On my recent trip home, I was excited to see that my mom’s loquat tree had a few fruits that were already ripe and ready to eat. Usually I miss my mom’s loquats, as I’m not usually home when they ripen and they don’t last very long. I don’t usually see loquats at the supermarket, but I often see the trees in people’s yards in California.

The trees grow pretty big and tall and bear a lot of fruit.

The fruits grow on delicate, fuzzy branches that break easily.

When the fruits are ripe, they turn a yellow-orange and have a fuzzy skin.

The fruits can be eaten two ways.  You can either peel off the skin, which comes off pretty easily and bite into it, eating around the seeds.  I used to eat it this way, but don’t eat it this way any longer because the flesh of the fruit stains your skin.  After eating loquats, I find my nails and my fingertips are brown and it takes a few days to get off.  Very annoying.

Now, I slice then in half, take out the seeds, and eat around the skin.  The fruits are pretty small, with the seeds taking up most of the fruit.  Loquats have different amount of seeds which is interesting.  Some have one, some have two, some have three.

The flesh is sweet and soft. I recommend washing your hands immediately after eating the loquats in order to avoid stains on your hands.

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