Odd And Edible

Day 341: The first of the Akebia pods split yesterday, and I had promised to bring you the details regarding their consumption, so here we go. First of all, let it be known that this is a challenging fruit to eat. Only the viscid, gooey mass in the middle is edible raw, and although purportedly the rind can be sliced and stir-fried, I would not recommended it. I tried it, and found it bitter and rather nasty. As you can see, the core "caterpillar" contains hundreds of large black seeds. They cling tenaciously to the surrounding white bits and cannot be removed without losing much of the volume of the edible part. The solution is to pop a portion of the "slug" into your mouth and roll it around with your tongue until the white part semi-liquifies. Then you can spit out the seeds into the handy disposable rind. The question you are no doubt asking at this point is whether or not it's worth the effort, and I have to reply by saying, "Probably not unless you're into weird foods." It took me several years to acquire a taste for this unusual fruit which, if the truth be told, is almost flavourless but mildly sweet. It might be compared to rice candy, but in a seed-filled and slimy form. That said, my hand-pollinating has yielded up about thirty pods for me to enjoy over then next couple of weeks if the rain hasn't ruined them.