Piled high on market stalls and overflowing from supermarket shelves, fresh fruit is readily available in Hong Kong. Saang gwo dong (fruit stalls) are a prominent feature of any street market. However, our year-round access to high-quality fresh fruit is a relatively recent facet of life here.
In the 19th century, almost everything was locally grown. In the traditional Chinese diet, fruit enjoyed the same status as dessert and was regarded as an occasional treat or snack. Large-scale imports of fruit into Hong Kong started in the 1880s, with the introduction of refrigerated vessels.
New Territories villages have always grown the small brown-skinned longan - literally 'dragon's eye' - and vendor stands are common in rural areas. Kwai Chung and Tsuen Wan, meanwhile, were locally renowned before the Pacific war for their small sweet pineapples, which grew readily on the steep slopes and sandy coastal soil. Pineapple production has long since disappeared, the fields replaced with factories, godowns and flyovers.
For decades, loose-skinned, juicy kum (tangerines) were a noted product from the West River. A Cantonese homophone for gold, kum are an essential, symbolic treat at the end of wedding banquets and Lunar New Year dinners. Dried gwo pei (tangerine peel) was highly valued as a cooking additive. Gut (cumquats) were widely available and the attractive ornamental trees remain synonymous with the Lunar New Year.
Southern China has long been re-nowned for its lychees. These days, many Hong Kong people make the journey to Shenzhen to buy plump red lychees, returning laden with leaf-lined bamboo baskets filled with the fruit.
Improved agricultural methods on the mainland mean formerly seasonal fruits from northern China, such as suet lei (snow pears), are available for most of the year. Fuji apples are now grown cheaply and extensively in central China.
