Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1890-06-04
a BRAZILIAN LUXURY.
Apt to Kill If Eaten and to Burn If Han
died, Yet Very Refreshing.

Apt to Kill II Eaten and to Burn If Han
died. Yet Very Refreshing.
A Sun reporter found himself in a
crowd that stood staring into fruit
store window the other day. In the
window, hanging by string, was some
thing that locked like big BARTLETT
pear, except that its color was deep red.
On the big end of the fruit was pulpy
looking protuberance. Pushing his way
into the store and pointing to the
strange fruit in the window, the re-
porter asked the dealer:
what kind of pear is that?"
''Its no kind of pear" replied the
fruit man. Its Brazilian caju."
''Oh, indeedw said the reporter.
YES" replied the dealer, that's q
catu, and it's the only one in the city, l
guess. It's curious kind of fruit, too,
for while it Is one of the most delight
fully cool and refreshing Of delicacies
1t will make you deathly sick. and may be
kill you, if you eat it. The Brazilian
caju wasn't made to be eaten. You have
to drink it to properly enjoy it."
'Ahp' said the reporter. What are
the habits Of this peculiar fruit?"
WELL" said the custodian of the
caju, "that one in the window is what
they call q garden caju because it is a
cultivated one, but it grows wild, very
wild. They make claret wine out Of
the wild caju down in Brazil that the ma
Eves dote on. 1t will stand you on
your head in less than ten minutes.
The cultivated fruit sometimes turns
out red like that one, but it is also apt
to be yellow. and perhaps pink. The
ways OF the caju are in no way in
huenced by its color, though. red
one can't discount pink one, and a vel
low one is as much of a thoroughbred as
either Of the others. The pulp of the
most luscious orange ism half as tempt
ing as the inside of the caju. but the
caju pulp is poison, Juice is what the
caju is for. I'll bet that red one yonder
has more than pint of juice in it, and
If you ever tasted it you'd never let go
until you engulfed the whole Of it
There's nothing finer. The swell Bra
lillian sucks the juice out of caju every
morning before breakfast"
What does the caju wear that ro-
sette for on its big end?" asked the re-
porter.
well, that isn't exactly rosette, :"
replied the fruit-dealer, but it looks
like one, doesn't it? That is the
seeds Of the fruit. They are put on
the outside to make room for more Juice
inside, suppose, and for another very
important reason. If they grew on the
inside the sucking of a caju would be
followed by the instant and complete
humiliation of the suckers stomach.
You can't see the seeds because they
are covered up by pulp. That pulp has
juice of its own, and wherever 1t hap
| pens to touch your flesh a big blister
will rise up and burrow itself into the
flesh like the burning head Of q parlor
match. They don't seem to mind 1t
down in Brazil, though"
''Do you intend to introduce the caju
| in our markets?" asked the reporter.
"Well, we had thought of it some, "
said the fruit dealer, but have an
idea that we can't hope to make luxu-
! ry popular up here that is liable to kill
you If you eat it and burn you up If you
handle it. I'd like to have a quart of
caju juice right now, though. all the
same."-N. Y. Sun.