LoZ: TotK - Sky Island Fruit
I wonder what Fire Fruit, Ice Fruit, Dazzle Fruit, & Splash Fruit taste like.
I'm pretty sure we all know that Shock Fruit tastes like lemon. No, Starry or Ghost Citrus! And I think it'd tingle on the tongue like pop rocks, but what about the rest?
For the sake of worldbuilding, I need to figure this out.
Guaranteed, Splash Fruit is juicy af. Like, watermelon juicy. Is actually almost flavorless, but with an aftertaste like a combination of apples soaked in white grape juice & white grapes soaked in lemon juice. It's the relative shape & color of a calabash, so it has a slightly bitter edge to it & a scent of squash & coconut water. - I've sort of renamed it in my head to Calasplash.
Fire Fruit are inspired by uchuva, Chinese lantern fruits, a/o cape gooseberries, so they'd likely taste like them too. So, sweet, yet tart & tangy when ripe, but sour when not. Possibly has a flavor profile a bit like spiced mandarin oranges, tomatoes, & cherries. The fruit has a similar texture to a cherry tomato. I do also think that if you were to remove the lattice leaf protecting the fruit inside & tear the actual fruit open, the juice that'd spill out would be on fire. Just liquid fire or napalm, but edible. I remember in the Wrinkle in Time movie that Disney did (the 2004 one, not the remake), Mrs. Whatsit pries open a fig-looking fruit (I think) to spill its contents on a bundle of wood, the juice was on fire, which starts the wood on fire. That's sort of what I think it'd be like. The juice would also sizzle on your tongue but wouldn't burn. Instead, it's pleasantly hot. Not warm, hot. Like a hot bath or a hearth. - Named it Fuegochuvá.
Ice Fruit, I just learned, might be in some way inspired by the ice apple. Which, the heck?? Why am I only just learning about this mess??? But whatever; they'd likely take cues from that. So, Ice Fruit would actually be legitimately transparent to a degree. Known to be mildly sweet, often compared to the flavor of coconut. Their flesh has been described as jelly-like in consistency & biting into the center results in a burst of sugary-sweet juice. - Beyond that, I'd make them actually cold & refreshing, they are mildly sweet & per a really good suggestion I got, they'd taste like champaign grapes, but also a little bit like white grapes with a hint of Palm Fruit (as noted above). Their flesh would be gelatinous with a thin skin like a frost bubble (think a dry ice bubble used in mixology). And, because I wanna insert a tiny bit of wonder into this, you can literally do that breathing frost thing that you can do when it's really cold, but at any time of year or temperature every time you take a sip. Kids & grown-up children (gestures to oneself) would most likely love them. - Also, evidently, if you get a cooler, put any sort of small fruit inside with some dry ice for 20 minutes, then the dry ice sublimates, the fruit absorbs it, & you'll get a type of carbonated frozen fruit! I'm thinking to find one that I can use to add onto the flavor profile of the Ice Fruit. It just seems like too "cool" of an idea to pass up. Problem is, I'm not quite sure what kind of words to use to describe it in a more "literary" way yet.
For a bit more information on these IRL ice apples (Borassus flabellifer), it's a tropical fruit that grows on sugar palm trees in India. The ice apple is also known as Tadgola in Marathi & Hindi, & Nungu in Tamil. They are found inside a coconut-like fruit that grows on sugar palm trees & acts as a coolant. They are fleshy & transparent with yellowish jelly-like flesh & a slightly square-ish shape. - So, now it's Frostangola.
I'm still not sure what Dazzlefruit would taste like, though. And no clue what it's inspired by. It'd probably have a bright, light flavor, hmm?? Still no clue, but they look a little like guanabanas, so I might use that. - It's a Dazzlebana.
If anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears.
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