THE LEGEND OF THE 

LANZONES

THE LANZONES is one of the Philippines’ best loved fruits.  It abounds in the country during the months
of October and November.

It is mostly grown in the province of Laguna, particularly in Paete, a town which is also noted for its
woodcarving and papier-mache craft.  For some people however, the sweetest varieties are those in
Camiguin.

Growing in clusters, the lanzones has a thin skin and succulent flesh.  While the young small fruit tends
to be rather sour, and a little bitter, the ripe ones are often very sweet.  There was a time when the
lanzones was hardly eaten, if at all, because people thought it poisonous.  They never bothered to
touch, much less eat, this forbidden fruit.

How, then, did its succulent flesh become sweet and edible, and desired by many people who come
from faraway places just to taste the famous Laguna lanzones?

Legend has it that one day, the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary together with the child Jesus
disappeared from where it was prominently displayed in the old church of Paete.

This caused a great uproar among the townspeople, who immediately formed search parties to look for
the missing image.  The people searched high and low, here and there, for the sacred image of the Virgin
Mary.  But no one came close to a particular spot in the whole town with a beautiful woman in a white
dress carrying a child.

They approached a lanzones tree, some of whose fruits had fallen to the ground.   The child was thirsty,
so he bent down to pick up a fruit.  The mother said, “Don’t eat that lanzones, it’s a poisonous fruit.”

The child replied, “I’m so thirsty I have to have its juice …”

Taking pity on her child, the mother took the fruit from him, gently pinched the flesh of the lanzones,
and gave it back to him.

“This is so sweet and delicious!” cried the child, so grateful to his mother.

And indeed it was.  A mother’s love had transformed a fruit thought to be poisonous into one of the
sweetest and most delicious fruits known to man.  Open up a lanzones fruit, and there find a mark left
by the fingers of the Blessed Mother.