Fruits may be fresh, canned, frozen, or dried, and may be whole, cut-up, or pureed. The amount each person needs can vary between 1 and 2 cups each day.
I love fruit and I clearly just can’t get enough of them. When I try to imagine what one of these odd fruits taste like, it’s almost like trying to imagine a new color.
I just can’t seem to wrap my mind around something I have never experienced, but that does not mean that I won’t try to experience as many as I possibly can in my lifetime. So, on account of all the omissions that were listed on the previous top 20 fruits you probably don’t know, I decided to include them and make the rest of the entries a bit more global. There are hundreds of fruits out there, but as I can’t carry on writing lists about all of them, I have settled for a few that I had never heard of and found interesting. Once again, I have not written this list in any special order, but decided on giving the number 1 spot to the most repeated omission. Muntingia CalaburaEven though I had never heard of a strawberry tree in my life, the name should be familiar to many of you. What you probably don’t realize is that there are actually three completely different species of trees known as strawberry trees, and they are found on three completely different continents.So, starting in the far West we have the Muntingia strawberry tree, native to Southern Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, Peru and Bolivia, also known as the Jamaican cherry or the Panama berry.
The tree produces a light red fruit that is about 1.5 cm in diameter. It is sweet and juicy and can be eaten as is, or be cooked into jams. Myrica rubraFinally we jump across to Asia, where we find the Myrica strawberry tree, also known as the Chinese strawberry tree. It is native to China but has also naturalized in Taiwan, Japan, Korea and the Philippines. The fruit can range from white to purple but are typically bright red.
They have a rough outer surface, a sweet but tart taste, and a single seed at the centre. They are often eaten fresh, but can also be canned, dried or fermented. The juice has recently been commercialized and trademarked as Yumberry juice.
Citrus australasicaEven though citrus fruits are known to be quite common, only a very small percentage are well known to all of us (orange, lemon, lime, naartjie and grapefruit) with only a few other exceptions. What most of you probably don’t know is that there are over 100 different varieties of citrus fruits, and the finger lime is just one of those lesser known examples.
The finger lime is native to the subtropical rain forests and dry forests of Australia, and can be found commonly in New South Wales and Queensland. The fruit is cylindrical and about 6 – 10 cm in length. This fruit has the widest color variations of any citrus and can be found in yellow, green, brown, orange, red, purple and black. The segments have large juicy vesicles that pop the tangy flavor into your mouth. Citrus sarcodactylisThis is another fascinating citrus fruit that very few of you probably know.
The Buddha’s hand or fingered citron is native to North East India and China. Its flowers are tainted purple and grow in clusters. The fruit has a thick peel, with little or no acidic flesh inside.
The fruit with closed “fingers” are often given as an offering at Buddhist temples, and symbolizes hands in prayer. The fruit is mainly sliced thinly and eaten as is or sprinkled over food, since the pith (white stuff) inside the fingers isn’t bitter like in most citrus fruits, or it is used for the zest. Mespilus germanicaThe Medlar is a fruit native to South West Asia and Eastern Europe, and is very popular on the coasts of Turkey. The fruit has been cultivated for over 3000 years, but has a short life span of only 30 – 50 years.
The fruit has a red brown color and is about 3-4 cm in diameter, with 5 -6 long sepals at the bottom end. The fresh fruit is very hard and acidic and is softened by frost or naturally over time when picked off the tree. When softening starts the skin quickly turns brown and wrinkles, and the inside of the fruit softens considerably, leaving it with the taste and texture of apple sauce.
Acca sellowianaThe feijoa is a fruiting tree in the myrtle family and is native to Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia and northern Argentina. It is cultivated as a fruit tree in New Zealand and is grown as an ornamental plant in Australia. Other common names for this fruit include pineapple guava and the guava stein. The fruit is made up of a soft gelatinous seed pulp (similar to tomatoes) and slightly gritty dense flesh closer to the peel.
The fruit is very soft and juicy and can be scooped out of the skin with a spoon or sucked out directly with your mouth. It is said to taste similar to a combination of guava, strawberry and pineapple. Garcinia livingstoneiImbe, also known as the African mongostein is a wide spread plant that can be found in tropical areas of Africa, From the Ivory Coast to South Africa. This evergreen tree bears small thin skinned, bright orange berries that grow to about 2-3 cm in diameter. The fruit tastes pleasantly sweet but has an acidic after taste, and has one large seed at the centre of the fruit. The fruit is mostly consumed fresh but can be used to flavor wines and liqueurs. The fresh berries are infamous for their hated staining power.
Carissa macrocarpaThe Natal plum is a small tree or shrub native to South Africa. The fruit is also known as the large Num-Num in Zulu, and as the Noem-noem in Afrikaans.
It is commonly found along the Eastern Cape coast line and is also common in Natal. The fruit is the only edible portion of the plant, as the rest is poisonous. The fruit is slightly drooped, plump and crimson in color. They can be eaten raw, or cooked into pies, jellies, jams and liqueurs. The fruit has a pleasant, sweet taste, but is still not commonly eaten or cultivated for retail. Artocarpus heterophyllusThe Jack fruit is the largest tree-borne fruit, strangely related to mulberries, and is native to Southern and South-Eastern Asia. It is the national fruit of Bangladesh, but is also cultivated in South America, throughout the Caribbean, and can even be found in East African countries, such as Uganda and Mauritius.
A single fruit can weigh as much as 36 kg and can reach up to 50cm in diameter. The taste of the Jack fruit is very starchy and it is a good source of dietary fibre. There are a few different varieties of jack fruit, and they range from the larger, harder fruit, which tastes similar to unripe bananas, to the smaller varieties, which are much softer inside and have a much sweeter taste. Monstera deliciosaThe delicious monster is grown as an ornamental plant across the world, but not everyone knows that it bearss delicious fruit. Other common names include Cheese plant, Fruit salad plant and Mexican bread fruit.
The fruit grows to between 25-30 cm long with a diameter of 3-4 cm, and it looks similar to a green ear of corn. It has green “scales” all along the outside of the unripe fruit, which lifts up as the fruit ripens. Underneath is the edible flesh, which is similar to pineapple in texture and tastes like a combination of pineapple and jack fruit. SyzygiumThe rose apple, also known as wax apple, pamarosa, lillypilly and satin ash, is a collection of about 1100 species that fall under the myrtle family.
They can be found in some areas in Africa, through to Southern Asia and throughout the Pacific. Many of these species produce fruit, and in this edition we will look specifically at the Syzygium samarangense, which bears bell shaped fruit that can vary in color, ranging from light pink, to purple, to bright red. The fruit starts out as a small ball which puffs out as the fruit ripens. They tend to smell and taste slightly rosy, hence the name, and they have a flesh to juice ratio similar to a watermelon. Diospyros digynaThe black sapote is native to Mexico and south to Colombia, and is also known as the chocolate pudding plant. The tree can grow up to 25m high and is very frost sensitive.
The fruit are green on the tree and about the size of an apple. When they ripen, they shrivel and turn a brown color. The inside of the fruit is a similar consistency and taste of chocolate pudding.
The fruit can be eaten raw and is often used as a chocolate substitute, or can be eaten with some orange juice and brandy. It is low in fat and high in calcium, phosphorus, iron and vitamin C. One fruit contains over 4 times more vitamin C than an orange. DurionaceaeThe Durian is a large fruit that is highly revered throughout Asia and is native to Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia.
It is well known as the king of the fruits and can become up to 30cm long with an average mass of 1 to 2 kg. The flesh, inside the spiny outer peel, releases a very pungent smell (sometimes likened to that of a rotting corpse) that can even penetrate through the skin, causing the fruit to be banned from many public transport systems. The inside flesh can be either pale yellow or red, depending on the species. The smell released can either evoke feelings of intense appreciation by local people, or an intense disgust for people that are not familiar with the fruit. The smell has been described as a combination of turpentine, gym socks and rotten onions.
Surprisingly the taste of the fruit makes a complete contrast from the smell, and the taste has been described by naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace as “a rich custard highly flavored with almonds”. The fruit can be eaten in various levels of ripeness and even the seeds can be eaten when cooked.