dining

“¡Sí hay piva!” the vendor shouts as he makes his way through the working class residential neighborhood, lugging an enormous tub of steamed piva nuts. The starchy orange palm nuts are a quarter for three little ones or two big ones. They have been the stuff of many Panamanian breakfasts and lunches for centuries, and they’re in season now.

We’re also most of the way through mango season, but some trees are still producing and vendors will have fresh ones for weeks to come. Now is the time to dry, can, freeze or otherwise preserve them if you want to treat visiting friends and relatives to the mango taste when they come during the dry season.

Harder to preserve --- though I’m told they make a good jelly --- are the delicate rose apples, or marañón de Curazao as they are called in Panamanian Spanish. These are neither roses, apples nor cashews (marañones), but they’re cheap (three for a quarter) and good.

And if ever some sinophobe tells you that the Chinese have only taken from Panama and have never given anything back, go to a fruit stall and get a dozen lychees. You have to take the strange rubbery peel off. You eat the white flesh but not the dark seed that’s inside. Better yet, you may want to remove the peels and seeds, put the fruit in a plastic ice cream tub and cover it with heavy sugar-water syrup, then put the lid on and toss it in the freezer for a few hours until the contents are slushy but not frozen solid. Odds are that you will then appreciate one small part of China’s contribution to Panamanian culture.

Enjoy them while you can, folks. Pivas are around for most of the year, but none of these tropical delights are in season all year long.

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