Found these in the shops today, must be in season as they are everywhere. Never seen them before and labeled Manow Ho in the supermarket, a bit if research revealed them to be Mariam Plum – more here.

About the size of a grape, these were sour in flavour, somewhat toned down by the sweet chilli paste dip.

Marian plum

The selection of foods in Thai markets can be baffling to westerners; and that’s only the stuff they see in mainstream markets. Move out of the big cities and the selection becomes even more strange. This is a market on the highway between Chiang Mai and Lampang; at the moment (May) it has some jungle produce that is very seasonal – in particular mushrooms – but also some strange (to me) vegetables and fruits.

Some of these vegetables actually do fight back – I think this is the first time I have ever been warned to be careful about eating a vegetable… the spiky one below – the trick is to snap off the young fronds and eat those with other veg. The flavours are beyond what I can describe, but I can honestly say I have never tasted anything like it.

Thai Market – Gac Fruit, Vietnamese in origin