Xinjiang's climate is the reason for its fruit. Long, hot, dry summers with very high day-to-night temperature swings, abundant sun and irrigation from mountain snowmelt produce fruit with unusually high sugar content. The province is the largest fruit-producing region in China, and eating your way through the season is one of the genuine pleasures of travelling here.
Melons
Hami melons are the best known, a family of varieties rather than a single fruit, ranging from small green-fleshed types to large golden ones with dense, crisp, honey-sweet flesh. They ripen from early summer into autumn depending on the variety, and they are sold whole or by the slice from carts and stalls. The name comes from the town of Hami on the eastern edge of the province, but the melons are grown widely across the oases.
Grapes and raisins
Turpan is the grape capital of China. The Turpan depression is one of the hottest and lowest places in the country, and its vineyards produce both seedless table grapes and the varieties dried into raisins. The harvest runs from late summer into early autumn, and the hillside drying houses - tall, slatted brick buildings where bunches are hung to dry in the hot wind - are a distinctive part of the landscape. Seedless white raisins from Turpan are exported across China and are worth buying at the source.
The rest of the season
Korla pears, small, fragrant and crisp, ripen in autumn and are considered among the finest pears in China. Apricots and cherries come in early summer, peaches and figs in midsummer, and pomegranates and jujubes in autumn. Around Kashgar, the fruit stalls are stacked in pyramids and the juice is pressed to order. Dried fruit and nuts - raisins, apricots, figs, walnuts, almonds and pistachios - are sold year round in the bazaars and travel well.
Buying and eating
Fruit is bought by weight, and the price falls sharply as you move away from the main tourist bazaars. Stalls will cut a melon for you to eat on the spot, which is the best way to buy one. Wash anything you plan to eat raw, and be cautious with cut fruit that has been sitting in the sun. The peak season for a visitor runs from July to October, when the range is widest and the quality highest.
