Malise, who is from Brazil, said jaboticaba jelly is the spread of choice for kids in Brazil and it is also great on peanut butter. Just talking about it gave her great saudades, homesickness for it.

The black cherry-like fruit grows directly on the trunks of trees.

In 2016 I wrote about jaboticaba, which was tasted in the form of a non-alcoholic juice by a Canberran visiting relatives in Brazil. Dr Mark O'Connor of O'Connor told me he had purchased a small tree from Daley's Fruit Tree Nursery in Kyogle, New South Wales but, requiring a sub-tropical climate, it gradually failed, even in his greenhouse.

Meanwhile, Mark has been in touch about feijoas, a tree from the southern highlands of Brazil and other South American countries. It grows easily in Canberra and he thinks there could be 100,000 feijoa trees in our gardens and parklands. This year's fruiting season has just started. Some years ago, he tracked down exceptional trees through this column and grafted varieties at his home.

Twenty were planted out at the Lindsay Pryor National Arboretum, each named after the donors. He hopes this season might produce some exciting finds. If you have a tree with unusually coloured or flavoured fruit and would donate a scion (a shoot or twig for grafting), email: bodenparsons@bigpond.com and I will pass on details.

For Christmas, I gave friends the spice Ras el Hanout ("top of the shop"). There is a well-known recipe for a Ras el Hanout dressing and Melbourne pals have shared the version from The Age (January 5, 2021): put olive oil, fresh dates, crushed garlic clove, fresh lemon juice, apple cider vinegar and honey in a blender and blitz until creamy. Pour over eggplants, brown rice and quinoa. My dressing has topped brown rice, roasted chicken breast pieces and carrots. Do try it.

This year, Neighbour Day was held on March 28 and, in my suburb, more than 40 residents plus children and dogs met in our small park and playground for morning tea. Everyone brought their own cuppa or water and some residents brought treats for all. There were dips and crackers, watermelon slices, delicious homemade date loaf and tea cake still warm in its tin, tiered cake stands holding cupcakes iced in pastels with cachous.

I handed out finely sliced ambrosia apples, large, aromatic, sweet, skin on, and everyone who was offered some, ate a crisp slice. The apple originated in an orchard in British Columbia in the early 1990s and, in Australia, Montague first offered it in supermarkets during 2020.

One resident, Ros, brought an orange and almond cake. Many readers will know the version published in Claudia Roden's A Book of Middle Eastern Food (1968). It was originally baked by Sephardi Jews to celebrate Passover and, by coincidence, our gathering was held on the second day of Passover for 2021.

The recipe has been adapted many times and Ros took her version from the Taste website online, where it was made in the shape of a heart. Her's was rectangular, moist, dense and rich.

2 large boiled oranges (or 3 small)

5 large eggs

1.25 cups (250g) caster sugar

2.5 (250g) cups almond meal/ground almonds

1 large tsp gluten-free baking powder.

Ros has found it is not necessary to boil the fruit for an hour or so (as suggested in the Taste recipe) but to place it in a bowl with a small amount of water and cook in the microwave for 4-6 minutes or until the fruit is softened. Drain and cool. Chop oranges into quarters, discard any seeds, then place chunks in a blender and puree until smooth.

Preheat oven to 170C, grease tin and line with baking paper. Beat eggs with sugar until thick, then add orange puree, almond meal and baking powder and mix well. Pour into a prepared tin and bake for one hour or longer, until a skewer poked into the centre comes out clean. Leave the cake to firm up in the tin for 20 minutes, turn out, remove the baking paper. Serve with sifted icing sugar on top and a dollop of cream. Note: it can be made 48 hours before serving.