Fruit Salad Trivia Quiz

Answer: mulberry

Mulberries grow on deciduous trees of the genus Morus, native to Eurasia, Africa, and North America. Like blackberries and raspberries, they are not true berries, but clusters of many fruits produced by a single flower. Though most species of mulberry tree have edible fruits, the most commonly cultivated of these plants are the black, the red, and the white mulberry, named after the colour of their fruits. Black and red mulberries are generally tastier than white ones; the leaves of the white mulberry, however, are the preferred food of silkworms, and for this reason these trees have been cultivated in East Asia for almost 5,000 years.

Mulberries are not found as frequently in grocery stores as other berries; however, they can be easily harvested from trees that grow wild. In many parts of Europe and Asia, these fruits are quite popular, and used to make jams, beverages, or desserts such as the famed Sicilian mulberry granita (a kind of coarse-grained water ice). They can also be substituted for other berries in cooking and baking. Being rich in antioxidants, mulberries have often been referred to as a "superfood".

Answer: cherries

Amarene (sing. "amarena") are the fruits of the sour cherry tree (Prunus cerasus), closely related to the sweet cherry tree (Prunus avium), though older in origin. They can be light or dark red in colour (the dark ones are known as "morello cherries" in English) and are tart and very juicy. Rarely consumed raw, in many parts of Europe sour cherries are used to make jams, syrups, liqueurs, and desserts. A famous Hungarian dish is sour cherry soup (meggyleves), which is served chilled with cream. In Belgium, sour cherries with pits are added to lambic beer (a kind of beer fermented with wild yeasts) to produce the delicious beverage known as kriek lambic. Another variety of sour cherry, called "marasca" in Italian, is the main ingredient of maraschino liqueur, produced in Dalmatia (Croatia) and northeastern Italy.

Both "amarena" and "marasca" come from the Italian word "amaro", meaning "bitter". Amarene in syrup can be bought in most Italian grocery stores but are easy to make at home - either by cooking pitted sour cherries in sugar and water, or layering them with sugar in a jar, which should be left in the sun for a month or longer. They are excellent as a topping for ice cream, puddings, or custard-filled pastries such as "zeppole" (fried pastries traditionally eaten on St Joseph's Day).

Answer: carambola

Also known as starfruit or five fingers, the carambola is the fruit of Averrhoa carambola, a small, evergreen tree native to Southeast Asia. When ripe, these fruits have thin, yellow-orange skin which is also edible), and crisp, yellow flesh, very juicy and tart-sweet in taste. Though mildly poisonous and high in oxalic acid - which makes their consumption risky for those who suffer from kidney ailments - carambolas are widely consumed in Asia, both raw and cooked. Their juice is also popular as a drink or a seasoning; if very sour, it can also be used to clean tarnished or rusty metal.

In Western countries, carambolas are especially prized for decorative purposes; they are widely cultivated in Australia, Florida and Hawaii. A closely related fruit, also native to Southeast Asia, is the bilimbi (Averrhoa bilimbi), whose shape is reminiscent of a cucumber or summer squash.

Answer: calvados

The northwestern French region of Normandy is famous for its apple orchards; unlike most of the country, this historic region is a producer of cider rather than wine. Calvados (named after the area where it is produced) is an amber-coloured brandy distilled from the dry cider made from a number of specially grown apple varieties. These apples can be sweet, tart, or bitter: the latter are used exclusively for this purpose, as they are inedible; occasionally pears are also used. After distillation, the brandy is aged for at least two years in oak casks before it is bottled and sold. Normandy's renowned apples are also used in a variety of sweet and savoury dishes, such as the dessert of apples baked in pastry known as "bourdelots", or paired with another of Normandy's culinary glories, Camembert cheese.

Kirsch is a clear brandy distilled from morello cherries (see Q. 2), while slivovitz is distilled from plums; grappa, on the other hand, is made from grape pomace (the leftovers of wine-making).

Answer: passion fruit

Passion fruit is the fruit of Passiflora edulis, a perennial vine native of Central and South America, The name "granadilla" or "granadillo" ("little pomegranate") denotes a closely related fruit, Passiflora ligularis, whose peel is orange rather than purple; in South Africa, however, "granadilla" is the name commonly given to passion fruit. The name "maracujá", used in Brazil and other parts of South America, comes from the indigenous Guaraní language.

The purple-skinned passion fruit is about the size of a lemon, with soft, juicy pulp filled with many seeds (hence the comparison with a pomegranate); there is also a larger, yellow-skinned variety. Passion fruit is very versatile: it can be eaten fresh (often by scooping up the pulp with a spoon), made into jams or jellies, pressed into juice (a very popular drink in Central and South America), or used for desserts such as passion fruit mousse or ice cream. In Australia and New Zealand, passion fruit is one of the traditional toppings for pavlova, the meringue dessert especially popular at Christmastime.

Answer: jujube

Jujubes are the fruits of a small deciduous tree, Ziziphus jujuba, probably native to the Middle East, but domesticated in South Asia thousands of years ago. These trees grow easily in both tropical and temperate climates and have been successfully introduced in other parts of the world, such as Madagascar and the Caribbean. Though not related, jujubes do resemble dates, especially when dried (as the photo clearly shows) - hence their common names of "red dates" or "Chinese dates". Very popular in East Asia - where they are called "tsao" in Chinese, and "natsume" in Japanese - they are eaten fresh, dried, smoked, or boiled in syrup, and also used to make tea and other beverages. In southern Europe, where the trees are often grown for ornamental purposes, jujubes are made into jam, preserved in brandy, or used to make an aromatic liqueur known in Italian as "brodo di giuggiole" ("jujube broth"), which also contains quinces (see Q. 9) and grapes - a specialty of the Lombardian city of Mantua, based on a Renaissance recipe.

"Jujubes" is also the name of a chewy, bite-size candy, based on an 18th-century recipe that originally involved real jujubes. It was introduced in the US in the 1920s, and became very popular in movie theatres, where it is still sold to this day.

Quandong and marula are also stone fruits (drupes), while the kumquat is one of the smallest citrus fruits.

Answer: Concord

Concord grapes are derived from Vitis labrusca, also known as fox grape, a species native to North America. The cultivar was created in 1849 in Concord, Massachusetts, by Ephraim Wales Bull, who wanted to develop a grape that would be able to thrive in the cold climate of New England. With their characteristic dark blue or purple skin and sweet, aromatic flavour, concord grapes are mainly used to make jelly (traditionally paired with peanut butter in the iconic PB&J sandwich) and juice, both very popular in the US; they are also used to make wine for sacramental purposes.

In Italy, Concord grapes are known as "uva fragola" ("strawberry grape"), because their intense aroma (described as "foxy" in wine-tasting jargon) is vaguely reminiscent of strawberries. They are widely available as table grapes, and in some parts of the country are used to make a wine called "fragolino" - which, however, cannot be marketed as "wine" in Europe, as the latter definition is only allowed for the fermented beverage produced from Vitis vinifera (the common grape vine).

The historic town of Concord, the birthplace of Henry David Thoreau, and a renowned literary hub in the 19th century, was one of the sites of the first military engagement of the American Revolutionary War, on 19 April, 1775.

Answer: persimmon

Persimmons are trees of the genus Diospyros, to which the trees that produce the prized ebony wood also belong. The name "persimmon" comes from Powhatan, a Native American language of the eastern US, and means "a dry fruit"; the Japanese name "kaki" is used in some languages, such as Italian, Spanish and French. The most commercially important species is the Oriental persimmon (Diospyros kaki), widely cultivated in its native East Asia and other temperate areas of the world, where it was introduced relatively recently. Persimmons can be oval or round in shape, and have thin, waxy skin - a bit like tomatoes. When ripe, they turn a deep orange colour, and their flesh takes on a jelly-like texture, with a sweet, delicate taste; unripe persimmons (except some varieties) are bitter and astringent, due to the presence of tannins. Ripening can be hastened by treating the fruits with carbon dioxide.

In East Asia, persimmons are often dried, so they can be enjoyed out of season; they are also used to make a tangy-sweet vinegar. These quintessential autumm fruits can be used for both sweet and savoury dishes: in the US, persimmon pudding is one of the traditional dishes of the state of Indiana.

Answer: marmalade

The quince (Cydonia oblonga) is a fruit native to the temperate region south of the Caspian Sea and has been known to humans for thousands of years. Most varieties of this hard-fleshed, highly aromatic fruit are not suitable to be eaten raw but are excellent cooked. They can be baked or stewed, or used to make jams, jellies, puddings, or the thick, firm paste known as "membrillo" in Spanish, "cotognata" in Italian, and "marmelada" in Portuguese (from "marmelo", meaning "quince"). The term "marmalade" - which now refers to preserves made from oranges and other citrus fruits - originally referred to quince jam, which has a deep, rusty-red colour. Quince marmalade was very popular during the Renaissance, and often mentioned in 16th-century documents from England and other European countries. Citrus marmalade was first recorded in the late 17th century and developed as a spread in Scotland in the early 18th century.

Though chutney is also a kind of fruit spread, it is generally used as a relish or dipping sauce, and is sweet, sour and spicy, rather than just sweet. Its name comes from the Hindi word "chatni", which means "appetizing".

Answer: citron

A native of Eurasia, the citron (Citrus medica) is one of the oldest citrus fruits, and one of the original species from which other varieties were created through hybridization. This large, oblong-shaped fruit, yellow or greenish-yellow in colour when ripe, has a leathery, rough-textured rind that surrounds a thick, hard pith, and a small amount of acidic pulp; some varieties, like the unusually shaped Buddha's hand, or fingered citron, have hardly any pulp at all. Nowadays citrons are cultivated mainly in the Mediterranean, Middle East, and India. Candied citron rind (also known as "succade") is widely used in baked goods and desserts, such as the famed Sicilian cannoli. In Italy, where citrons are grown mostly in the southern region of Calabria, citron peel is used to make the non-alcoholic beverage "cedrata", as well as a liqueur similar to "limoncello".

The citron has been identified with the "hadar", or "fruit of the beautiful tree", mentioned in Leviticus 23:40 as one of the "four species" - the plants required for ritual use during the Feast of Tabernacles, or Sukkot. The "etrog" and the other three plants are held in hand and waved during specific parts of the prayers recited during this week-long holiday, which corresponds to a harvest festival.