Mystery Fruit Salsa

There is a beautiful tree in my front yard with big, glossy, flat leaves and a slender, gray trunk. I like looking at it. Two years ago this tree produced hundreds of cute orange fruit. I spent all spring watching the birds and squirells scurry to my yard to feast on the bounty. One day there were some construction workers around working on something, and I saw one of them walk over to my tree, pick a fruit, and pop it in his mouth. He seemed to enjoy and, since then, I have been very curious about this edible fruit growing in my front yard. I conducted many google searches and concluded that these little fruits were called kumquats.

The fruit didn't appear last year, but they're back this spring. Upon closer examination and many more google searches, I decided that this is NOT a kumquat. I don't even think it's citrus. It has a soft, edible skin and a flesh similar to that of nectarine. There are some big brown seeds in the middle. People of the world, what is this??? Someone has to know... I see these trees all over Houston. Help a sister out and identify this fruit for me.

I'm kind of on this "urban foraging" kick. Not so much a kick as a..... an intrigue let's call it. I decided it was absolutely necessary for me to harvest these little beauties and not let the squirrels and birds have all the fun this year. So, what does one do with a tart mystery fruit? Why, make salsa of course! I surprised even myself with this recipe. It was absolutely lovely and I will make it over and over again. If you don't have mystery fruit that you can use, apricots would be a nice subsitute.

Ingredients:

• 10-12 mystery fruits
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons of chopped ginger
• 1/2 medium tomato, chopped
• 1 orange, chopped
• cilantro
• chili powder
• brown sugar
• hot sauce
• salt
• canola oil

Directions:

1. Saute garlic and ginger in a little bit of oil unil it starts to turn brown.

2. Add the mystery fruit and saute until it begins to soften.

3. Add the tomato. Add salt, chili powder, brown sugar, and hot sauce to taste. Cook it for a few minutes until it all starts to break down and develop some liquid.

4. Taste it to see if it's cooked enough!

5. Turn off the heat. Add the orange and cilantro and mix it all together.

We ate it with fish tacos. Urban foraging! Yay!