FAVORTIE tropical fruit

[Hest88]

Passionfruit - Gosh I wish they weren't so expensive or so small. I just slice off the top and eat them with a spoon.

And mangoes. This past summer was the first time I really got into them. Previously I was rather take 'em or leave 'em, but something happened to me this summer and I couldn't get enough.

I don't like guava or cherimoya or the like. I like fruit that's juicier. Probably one of the reasons I stay away from bananas too.

[mongo_jones]

in my completely objective (of course) opinion people who don't like mangoes have never eaten mangoes in their places of origin. the obscenities available in american grocery stores cannot compare to genuine tree-ripened varieties. i'm sure every citizen of a mango-growing country can make a case for their own local mangoes but let's face it, they all secretly know that indian mangoes rule. unfortunately, there's only a very small window of opportunity in the year to eat mangoes in india, and even more unfortunately for non-indians, this occurs in the middle of the hot season. however, the sheer range of mango varietals available (literally in the hundreds--i remember seeing a number like 340 tossed around) makes it worth going to india in may and june just to eat them. bengalis swear by the langda, delhi-ites by the daseri (bite of the peel at the tip and literally squeeze it into your mouth) and mumbaikars by their alphonsos, but those with no regional ties can just savour them all. and then there's the heavenly raw mango chutneys (in india this refers to dessert, not preserves) and drinks.

for a book from a completely different part of the world that opens with an extended description of mango as national symbol and metaphor see michelle cliff's "abeng".

[torakris]

When my husband and I were living on Maui breakfast almost everyday consisted of fruit mostly mangoes and papayas followed with guava juice.

I wish I could eat like that again but they are so expensive in Japan and they don't taste the same.

Sometimes I think about all of the guava we smashed beneath our car tires on our trips to Hana (the most beautiful part of Maui), they practically line the road, I swear next time we go back i will eat them off the road I miss them so much!

[KarenS]

Hawaiian mangos are my FAVORITE! The season is roughly May- July, so plan your Hawaii trips to try some!

[Sam Salmon]

Papaya-the best Papayas are from Fiji-deep orange colour and ambrosial flavours.

Red Papaya I love as well, and even Yellow ain't no slouch.

Papaya con Leche -Papaya milkshakes-are the second best way to eat 'La Fruta de Los Angeles' as Cristobal Colon called Papaya when he first encountered it in the Caribbean.

Mango-as mentioned best fresh from the tree but here in Vancouver they are plentiful and cheap from across the planet-so many varieties.

Mango milkshakes with tiny Maple Syrup sweetener are a breakfast speciality of mine.

Mamey-Peruvians say "Es Mamey" meaning that something is wonderful and I agree.Sad that I've never seen one here.

Custard Apple/White Sapote-so smooth so silken, a local Salvadorean place has the best Sapote Licuados ever.

[SG-]

No one has mentioned this yet but Salak fruits especially those from Bali!!

[AzRaeL]

a tie between the Passion Fruit and a Mango.

heck i'll eat them both.

[AzRaeL]

No one has mentioned this yet but Salak fruits especially those from Bali!!

that's cuz they taste weird and smell funny.

a Mango is waaay yummier.

[Pan]

All right, what are your favorite tropical fruits?

My favorite tropical fruits are lychee (more subtropical), rambutan, really excellent large mangos, really perfumy papayas, bananas just off the tree (especially tart ones), limau nipis (perfumy Malaysian lime), limau purut (formerly "Kaffir lime"; what are people calling it now?), jambu air, and durian. [Edit: I forgot pineapple. I've always loved pineapple, and while it's way better in Malaysia, I find imported pineapples acceptable. I also used to love buah kemunting, little red berries that grow wild near the graveyard in the Malay village I used to live in. I haven't eaten them in at least 26+ years, however.]

What do I miss most? Most of them. Lychees travel well, thank goodness, and are readily available in season in New York. Rambutan travel horribly, and you have to go to growing regions to have really good ones. The mangos I usually see in stores in New York are of the third-best variety of the three in Malaysia: the small ones called pauh there. The best variety is mangga (called Indian mango, I think), with kuini (almost the same size as mangga but with spots on it, IIRC) almost as good. I don't think Mangos were in season when I was last in Malaysia in August. Good Hawaiian papayas have a perfume like good Malaysian ones do, even if they are flown in and not as fresh.

I can't eat raw bananas in a temperate zone like New York, because they are mostly inferior varieties and never ripened, having been picked weeks too early. There's nothing like having bananas picked ripe off the tree.

To my knowledge, limau nipis is completely unavailable in New York, and if it were available, it would cost an arm and a leg, just like starfruit/carambola does, and while good fresh starfruit is refreshing in hot weather, the pathetic starfruit I usually see sucks, and I like oranges better, anyway. I assume the same is true of jambu air: If it's available, it's inferior and unbelievably exhorbitant.

[Azrael, I agree with you about buah salak; I'm indifferent toward it.

LJC, what is Mamone?]

[KatieLoeb]

I'm with the slightly fibrous but sweet and delicious crowd:

Mamey

Mango

Pineapple

My first stop in Miami (or any well stocked Latino neighborhood) is for a Mamey shake too. Those are the absolute BEST!

[fifi]

I have a wonderful story about a guy named Miguel at the El Presidente hotel in Cozumel. I was part of was a group (6) that arrived at the hotel. We were on a trip for offshore fishing. Miguel met us and escorted us to our rooms. My room and the room of one of the others of our party did not have working air conditioning. Not a good thing in late May. We sat around waiting for the maintenance people to sort this all out and had a good conversation with Miguel. We were working on our Spanish and he was working on his English and a good time was had by all. We got into a conversation about mangos. Miguel is telling us about this wonderful mango tree in his grandmother's garden. We got our rooms and the air conditioning sorted out and went to bed. We were up very early for breakfast the next morning at the beachfront grill. One of the waiters came to our table with a large plate with an elaborately folded very artistic napkin arrangement holding slices of mango. It was mango from Miguel's gandmother's tree prepared specially for Senora Linda. I still swoon at the taste of that mango... and the kindness of the incomparable Miguel.

[tissue]

No one has mentioned this yet but Salak fruits especially those from Bali!!

that's cuz they taste weird and smell funny.

a Mango is waaay yummier.

When peeled it looks like a giant clove or garlic. And the skin looks like snake.

It was very interesting.

[srhcb]

Ugli Fruit!

I was surprised to learn it wasn't pronounced "ugly".

[Pan]

Ugli Fruit!

I was surprised to learn it wasn't pronounced "ugly".

How is it pronounced?

[skyflyer3]

Jackfruit is tops for me. It's hard to describe how it tastes - almost like peaches and mangoes and pineapple and sweet corn mixed together, but with a firmer texture. Imagine all that but better. Ababai, if I can find it again, was like that too. Even canned, jackfruit is quite good.

I'd never understood what was so good about mangoes until I ate them in the Philippines. There, we ate the green ones as crisp, sour slices with salted shrimp fry, and the sweet, small yellow ones plain over the sink. Here in Seattle I only eat the Indian ones that are shipped here in the summer - or eat the "Philippine" brand dried mangoes. All other brands of dried mangoes look stiff and pale, while the Philippine-brand are sweet, juicy, chewy and fragrant.

I love the idea of pineapple, but can't eat them since they make my tongue itch something fierce. My parents love chico, which to me tastes like a coffee fruit might taste, but with a mealy texture. I have to ask, what is a custard apple?

*edited to amend my terrible spelling.

Edited February 8, 2004 by skyflyer3 (log)

[snowangel]

Mangosteens. Sadly unavailable in Minneapolis.

[LJC]

Mamones are a small round green fruit that grow in bunches on trees. They have a skin similar to an avocado in texture and thickness and it has a very stringy flesh that is attached to the proportionally large pit has an addictive sour sweetness. Basically, you peal half of it and begin to suck/gnaw the flesh off the pit.

[Pan]

Where are they native to?

[LJC]

Southern Central America and Northern South America. Although I have never seen them on any of the Caribbean Islands that I have visited they could possibly be found there too.

[cbarre02]

Maracuya (passion fruit with an attitude), Lulo (kiwi-lime flavor), Mango Azucar (sugar mangoes, extra sweet and small. Skin so thin you can eat it).

So many in Mariquita Colombia, That i cried... where talking 80 vaieties at the market 40 of which only grow in the area. The culinary world is missing so much because of the political situation there.

[Rhea_S]

Mangosteens,lansones/langsat,mangos,pineapple,jackfruit,lychee, longan,cherimoya, pomelo,chico/sapote,properly ripe papaya -- in approximately that order. I eat lots of the first two whenever I'm in Vancouver, even when they're $8/lb.

[gingerly]

mangoes tops,most of the fruit already mentioned(exceptions beings ones i haven't tried)and pleeease ,a bucket of beautiful,ethereal rose apples!

Edited February 17, 2004 by gingerly (log)

[NickMach007]

I tried cherimoyas when I was in Spain, and they were incredible. I've seen a few lying around supermarkets here in the US, but they look sad and withered. Has anyone tried one in the US? How was it?

[tryska]

not so good. or rather, not as good as those on the other side of the globe. taste similar, but don't transport you to heaven.

[Mabelline]

Custard apple, lychees, jujubes, uglis, and pineapples the way they are sold on the streets in Mexico--with a chile salt. YUM...