Fruit and vegetable market in Montevideo, and where feijoas (guayabas) come from

There is a market on Tuesday morning, 10 minutes walk from home, and the prices are much better than the supermarket, of course, and the choice much better. It is quite similar to an Italian market, possibly with lightly less choice, but still many more varieties that you can find in NZ. This post's photos where taken by Arantxa.

Among the fruit we found some feijoas,  The name in Uruguay is guayaba (or guayabo like wikipedia says, the fruit seller told me guayaba and I will use this name), which I also take to be as a generic name for all guavas, although these are the first I have seen here (I guess it is the same season as New Zealand: Feijoa season!). Anyway, feijoas/guayabas are originally from this part of the word. Of course I bought some guayabas, and granadas (in the photos) and hongos (mushrooms, fubby enough they sell lots of Asian style mushrooms here!), and I am learning a few more names for fruit and veggies. One thing that here abound is rocket salad, probably the Italian immigrants brought it here!

The round 'zucchini' you see below are called zapatillos, they taste like a mixture between a zucchini and a cucumber and they can be eaten raw or cooked. I didn't know them, but I had a cooking class here and made something really yummy with them: Faina de Zapallitos, an original Uruguayan dish. But this will be the next post :-).

Photos  by Arantxa Zecchini Dowling ©