Pomegranates, Sage, and Mandarines, Oh My!

Why buy it at the market when you can pick it in the wild for FREE? Call it stealing, call it taking part in ones civic duty, call it whatever you like. Montenegrins are rich in fruit trees and vines that beckon you at every street corner and on every hike. For a fruit glutton like myself the call of the pomegranate broke me, and the citrus embroiled me in a pattern of thievery that has deepened to this day.

So why am I only now spilling the beans on this little secret habit? With my departure from Montenegro rapidly approaching, I am overwhelmed with feelings of sentimentality. Accordingly, it seemed only right to set the record straight once and for all, and to face the facts as they are.

Without any attempt to justify bad habits, to get the full picture of my lapses in moral judgment, I must explain the setting of such abhorrent actions. In Montenegro pomegranate trees are roadside weeds, kiwi vines are often grown for the shade cast by their leaves, and whole trees of persimmons are left to rot and cascade hundreds of fruits to the ground below. Yes, in Montenegro some fruits are so abundant and easily grown that they are perceived as pests.

Although mandarins were frequent targets, more often than not those in reach of a sidewalk were still in need of ripening. Other citrus included lemons and naval oranges. Wild pomegranates are so abundant that they are often left to explode into ruby studded fruit blossoms on their trees. The younger ones are alleged to have greater vitamin C than the larger ones, and can be eaten in the fashion of an apple once the outer skin is peeled back. 

Grapes and kiwis hang on trellises above driveways, planted to provide relief from blazing sun in the summer, and are often left to turn to raisins on their vines. (A handful of times I was given kiwis by the bushel by people trying to offload their massive harvests.) Olive trees grow in rampant fashion along the southwestern coast of Montenegro, used for home production of olive oil and marinated olive snacks, but most often left to drop their fruits to the ground. (As I’ve learned, real, raw, un-marinated olives are bitter beyond belief.) Sage is a prolific mountain ground cover, and is eaten by goats. Persimmon trees produce such quantities of fruit that they outstrip the meager demand for this nearly molten fruit. (Not once did I see more than one persimmon tree in a yard or on a farm.)

Sure such fruit abundance may not be so unusual for a Mediterranean country during the fall season, but for a traveler like myself this treat was both unexpected and thoroughly enjoyed. The seasonality of local produce will undoubtedly factor into decisions regarding my future travel plans, and if it is free, all the better.