ya ask? Well, I ain’t got the foggiest idea. Maybe God just felt like makin’ a fruit that looked like a tomato but tasted different. Or maybe it’s got somethin’ to do with the way it grows, or the dirt it’s planted in, or the sun, or the rain. Who knows? It’s just the way it is, and that’s good enough for me. It’s like them other fruits they got, all shapes and colors and sizes. Like that dragon fruit, looks like somethin’ from another planet. But they eat it over there, so it must be good, right?
I remember hearin’ about this other fruit, the tamarillo, or tree tomato. Now, that’s another one that’ll make ya scratch your head. Tomato growin’ on a tree, can ya believe it? They say it tastes a bit like a persimmon, sweet and kinda perfumy. I ain’t never had one myself, but I reckon it’s somethin’ special.
And then there’s all them other fancy fruits, passion fruit, dead man’s fruit, all sorts of names I can’t even pronounce. Makes ya wonder what the good Lord was thinkin’ when he made all them different fruits. But I guess he just likes variety, just like us folks do. Sometimes ya want a sweet persimmon, sometimes ya want a sour apple, sometimes ya want somethin’ in between.
But let’s get back to this here persimmon, this fruit that looks like a tomato. It ain’t just the looks that are confusin’. Some folks, they try to cook it like a tomato, make sauce and stuff. But that ain’t right, ya hear? This ain’t no tomato, even if it looks like one. You eat it fresh, or you can dry it, or make jam, but don’t go tryin’ to make spaghetti sauce with it. You’ll just end up with a mess and a ruined batch of sauce.
I tell ya, this world’s full of surprises. You think you seen it all, and then somethin’ comes along and proves ya wrong. Just like this here persimmon, lookin’ like a tomato, but tastin’ like somethin’ completely different. It’s a reminder that things ain’t always what they seem, and that there’s always somethin’ new to discover, even if it’s just a funny-lookin’ fruit from a faraway land.
So next time you see somethin’ that looks like a tomato but ain’t, don’t be so quick to judge. It might just be a persimmon, or somethin’ even stranger. And who knows, it might just be the best darn thing you ever tasted. ‘Cause sometimes, the best things in life are the ones that surprise ya, the ones that don’t fit into neat little boxes, the ones that make ya say, “Well, I’ll be darned.” Just like this here Chinese fruit, lookin’ like one thing, but bein’ somethin’ else entirely. And that, my friends, is somethin’ to think about.
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