Seasonal fruit is a great pleasure. There's so much tasteless imported produce in western (and Japanese) supermarkets that probably not that many people know what the right season for most fruit is. But I think Iran is pretty much self-sufficient when it comes to fruit and veg and I certainly look forward to autumn for several of my favourites - one of which is the persimmon which I've heard called "Sharon fruit" before, "kaki" in Japan and "khormaloo" in Iran. Khorma is the Farsi word for "dates" and aloo means "plum."
I wonder if there's a connection there with the Hindi(?) word for potato - something like the French calling them "pommes de terre." Anyway "khormaloo" is a word loaded with sweet winter connotations for me, the colour itself is enough to warm your hands and the sight of abundant orange fruit weighing down leaveless branches and punctuating the air with their fat jolliness is a sure-fire way to put a smile on my face. I think Santa Claus should wear persimmon orange.
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Guide to Tehran
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