This spring I’ve had a new eating experience. For the first time I’ve eaten Askadenia. Otherwise known in English as Loquats, these small yellow fruits have the flesh that is slightly acidic. I can’t say that they would be my first pick if I was offered a choice of fruits, but they were ok for a change. The fruit is at its sweetest when they are soft and orange. That might have had something to do with me not raving about askadenia as the ones that I were always offered were only yellow in colour and therefore still quite tangy/sour in taste. I have found here that the locals love to eat fruit that tends to be under ripe or even green. Once askadenia are picked they don’t continue to ripen and here they were never left on the tree long enough for them to turn orange and develop a sweeter flavour.
To eat them you peel off the thin peach like skin and the flesh is a similar texture to a mango. There are 3-5 dark seeds inside the fruit.
Before the fruit have ripened.
The way Askadenia are eaten here when they are yellow.
Middle East Moments 
I love ascadenia … but you are right, they need to be really ripe – like mango 😉 . I first ate them in Pakistan, years ago, there they are wonderful in April. Here, I rarely get any – fruit is very expensive in Amman ….