I'll try anything once.
Well once if its within reason.
So when the opportunity presented itself for me to try this fruit that even the person offering it to me acknowledged no one really eats these anymore, I stepped up to the plate.
My parents in laws have a huge yard in rural Japan, in which a size-able garden complete with a huge variety of trees, shrubs, and their fruits flourish. It just happened to be my lucky day and the Akebi fruit announced that it was ready for the plucking by naturally popping its outer shell. Freshly picked off of the tree it was presented to me on a nice wooden plate.
So being the responsible guest of the household I did not decline an offer to try such a fruit.
My father in law said something like"
"I bet you've never tried something like this before. These used to be very popular during World War 2"
I didn't quite understand what he meant by that until I looked very closely and further historical narration took place.
The insides look like a bloated maggot.
I was honestly not too thrilled to see the insides and was not afraid to show it on my face of disgust.
They did not take offense, they just laughed.
Actually used my Nikon Macro Lens for this picture
Apparently kids during the war when there was not much to eat around used to reward themselves with a sweet snack called Akebi. They would suck on it and spit out the seeds.
Its got an outer skin similar to that of a mandarin orange but softer.
I understood what was meant by kids during a war would eat this because after experiencing Akebi it was not worth it. It tasted similar to what actual coconut milk tastes with a pinch of sugar in it. Not coconut milk you would get in a can and sweetened...but bland coconut milk. It had the consistency of what you would expect a nice juicy maggot would be like.
It also has seeds like persimmon so when you suck on it you spit out seeds.
You really had to work it once you put it in your mouth. Using your teeth as a makeshift baleen-ish filter doesn't really work. So you essentially sit there with your mouth full of seeds sucking away, akin to the work you'd put into a nice rack of ribs or fresh caught crab...but without the reward you get of eating tasty meat. Being an Akemi newbie led to me downing some nice seeds along the way.
In all I would gladly suck the sugar contents of these during hard times in war, but seeing modern Japanese boys and girls opting for the Milky candy instead I follow suit.