The delicious art of fruit degustation at Maagen Michael             

I decided to join a recent Esra Caesarea – Five Towns excursion to Kibbutz Maagen Michael, simply because it was so close to home. To my delight, it also turned out to be an enriching and exquisite experience. We were visiting an orchard of rare exotic fruits – and it wasn’t at all as I had imagined. The orchard is surprisingly small, set against the slopes of some prehistoric caves, creating favourable conditions for a tropical climate.

The man responsible for growing such delights is Avraham Hassidim. To my mind, he is dedication and passion personified, and a great source of inspiration. The trail was quite short, but the number of different rare fruit trees was astonishing. Our host told us about the origins of each tree, and then he lovingly peeled, cored and quartered each fruit for our palate and our pleasure.

We ate to our hearts’ content, the most colorful, most delicious and most completely organic exotic fruits. On that wonderful morning in May I am sure I was not the only one who had an insight into what Gan HaEden might have been like. I felt that I was strolling in paradise.

Thank you to Marion Fredman who organized this unforgettable experience.