Fruit on the Camino

[Patrick Hickmott]

Dear all,

My wife likes to eat fruit every day. So I was just wondering what fruit might be available to eat on the Camino in late September and October?

Thanks

 

[Mikel Olivares]

All the fruit from any part around of the World

 

[HeidiL]

On Camino Frances, there are food shops practically everywhere. In the smallest villages, the fruit selection may be somewhat limited, but apples, bananas and oranges tend to be available everywhere. The larger the town, the larger the selection!

If you end up eating Pilgrim Menus for lunch, very often, fruit or fruit salad ("macedonia") are among the most common dessert options.

 

[lt56ny]

You can find fruit everywhere as previously mentioned. Sometimes the quality and selection is not always the best. I eat lots of kiwi because I like it so much and because it is usually easy to pick good kiwi. You usually can't go wrong with the amazingly good Valencia oranges, and I always have a banana a day.

 

[tomnorth]

Prior to my Camino, I avoided apples and devoured bananas. On the Camino I found the quality of bananas to be pretty awful, so I started eating the golden manzanas (apples). I now love apples and eat one most days.

 

[Anniesantiago]

There is plenty of fruit to be had on the Camino in nearly every larger village.

WARNING!!! NO TOCA LA FRUITA!

Do not touch the fruit! It's not like in the US, where you can pick up fruit, weigh it in your hands, test it for ripeness. In the supermarkets you can do this, but in the fruit stalls, do NOT. You point to what you want and let the clerk help you.

I've never had an unripe piece of fruit.

And try things you may not get in the states. I love cherimoya, but they are unaffordable in the USA.
In Spain they were quite inexpensive!

 

[jefferyonthecamino]

Dear all,

My wife likes to eat fruit every day. So I was just wondering what fruit might be available to eat on the Camino in late September and October?

Thanks

pretty much everything not exotic (ie. rambutans), spaniards love fruit
grapes should be cheap and tasty in sept/oct
if you like bananas, go the extra mile and pay a bit more for Spanish Canary Island bananas (plátanos de canarias), they taste much better
our 'toad skin' melons (melón pie de sapo) are awesome too and by default the only melon you will probably find

 

[Patrick Hickmott]

Thank you all for your replies...you have been most helpful and my wife will be much relieved!!!

 

[Deleted member 73526]

I love cherimoya, but they are unaffordable in the USA.
In Spain they were quite inexpensive!

Yummy.
€2.20 / Kg about 100km along the coast from Motril, where they're grown.

 

[Bert45]

I find the reason for the question hard to understand. Does the OP think that northern Spain (the OP says that he plans to walk the Francés in September) is a desert, or that eating fruit is confined to Oxfordshire?

 

[VNwalking]

I find the reason for the question hard to understand. Does the OP think that northern Spain (the OP says that he plans to walk the Francés in September) is a desert, or that eating fruit is confined to Oxfordshire?

Of course not. If you read his post carefully, you'll see he's simply asking WHAT fruit are available in September/October - not ARE fruit available in September/October.

 

[Bert45]

I would have thought that the fruits available in northern Spain in September/October would be the same as anywhere else in the northern hemisphere with access to imported fruit from all over the world as well as fruit grown in Spain.

 

[Sho]

Well, I was in a fairly large supermercado in a medium-sized town this week and there were no grapes or any dried fruit, so it's a relevant question.

 

[Mikel Olivares]

Some exotic and tropical fruit of Spain.
Plátano, aguacate, mango, kiwi, níspero, chirimoya, maracuyá, guayaba.
Ah!!!!! Y naranjasssssssss.

 

[Mikel Olivares]

The Spanish grapes from September.
Gracias a Dios, in Spain we eat all year fresch fruit, not dry.

 

[Mikel Olivares]

I forget, you can to buy grapes from Chile or Argentina.

 

[VNwalking]

aguacate...níspero

Hmmmm. Possible new friends. Off to look them up...thanks Mikel!
And Sisisi...naranjas. The best ever.

 

[Patrick Hickmott]

I find the reason for the question hard to understand. Does the OP think that northern Spain (the OP says that he plans to walk the Francés in September) is a desert, or that eating fruit is confined to Oxfordshire?

Bert, it was just a question and didn’t require your sarcy smartass answer...

 

[Bert45]

My apple-ogies . I hope you have a grape holiday. Buenana camino!

 

[Patrick Hickmott]

My apple-ogies . I hope you have a grape holiday. Buenana camino!

Forgiven...

 

[Bert45]

Thanks, Patrick.
Btw, I'm walking from Triacastela, starting 19 September. Any chance of a meeting? We could make a good pear!

 

[roamingpaddy]

Thanks, Patrick.
Btw, I'm walking from Triacastela, starting 19 September. Any chance of a meeting? We could make a good pear!

\are you trying to make a Date Bert?

 

[Bert45]

Maybe, Paddy. I'd like to orange a meeting with Patrick.
But I'll be with my wife. so we cantaloupe .

 

[Patrick Hickmott]

I wouldn't want to upset the apple cart...you might not ap-peel to me anyway...

So we might just meet and say cherry-o...

 

[MikeJS]

I buy plenty of fruit on my caminos but only if I can peel it as I tend to buy on route so do not have the facilities to easily wash it.

 

[Via2010]

For eating "en route" I prefer oranges and sometimes apples or pears (which I wash in the morning before leaving the albergue, but then I really have to eat them during the day so that they do not perish). If brambles are ripe I will pick them along the way and enjoy them.
When I do my own lunch or dinner in the albergue, I take any local fruit that smells/looks nice: Melons, peaches or paraguayos, cherries.

 

[Deleted member 73526]

I would have thought that the fruits available in northern Spain in September/October would be the same as anywhere else in the northern hemisphere with access to imported fruit from all over the world as well as fruit grown in Spain.

Not really. Distribution networks are a bit more complicated than that.

 

[oursonpolaire]

Allow me to point out the frequent availability of fresh figs ($1.50 each in Ottawa, and in Spain they grow on trees!!). Gardeners have generously given me handfuls of this lovely fruit, warm from the sun, and cool and sweet, and they are easily available in tiendas and in village markets, if you are fortunate enough to pass through on market day. I am also obliged to warn you not to eat your fill! There are consequences to eating too many figs.

 

[Deleted member 73526]

Gardeners have generously given me handfuls of this lovely fruit

So next time someone asks you "Who gives a fig?" you can tell them.

 

[peregrina2000]

On the Camino I found the quality of bananas to be pretty awful

My guess, though I am not sure, is that that’s because you like Central and South American bananas, like Chiquita, and not the bananas that are typically sold in Spain, which are usually from the Canaries. They are smaller, breadier, and have a different taste. I agree with you! Of course, most Spaniards I know have a strong preference for Canaries’ bananas

Do not touch the fruit! In the supermarkets you can do this ...

But be careful in the supermarkets. Most of them now also dispense little plastic gloves for your fruit-touching pleasure. I was once loudly scolded by a señora in a supermarket in Madrid and felt quite embarrassed. I follow that procedure now to avoid further scoldings, but I think it is totally ridiculous. Just a waste of plastic since you have to wash fruit carefully before you eat it anyway.

 

[emmanuel]

In September on the Norte you can eat your fill of figs and cherries right from the trees. They are so good!

 

[VNwalking]

In September on the Norte you can eat your fill of figs and cherries right from the trees. They are so good!

I hope you ask the owners if that's OK?

 

[emmanuel]

I hope you ask the owners if that's OK?

If you happen to see the owners. When trees are obviously not cared for and fruit will just fall and rot, I assume it's safe to pick a fig or two. How much can you eat, after all? Sometimes there's a sign inviting you to help yourself. Or a small stand run by kids where you can buy some fruit.

 

[Latecomer]

...On the Camino I found the quality of bananas to be pretty awful,...

I think the tastiest banana I have ever eaten was on the Camino... from Cameroon.
After eating one, I bought a couple more.
¡Buen Camino!

 

[tomnorth]

I think the tastiest banana I have ever eaten was on the Camino... from Cameroon.
After eating one, I bought a couple more.
¡Buen Camino!

That does look like a great banana! The ones I found were always green and woody. I could barely peel them. I soon gave up on them.

 

[Paladina]

That does look like a great banana! The ones I found were always green and woody. I could barely peel them. I soon gave up on them.

They were probably plantains.

 

[Gailsie]

Walking in the fall through vineyards on the way to Villafranca del Bierzo, I was given a very large bunch of grapes right as she was picking them. So delicious on a hot afternoon!!