FAVORTIE tropical fruit

[SobaAddict70]

All right, what are your favorite tropical fruits? Do you like to eat them out of hand or have them in some other form? Are there any you won't touch with a ten foot pole (because of smell? (durian), taste? (bad custard apples), allergies? food phobias?)?

Is there a wide selection available in your area or do you have to hunt around for them?

Are there any that you used to have that you wax nostalgic for? Are there any that you'd love to try in your lifetime?

I love in no particular order:

guavas -- usually either as a fruit shake or a spiced Indian jam

mango -- either raw, as a sorbet or as a chutney

and kumquats. Kumquats are amazing, candied, or made into a fruit soup along with champagne and citrus.

Soba

[agnolottigirl]

I had never had a mango before I went to the Philippines. In about a week's time there, I pretty much ate my weight in mangoes. They were juicy, buttery, unbelievably tasty, and nonfibrous. My husband's extended family, whom we were visiting, thought it was very amusing--the little white girl turned out to be a mango fanatic.

The sad fact, however, is that you can't get mangoes here that are anywhere near as good.

[mongo_jones]

there is the mango (principally the langdra, daseri and alphonso) and then after a long time there is everything else.

[tryska]

love custard apples of course, and mangos. guava too. papaya - not so much.

oh and i LOVE lichis. (they qualify as tropical, no?)

[cakewalk]

Mmmmmmmangos!

The first time I ever ate them was at a friend's house when I lived in Israel. I couldn't believe that anything could possibly taste that good all by itself. I was sure he must have made some kind of sauce or something to put on the fruit. He assured me (about 100 times) that all he did was cut up the fruit, that's how they tasted. Oh my.

Worst, worst, worst: guavas. Revolting, both smell and taste. Yuk.

[hillvalley]

I want summer!!!!!!! (Or to live somewhere tropical )

Mangos and baby kiwi

Oh my mouth is watering

[Randi]

Persimmons! food of the goddesses...

[tryska]

i'm going to have to pick up a persimmon the next time i see one. my mother had them for the first time last week or somehting, and was raving about them.

actually could someone help me out with a guava issue? how exactly do you eat them out of hand?

i remembered doing it when i was a kid, but i can't remember how, now.

or even how to pick them anymore.

[fifi]

Definitely mangos. My kids called them "sweet christmas trees" which Varmint (I think, or was it Mamster?) adopted as an acclamation... "Sweet Christmas tree, Mabel".

Second would be papayas, the Hawaiian varieties, not so much the Mexican.

[bloviatrix]

I first tasted mangos in Antigua in 1972. I was 4. And the sweet, perfumed flavor grabbed me. I made my parents find me mangos for every meal -- I was greedy.

That was before you could find mangos in every corner market, so I didn't get to a mango for a long time, and then it was a total treat.

The other fruit I have an attachment to is the pomelo. I ate the most amazing pomelos when I was in Israel. And at least once or twice a year, when I see them, I buy one. But they're never as good. The skins are always too tough and the flavor isn't as sweet.

Edited February 6, 2004 by bloviatrix (log)

[beans]

red papaya

rambutan

golden pineapple

guava

lychee

longan

carambola

pomegranate

coconut

sugar cane

guanabana

kumquats

tarmarind

all shapes and forms of the banana

kiwi

mangos? eh, they're okay.

quenepas were a bit slimy and a tad tart, but I don't dislike them.

passion fruit alone are quite an eye opener.

Considering nuts as fruits?

I'm sure there are a couple I'm forgetting.

[mongo_jones]

actually could someone help me out with a guava issue? how exactly do you eat them out of hand?

i remembered doing it when i was a kid, but i can't remember how, now.

or even how to pick them anymore.

tryska, tryska, tryska--you're losing major indian points here...

this is how you pluck a guava: you pull it off the branch

how do you eat it: if there's a source of water nearby you wash it; then you bite into it. ideally, you have some black salt at hand to dip it into before each bite. guavas are heavenly both when they're ripe--pink and soft in the middle--or still somewhat raw--harder and more astringent.

we grew up eating guavas, mangoes, chikus (sapotas)--how i miss them now. lichees i was never a fan of since their seeds reminded me of the big brown indian roaches which i was completely phobic of. very rarely drank juice versions of these fruits--always seemed a waste of a mango to me to eat it anyway but as is. encountered guava juice for the first time in hawaii.

[tryska]

i don't like sapotas. but then again, i don't really like dates either, and they are similar in some wierd way to me.

as for picking it, i didn't mean plucking it, i mean choosing one in a grocery store.

and okay so you do just go ahead and bite into it.....and forgive me for not being indian enough in my guava knowledge! i'm jsut now seeign them in the stores after almost 25 years of not being aorund them at all.

[reesek]

mangos!!

i had the philipene variety (or at least - that's how they're advertised in seattle) for the first time a couple of years ago. very nice - butterier and smaller than large ones and not as fibrous.

i made an accidental and wonderful discovery that real mango eaters probably already know. i bought a case of them to make mango sticky rice for a thai party a month or so ago. i bought the case a week in advance, and they were fabulous the day of the party. the next week - they were even sweeter - and made amazing sorbet...i wish i had more for lassis. i'm craving a sweet lassi.

[JAZ]

I really don't like any tropical fruit, except pineapple, and not if it's overripe. Bananas are also okay if they're not ripe. Mangoes are okay in things, but I'd never go out of my way to eat them.

Something about tropical fruit tastes fermented, almost rotten, to me -- especially as the fruits ripen.

(sorry!)

[SobaAddict70]

beans, I think you're referring to the cashew apple.

My favorite way to eat a mango, Filipino style, is to slice them in a cross-hatch and squeeze lime juice and/or sprinkle a bit of salt on top. Or just eat them plain.

It's amazing how many varieties of bananas you can find that don't seem to be available here in the U.S.

Oh, and has anyone ever had a ripe pineapple? It's like eating cubes of banana scented tangy honey. The disconnect between cubes of ripe pineapple and the pineapple you see in buffets and Korean salad bars is amazing, like the difference between night and day.

Soba

[tissue]

Mangoes are so good. Foie gras with mango sauce...

And mango sorbet...

[agnolottigirl]

Foie gras with mango sauce!?!?! **gasp** I'm not going to be able to work for the rest of the day.

[ExtraMSG]

Mangoes for eating. Especially ever since on a hot evening my wife and I used them in....um.....a recreation of scenes from 9 1/2 Weeks.

I love making mango for my wife and then sucking on the pit. However, since a friend told me that there's a reference to "sucking the mango" in the Kama Sutra as a method of fellatio, I've been questioning my sexuality.

For juices, passion fruit, guava, or guanabana all rule. Just depends on my mood.

Edited February 6, 2004 by ExtraMSG (log)

[Knicke]

Guavas bother me for some reason. Wait, I know why. My Puerto Rican aunt used to serve slices of cheese (can't remember what kind) and guava paste together, and while I can see how this should be good, it really made me gag as a kid. Looked cool, so I would always try it, but I always gagged. Now I can eat guavas without gagging, but they still taste 'off' to me.

JAZ, I am with you on a few of these. I had a banana that was too ripe this morning. It smelled great, but it was mushy and had that 'fermented' taste that I don't particularly care for, either.

Has anyone else experience that 'fermented' taste? I don't think it's straight-up over-ripeness, that's not what I mean at all. Instead, it's the bad mushiness that happens when you ship fruit hard and try to ripen it up after buying. Sometimes it works. But sometimes the fruit goes from rock-hard to 'BLECH!' instead of ripening...this is when they taste fermented to me.

When we lived in San Juan, we had a mango tree in our backyard. Boy, do I miss that tree. Those mangos never did the 'hard-to-mushy' thing, and always tasted good as long as they weren't flat-out rotten. They just kept getting softer and mellower...

[beans]

beans, I think you're referring to the cashew apple.

You mean the nuts part? No, I mean nuts -- macadamia, etc. I thing I remember reading somewhere that nuts are really considered fruits, but I guess that opens up a whole other aspect of discussion. Not to mention I may have remembered a bit incorrectly, which is usually the case.

I should have added to my original post: (instead of making a list) Most of my fav tropical fruits I've encountered on trips to the sunnier places on this earth during those wonderful days I was able to travel on my father's Northworst Air pass privledges. Always fond memories that I'm forever greatful for having experienced and are always reminded each time I find a lovely, fresh tropical fruit. (I'll *never* forget trying passionfruit sitting on the deck near the white sand beach, blue green seas and beautiful sunshine during breakfast while in Fiji).

Thankfully Cleveland is home to a very diverse ethnic make up and it may not be as easy as walking out into a back yard and picking them (not unless they'd like a "fresh" icicle), I can find most of my favourite tropicals if I look in the right places. Another bonus, the large hispanic communities bring many delicious fruits and new uses for the usual stuff -- like fresh sugar cane.

Most I enjoy fresh, out of hand but truly enjoy all of the various chutneys (mango in particular), sorbets, purees, nectars, candies, jellies, sauces, etc. Truth to tell, I often find ways to incorporate them in cocktails. Surprised?!

Nah.

Yum.

Edited February 6, 2004 by beans (log)

[chow guy]

Mango wins hands down as my favorite. The best way to eat a juicy ripe mango ofcourse, is naked in the bathtub.

I also love guanamana, fresh ripe lychees right off the tree or frozen then peeled and eaten like a little ball of sorbet.

Then there's mamey... Everytime I fly into Miami the first place I stop on the way in from the airport is La Palcacia de las Fruitas on Red Road for a Batido Mamey and a selection of fresh tropical fruit juices.

[LJC]

Lychee

Mamone

Pineapple (Thai pineapple, IMO is best)

Papaya

Banana

Kiwi

Passion fruit

Star fruit

Coconut

Mango (my in-laws have a tree in there backyard; I wish I could visit every August)

I like to eat most of these with a little squeeze of lime juice.

A funny side bar:

In Spanish, a "slut" or "easy" sexual partner can be called a "Mango abajo" meaning the low mango or the easiest one to pick. As well a really hot person that you might like to be with can be called a "Mango".

[beans]

Pineapple (Thai pineapple, IMO is best)

YES!

That was my choice of breakfast nearly every morning in Bangkok -- one half of a small pineapple and several slices of red papaya, rambutan, toast and tea.

[fresco]

My favorites are just about any tropical fruits if eaten in the tropics. Most of them are pretty sad shadows of themselves if they have to travel, although pineapples have improved a lot lately.