guava and/or guaba

Some states of confusion are solely personal, perhaps based on inaptitude or based on unique abilities while other states of confusion are, knowingly or unknowingly, inflicted by society or the corresponding surroundings.

Many terms, concepts, or names may display either of these states of confusion. I do not know under which falls this guava/guaba partly solved dilemma.

Spending part of my childhood in the tropics, I was very familiar with the fruit known as guayaba. This week I tasted a fruit which I do not recognize visually from its outer form and structure – an elongated pod with greenish brownish rough colouring – but I very much recognize its inner structure and taste. After being told that it is called guaba, and not noticing the difference between the two spellings, I became a bit confused.

In my memory I still can not place the reference to the taste with a name but, what is in a name?

The Inga edulis Martius, known throughout Central and South America as guama, guaba, pepeto, paterna, inga, or pacay, and grows wildly in the Amazones where I currently eat and sleep. The plant can become a tree of twenty meters height.

The edible fruit portions found in the pod look like marshmallows made out of cotton. In taste there is a similarity to the guanabana. Once the flesh is eaten, a very unique looking seed is revealed which looks like a small colorful stone.