The other day we decided to go to San Juan market (Mercado de la Revolución) and while we were waiting for someone to meet us, I saw a strange looking fruit laying on the ground by a bunch of crates. It looked like "baby" bananas but it was a totally different color. The skin was white wtih pinkish-red coloring at each end. It grew in a bunch just like bananas and when I asked the green grocer at the fruit stand what it was he told me it was called "timbiriche". A strange name, I thought, given the fact that there is a Mexican 80´s pop group with the same name. I didn't have my cellphone on me, so I didn't take a picture of the strange looking fruit but I did get one from the green grocer who told me to be carefull because the fruit would burn my tounge. I have to say this made me hesitant to try this exotic find but a woman who saw me struggling to get the very hard peel off of the "timbirche" told me, "Dig in your nail, pull down on the peel as you would a banana". I asked her if it would taste horrible and she said "No, not at all, just a little acidy, it is great with salt". So I went for it. It was sweet, sticky and quickly popped on my tounge with an acid sting. It was quite enjoyable, almost like eating pop rocks when I was kid! After doing some research on the fruit once I got home, I realized that it isn't "timbiriche" like the music group, but "tinbiriche" or bromelia karatas.
I still can't believe that I have lived in Michoacán for almost 5 years and never seen or tasted this fruit before. This just goes to show, that life in MY Mexico is full of new and exciting things!
Here is a website I found while looking for information on El Tinbiriche
For more detailed information on this fruit, here is a website that is an ethnobotanical reference site
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