Wanted: Aratiles!

My sister's favorite fruit when she was a little kid was alatires.  To get her aratiles, we would go to Nanang Puring's  (Talucod) house in Sagrada.  We would use sungkit to get the fruits and my sister would be picking them up and put them in her pockets or plastic bags. 

As we walked back home, she would start eating them.  I did not like this fruit that much so I would usually let her have them all.  Unfortunately, my sister would have lots of red bruises all over her body after eating alatires.  She had an allergic reaction to alatires.  From then on, she was not allowed to eat aratiles.  It did not stop her anyway.  Whenever she had the chance, she would still eat them.

Aratiles tree is also known as Cherry Tree, Panama Berry or Seresa.  It originated from the Southern Americas and was introduced to the Philippines by the Spaniards during their occupation of the country.  It grows up to 10 m in height...but the trunk and branches are not sturdy that's why we wouldn't take chances in climbing this tree before.  The fruits are white when unriped and become reddish when going ripe.  It has a sweet taste on it, fleshy and lots of tiny seeds.  It's interesting to find out that this tree has a lot of use not only to satisfy your fruit cravings.  The flowers can be used as antiseptic and can  abdominal cramps, colds and headaches. 

So aratiles, is quite a versatile tree....I wonder if we could still see them around?

A comment or two will be appreciated...