Guava – An unpalatable story of language

Guava is a fruit with many names and many types, generally belonging to the genus Psidium.  In Costa Rica, cas is a guava that is used to make delicious juice and has yellow or whitish, seed-filled flesh. In Nicaragua, cas is known as guayaba.  And to an American English speaker, guava (the red-fleshed fruit often used to make guava jelly) is what ticos call guayaba, whereas ‘guava’ refers to a bean-like fruit from a tree in the genus Igna… I think.  I’ve also heard cas referred to as ‘superfruit’ in English.

In any case, all of the fruits are good… unless they are parasitized by fly maggots.  Or perhaps, that’s what you’re into:

Cas infectado - 20130622 - 3
Discovering some cas (guava, guayaba… superfruit) within an abandoned pasture in Las Cruces, I opened it up to investigate it’s palatability… The flesh wriggled with maggots. Interesting, but not appetizing.

Cas infectado - 20130622 - 5

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