As has been the custom for decades, as of Thursday, March 30, vendors of the delicious cactus-type pitaya fruit will start to set up their stalls in Guadalajara’s Nueve Esquinas barrio.
The spring/summer fruit is mostly harvested in the Jalisco municipality of Techaluta, as well as the surrounding areas, and trucked into the Guadalajara metropolitan area on a daily basis. Individual pitaya vendors will also take baskets of the fruit aross the city and to other towns. Don’t be surprised to hear loud cries of “pitayas” coming from the street as the vendors pass by your home in the coming few months.
Do not be put off by the fruit’s brain-like innards. Pitayas are a tasty and refreshing treat during the hot summer. They come in white, pink and orange, but the deep red “mamey” is recognized as the sweetest of the bunch.
Visitors to the pitaya fair will also find guamúchil (Pithecellobium dulce), known in English as Manila tamarind, Madras thorn, monkeypod tree or camachile, whose seed pods contain a sweet and sour pulp that is eaten raw in Mexico, or used as a base for drinks with sugar and water (agua de guamúchil).
Guadalajara’s Nueve Esquinas neighborhood (named for the junction where nine streets converge) is a ten-minute walk from the centro historico, and also famous for its fine birria (goat stew) restaurants.