INSET
:^ COURTESY^ HEATHERM
OEHLINGFEBRUARY 2019 / SOUTHERNLIVING.COM
98LEX FERNANDEZ WAVED off
Robert Moehling when he offered
to bag a plump, spiky soursop
she bought at Robert Is Here fruit
stand in Homestead, Florida.
Instead, she immediately asked
him to slice it into wedges. She popped the milky-sweet
flesh into her mouth right at the counter, even as a line
formed behind her at the low-roofed barn, among several
wooden crates overflowing with passion fruits, mamey
sapotes, jackfruits, and mangoes.
“Oh, my gosh—thank you so much,” she mumbled
through a mouthful before feeding a chunk of the LatinAmerican fruit to a friend visiting from Gainesville. “That
first bite, it’s like a memory,” said Fernandez, who was born
in Cuba and raised in Miami on this exotic fruit, locally
called guanabana (gwah-nah-BAH-nah).
Everyone in line understood. A couple from Canada’s
Yukon Territory flew for three days to board their South
Florida cruise only to venture almost an hour south to a
fruit stand people raved about online. “So this is what fresh
fruit tastes like,” Steve Smith said.
Another couple from Shallote, North Carolina, who
travel annually to the Florida Keys, knew about Robert Is
Here too. “Our vacation doesn’t start until we’ve come to
this place,” Polly Russ said.
Even Boy Scout Troop 650, on its way
to camp at nearby Everglades National
Park, stopped off for strawberry-Key lime
milkshakes. “Oh, they’re the best: smooth,
creamy, and exotic,” scoutmaster Robert
Murphy said. “I added tamarind because
you hardly ever find it fresh. It’s these
flavors that make it.” And that is what
makes Robert Is Here special.
A fruit stand becoming an icon in South
Florida, where delicious tropical produce is
available year-round, may seem unlikely.
But what’s even more exceptional is that
it has remained a local favorite long after
being discovered by the tourists. “I take
more pride in my community than a lot
of other people do,” Moehling says. “IRobert Moehling got into the produce
business at the age of 6 with a pile of
cucumbers grown by his father and a
sign painted on a hurricane shutter.