Exotic Fruit

the Jester

Legend
I tried my first tejocote yesterday!

I'm a fan of weird fruit- weird being relative to what you're used to, of course- and have been on a quest to try as many different types as I can for the last few years, inspired by a Youtuber called Weird Fruit Explorer. My girlfriend and I went on a road trip for New Years, and as part of it, we hit up a large Asian supermarket in Sacramento, where I picked up a whole bunch of varieties of things I have not tried (or been unable to get ripe) and a few new species as well. Yay!

So a tejocote is a small round thing, about 30% bigger than a cherry. Some are orange, some are green, some are yellow. The texture is similar to a guava without all the seeds, and the flavor is like... apricot with a hint of citrus? It was quite good!

I also got a package of ma-kok, which is a cashew relative I have never heard of before, and a thing of soursop pulp. Soursop has been one of my white whales for a while now, so I am pretty stoked to try that! There are also two exotic banana type (baby and burro), sweet lemons, a gigantic variety of yellow pomelo, and a few other random goodies. I haven't tried any of these yet except the baby banana, which was nice- a creamier texture than a Cavendish (the banana you are most likely familiar with) and a bit of an apple note in the flavor.

In the past few years, I have tried many exotic fruits, including tomarillos, guavas, feijoas, ugli fruit, limequats, mandarinquats, white sapotes, mamay sapotes, cherimoya, white, red, and yellow dragonfruit (though these are less exotic all the time, I see them everywhere now), Ponderosa lemon, medlar, prickly pear, longan, etc. And of course, the queen of fruit, the mangosteen (YUM), and the king of fruit, the durian (YUM but definitely not for everyone).

Feel free to ask questions if you have them, to suggest fruit species or varieties that I should try, or to share your own exotic fruit experiences!
 

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Dannyalcatraz

Schmoderator
Staff member
Supporter
Nice! I’ll have to look for some of those.

I’m adventurous, but I haven’t seen or heard of some of the ones you’ve mentioned. I’ve gotten lychee at some of our local Asian restaurants. And a Colombian restaurant near me makes slushy drinks using your choice of about a dozen North & South American fruits. Guanábana (soursop) is one I keep coming back to. Tamarind, guyaba and lupo are also good.

I’ve had the red dragonfruit. Is the yellow different?

Have you tried black sapotes, a.k.a. “chocolate pudding fruit”? I’ve had it only as an ice cream flavor from Milwaukee Joe’s. It was very chocolatey in overall flavor, but not quite.
 
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the Jester

Legend
I’ve had the red dragonfruit. Is the yellow different?
Yes. The red has a beety flavor whereas the yellow is more just sweet without much of that earthy note.

Have you tried black sapotes, a.k.a. “chocolate pudding fruit”? I’ve had it only as an ice cream flavor from Milwaukee Joe’s. It was very chocolatey in overall flavor, but not quite.
No, it's on my list but I have yet to track it down. I'm on the hunt!
 

the Jester

Legend
The oniony notes in durian pair very well with cheese. In China there are a number of durian and cheese street foods. I even had a durian pizza at the Pizza Hut in my wife's hometown.
I'm not a cheese fan. My favorite variety of durian that I have tried was the hur lurr (sp?), which had delicious peanut buttery notes.
 




R_J_K75

Legend
Durian is a beloved delicacy, sir.
Never had it or even seen it except on TV cooking shows but recalled most people who encountered it were either clueless or disgusted by it.
I am shocked at your suggestion of legally actionable behavior.
An intern on their first day microwaved some fish in the office, and one of the old timers went up them and sternly said "don't ever do that again".
 


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