It's been a long time since I've had gri gri but I got some the other day. Took me straight to my boyhood days; I would eat the thin outer flesh of the gri gri and save the nut for later. Then when I had some spare time I would crack it with my teeth or take a small stone and gently crack the thin shell to reveal the kernel ( like in the picture below) I could remember sometimes at school we used to use the nut to play "pitch"* since it was the size of a marble. It was perfect for playing "three hole"**. Those were some school days!
The sweet kernel is a joy to partake in; it tastes close to that of coconut but the texture is not as soft. But that's not a problem because you're so busy chewing and enjoying the sweet "milk" from the kernel that you don't have time to bother about texture. :-)
So what really is gri gri you may ask even though you are seeing pictures. Actually this fruit comes from a very tall and thorny palm tree and is a family to pee wah, and another we call gru gru bef which is just as spiky I might add.
To harvest grigri, climbing is out of the question; you have to get a very long rod to get at it and even that is a chore because these gri gri palm trees grow to some forty feet. Probably that is why these fruits fetch a high price in the market if and when you see them. Harvesting it is very labour intensive. Then too, unless you have gri gri growing in your backyard, you have to go into the forest for it. Oh! There goes the price again! :-)
Anyhow, I really savoured these few gri gri I got and of course, like long time, I saved the nuts to crack later ! See you soon. Ah gone!
gri gri nut and kernel
Three Hole - Marble game with three holes dug in succession but spaced out by an agreed distance from the starting/ finishing line. The holes were named 1st hole, 2nd hole and 3rd hole from the starting/finishing line. The object of the game was to pitch your marble into the holes in succession (3,2,1,2,3,2,1) and end at the starting/finishing line first.
Stakes were high at times where we played pitch (marbles) for bokee. Ouch!
.
