Sharon, as it turns out is a fruit. Well it's actually in the berry family, but who's counting? It's also called a "persimmon" in other parts of the world. I saw a sharon fruit farm while driving along the Garden Route when I first got here, and I've been on a hunt to find this elusive exotic tree fruit ever since.
They look like a orange tomato on the outside, but after you peel it, the inside is the juicy consistency of a peach or mango. Named for the plain where they were originally thought to be grown in Isreal, these little gems contain high levels of dietary fibre, potassium, magnesium, calcium, and iron. They are also rich in vitamin C and beta carotene.
Some kind farmer soul dropped off a load of 35 flats of these little babies in our health care centre and I just happened to be walking by when they arrived. Apparently, the catering staff have been making our hospital patients smoothies out of the sharons three times a day just to get rid of them before they go bad! What's neat is that since many fruits interfere with ARV treatment, sharons don't, which means the patients are getting a great fresh source of all the vitamins they need! The kitchen cook begged me to take some off her hands, but I just took the one in case I hated it...
"Here goes nothing!"
Despite my initial doubt, I'm happy to report it was quite good! It has the exact same consistency as a peach but less sweet and has a flavor more like cantelope. I can't say I'm ever going to say I need a Sharon fruit, but I would totally eat another!
Yay!
They are getting to you... you wrote "fibre" instead of "fiber" Richard would be so proud of your British spelling.