You’ve heard of a “food trip,” right? Usually that is like a road trip that somebody takes to go partake in food. Like, maybe you would take a trip to Memphis to eat BBQ at a lot of Memphis BBQ places. Well, not long ago, Aaron and I went “Fruit Trippin’.” Yep, we went on a special trip just for fruit!
You see, a couple of weeks ago when we were in GenSan to visit the Blogfest and other activities in General Santos City, I wanted to take a trip to a place called Tupi, and Aaron came along with me.
Tupi is a small town that is about 45 minutes to an hour drive north of GenSan. Fruit is king in Tupi. The big employer in the area, practically the only business is the fruit business, and it’s headed up by Dole Philippines, the big fruit grower. Dole is most famous for it’s pineapples, but they grow lots of other fruits too, and other products as well. One of the things that Dole is getting more famous for is cut flowers too. Another relatively large business in Tupi is called Kablon Farms, which makes fruit based products mostly. Things like jellies and such, and they are made right there in little Tupi.
Back when we lived in General Santos City, from 2000 until 2002, Feyma and I used to enjoy taking a ride out to Tupi at least once per week to buy fruits. You could find all of the fruits in the City, but in Tupi you paid about half the price, the fruit was fresher, and we enjoyed the road trip through the pineapple fields and other fruit orchards. It was a nice family outing for us.
Because of my memories of our regular trips to Tupi, I wanted to make a fresh visit to the place. Mostly just for the nostalgia of the trip, but also I thought it would make an interesting article here on LiP too. Feyma, Aaron and I arrived in General Santos early on a Friday morning, and we had several meetings in the morning. After that, Feyma wanted to go to Patag, Sarangani to visit the family farm and see some of her sisters there. Aaron and I decided to take a bus ride to Tupi and visit the fruit stand.
The buses going to Tupi are not fancy like the bus that we rode to GenSan from Davao. They are older buses, no air conditioning, and very basic. But, that’s how the Philippines is, especially out in the Province, and we thought it was a nice adventure, so we caught the bus at the Bulaong Terminal in General Santos City, and northbound we went. It had been a long time since I had been to the big fruit stand in Tupi, so I was hoping I could remember exactly where it was along the highway, so that I could tell the bus driver to stop and let us off! Ha ha.. sure enough, after a while I saw the fruit stand pass by and I missed telling the driver to stop! Oh well. It was probably at least 2 Kilometers before we were able to get off the bus, so we caught a tricycle back to the fruit stand. That tricycle ride was an adventure in itself, but that’s a story for another day.
When we got to the fruit stand it was pretty much just as I remembered it. The only difference was that it had a few less products than before, perhaps because of the season, I can’t say for sure. In the past, in addition to fruits, they also had some types of vegetables that were hard to find elsewhere. One that I particularly remember was very good asparagus. One of the nice things at the fruit stand in Tupi is that the fruit is so fresh! After all, the fields where they grow the fruits are just beside the fruit stand, really the fields surround the fruit stand! You can literally smell the fresh fruits in the air all around the town of Tupi, it’s so refreshing!
Aaron and I chose some fruit to buy and bring back to General Santos City. One of the things I saw at the fruit stand was a sign for some “Super Sweet MG3 Pineapple.” What the heck is that? I never heard of MG3 Pineapple before, but we bought some to try it out. It wasn’t any better than any other pineapple I’ve eaten in the Philippines, though! We also bought some pomelo (one of my favorite fruits) and some papaya. I was surprised at how inexpensive the papaya was (papaya is also a favorite of mine), just P7 per Papaya, and they were very large. That’s only about 16 US cents per papaya!
Unfortunately, Aaron and I had a problem getting a ride back to General Santos, all of the buses that passed by were full! Finally, though, a Van stopped and picked us up! What an adventure! We had a really nice time, good father and son bonding time, if you ask me.
When we got back to GenSan, we went immediately to our hotel, Sarangani Highlands. The next morning, we had the staff from Sarangani Highlands cut up some of the fruit for us to enjoy for breakfast, and it was quite delicious!
The day we went fruit trippin’ in Tupi was a lot of fun for Aaron and I. Brought back some memories of past trips to the place, and also made some new memories for both Aaron and I. We’ll have to do it again soon!
Bob
Excellent article, I can almost smell the fresh Pineapple. Great adventure and what is better than to be able to do it with your Son.
I hope you have some pics of you and Aaron packed into a Trike.
We really did have a great time, Neal! Unfortunately no pics in that tricycle, but we have other tricycle pictures together, though.
Hi Bob, Tupi is a fruit lovers dream place! I always thought that Cebu had the corner on fruit, but I’m learning that it’s really Davao! Unbeliveable prices– I hope that you and Aaron brought alot home with you. Enjoy!
Hi Queenie – Down in this region, the real fruit haven is Kidapawan City. Over in Kidapawan, in August or September (timing depends on the harvest), they have a great fruit harvest festival. The entire main street in town is lined with tables of different fruits on each side of the road, and it’s all free for people to enjoy! Talk about a good price! 😆
Hi Bob, That place would be a great fruittrip destination for sure!
Look Bob–I see that singkamas is at the fruit market in Tupi in your pic–it’s often eaten raw like a fruit but I think it really is a vegetable–turnip in English? Can be used both ways I guess..
Hi Queenie – Yeah, I agree that singkamas is not a fruit, but a veggie, but they sometimes have veggies there at the Tupi fruit stand, and singkamas are very popular in that area.
On a sidenote, I don’t think that singkamas is the same as turnips. I believe that they are jicama, which I believe is closely related, but different from turnips. Here is a reference, which says it is the same as “Mexican” turnips, but I don’t know for sure what that is compared to “regular” turnips.
Bob, You’re right about singkamas being jicama or Mexican turnip. I just know it from the only simple Tagalog song that I can sing all the way through, “Bahay Kubo” that names all the vegetables sold in the sari-sari, and in it and singkamas is one of them:)
On another thought–when I see roadside fruit venders on the way in to Cebu City, everything is piled high and looks very fresh and presentable. I’ve often wondered what happens to fruit that gets overripe if it doesn’t sell on a daily basis? There never seems to be any “old” fruit for sale.. Do you think that they sell it to neighbors or others at a discount or restaurants for juice? I wonder if you or anyone else out there knows?
The availability of many tropical fruit is truly one of the joys of the Philippines
Now I’m confused! Not sari sari store, but various or varied in Tagalog! duh..
Hmm… is Singkamas Tagalog? I never really thought about that. Is there a Cebuano name?
I don’t know where the “not so fresh” fruits end up… the juicing is what I would think, but it’s just a guess.
Juicing would be my guess too.
Hi Bob. Congratulations for winning the blog award. You deserve it. Expats and Filipinos living outside Ph get alot of helpful and fun info in your blog site.
Yes, fruits in Mindanao around that area are abundant and cheap. The government should invest in the area developing agriculture, food production and agritourism… and really be very careful of going into open pit mining like the one proposed in Tampakan. Datu Paglas banana plantation is a good example how poverty in the area can be alleviated by proper agribusiness practices and management. I really am really leery with what Sagittarius Mining is planning around the area. Without proper management, the a large part of the area in South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Davao del Sur will turn into a polluted wasteland. Even here in the US, mining towns are still showing traces of pollution despite stringent safeguards by the US government…how much more in the PH?? (sorry I kinda veered away from the topic)
Good job again Bob promoting Mindanao!
Thank you gerard! Nice to hear from you again, and I hope you are doing well.
Yes, although the fruit industry in much of Mindanao is already huge, there is still plenty of room for a lot of growth too. Many people don’t know that Mindanao is already the food basket of Manila, supplying up to 35% of the food needs of Manila. And, imagine how much larger it could grow if expanded and well managed!
Small world… My wife will be delighted when I show her this article about her birthplace. We visit every year, her parents have a small farm there. It is nice quiet place…
Hi Marcel – Indeed, it’s a small world! I really like Tupi, it’s a nice little place to visit. Plenty of peace and quiet, which i like a lot!
Hi Bob,
Sounds lovely. Looked up the MG3 thing on google out of interest. Nothing specific I found, but it seems to be a brand name, specific to the philippines. I’ll look out for the brand or type next time we buy pineapples.
Hi Jim – Yep, it really was a nice trip. We had a lot of fun that day for sure. The MG3 tasted fine, but pretty much the same as other pineapples we’ve had here.
I think we should call the Philippines the pinya capitol now. It is funny how people still associate Hawaii with pineapple. In fact not much pineapple is grown here now. We saw a more pinya in Tagatay during our recent trip to PI and it seems a lot is grown down south as well.
The two really big areas for growing pineapple in Mindanao are GenSan/South Cotabato and Bukidnon. Dole grows in GenSan. Del Monte grows in Bukidnon. Their fields are really vast in each case.
Hi Bob – Good morning to you! The kind of trip I like.. food trip! Kinda gets boring here in Manila. What I like in the provinces you can find different fruits at a cheaper price, plus they look fresh.
Hi sugar – Good morning to you too! 🙂 You know, it’s been a long time since I was in Manila, but I remember last time I was there, I was at Greeenhills mall. There used to be a fruit stand there, maybe it is still there, I don’t know. The prices were like 3 or 4 times the prices here in Mindanao, and the fruit was not as fresh either! I was in shock when I saw that!
Hi Bob, I spent 2 weeks in Gensan and just arrived back in Australia, I was amazed at the quality and diversity of fruit and vegetables available. I was taken to Polomolok where i tasted the best pineapple ever! I will be back in March for a much longer stay.
Hi peter – I remember the first time I ate pineapple in the Philippines. It was totally unlike any pineapple I had ever eaten. Sweet, not bitter. I was shocked, and I love the pineapple here! I’m glad you enjoyed your visit!
Food trip + father-son bonding? You can’t beat that! It’s been a long time I’ve been to Tupi . I remember going to Kablon Farms in our school field trip. The farm was huge because I remember doing a lot of walking there. That’s where I first saw passion fruit. 🙂
Hi Lea – You’re right… you can’t beat it, especially the father-son bonding opportunity! I had a lot of fun with Aaron, and I could tell that he enjoyed it too! All the great fruits just add to the experience!
Bob,
Glad you could spend some time with Aaron. It’s always a great experience. Those fruits really look good, especially the pineapples. Theres one fruit i know you wish they had. Cherries lol! Thanks so much for sharing your Fruit Trip. Have a nice day.
Hi PapaDuck – you know.. I don’t miss cherries that much, but when I wrote that article I had been having a time when I did have a craving for them! 😆 They have great fruit here, but I do miss cherries sometimes, and I often miss berries of different kinds like blackberries, blueberries, raspberries and such. You know, PD, it’s always greener on the other side of the fence! 😉
Bob, you mentioned different kind of berries, which I super like! 🙂
Do you know of province where they grew those? or the ones we see in the grocery stores come from different countries? Our farmers should grow those! 🙂
Hi sugar – I know that strawberries are grown in Mountain Province and Bukidnon. The other berries are not grown in the Philippines as far as I know.
Bob,
Correct english is “for Aaron and me”, not “for Aaron and I”
Ah, the grammar police are here! Thank you so much for your tip, Tom. By the way… you forgot to put a period at the end of your sentence. That will take 5 points off your grammar score! Better bone up, you don’t want to lose points!
Hi Bob,
Fruit trippin sounds very enjoyable.
Something i picked up in the Provinces to get the Bus driver to stop at unscheduled stops, is to tap a P10 coin loudly on the steel posts.
Providing he has got room to pull over, works everytime, lol.
Regards,
Chas.
Hi Chas – Oh, I know how to get the driver to stop, that’s not a problem. I just could not remember exactly where that fruit stand was, and the bus was crowded making it hard for me to see out the windows on the other side to watch for the place! Ha ha… no problems though, we made it! 😆
No problem Bob, i only mentioned the tapping for the benefit of any newbies, lol.
Hi Chas – Thanks for passing along your tip! 😉
Don’t feel bad about missing your stop Bob. I have missed it while intentionally looking for it because I was paying attention to the wild frontier driving around me. I was amazed the first time that we bought pineapples because you could buy twenty good pineapples for the price of one bad pineapple in the US. Dole has kind of backed off the asparagus production so I dearly miss the fresh asparagus. We have a friend that gets deliveries of reject sweet corn from Dole for feeding his animals. Whenever we go to visit we end up with a rice sack of sweet corn of better quality than I could ever produce.
Hi Tom – Thanks for your comment. I had hoped to see you in GenSan, Tom. I had left my phone number on a previous comment for you to contact me, but I didn’t hear from you, and I don’t have your number, so I had no way of contacting you! Hopefully next time.
By the way, I just had some great asparagus last night! It is readily available here in Davao, not sure where it is grown, probably either Eden or somewhere in Bukidnon, I’m fairly sure. Sorry it is not available in your area. I really enjoy good sweet corn!
Good morning, Tom! Take care.
Hi Bob,
Sorry too that we missed meeting. On hindsight I should have given my number so you could have called when your schedule permitted. I was worried that I would call at a bad time and also got consumed with a project. Next time we will coordinate better. Take care and as always I am indebted to you for your very useful information which helped me to acclimate to life here.
No problem, Tom. Take care.