Tropical fruit

[Ruby Slippers]

I like fruit - particularly soft fruit, so I'm always trying out new-to-me tropical fruits which many of the Asian shops stock. Yesterday, I tried a fruit that I had read about but not seen or tasted before - jackfruit! To my surprise, I detested it! Has anyone else had this reaction to it? So, hit me with your recommendations for tropical fruits, please! Being such a well- travelled bunch, you are sure to have tried many that I've never heard of!

[Horus]

Hard to say RS as most fruits are available in supermarkets nowadays, apart from the really exotic stuff like maybe Durian fruit. What I can say is that most of what we consider to be everyday fruit actually tastes much better in the countries where they grow naturally. Fresh picked lemons that are actually green or Oranges that taste better when green, Advocados grow really huge and taste far better than shop bought ones and mango's come in more varieties and are much more sweeter and perfumed when eaten straight from the tree when ripe, the same goes for Peaches.

[Grandad]

I second what Horus says about fruit being much better when fresh and in the country in which it grew.
The problem with supermarket fruit is that it is picked or harvested before it is ripe in the belief that it will ripen by the time it gets to the shelves. Not true of course, have you ever found a supermarket melon that is truly ripe. Pineapples may be a bit better but still not as juicy as when truly fresh.
SO, Durian then H? Do you want to drive everyone out of the house? But the flesh is quite nice

[Ruby Slippers]

I don't think I would like Durian from what I've read! I wouldn't get past the smell! It was the smell of the jackfruit that put me off in the beginning and it tasted like it smelled! It was in a jar so it was probably prepared in the country where it was grown.

[Horus]

When I lived in Africa the Mango trees grew everywhere, one variety was the Kidney Mango because of it's shape. They were huge, about the size of a man's palm and extremely juicy and when new arrivals would ask me "what is the best way to eat them" I always replied "in the bath"

[Ruby Slippers]

I love mango, Horus. I've yet to try papaya, star fruit, persimmon, so if anyone can put me wise on these, please do.

[Horus]

Mmm, the problem is that everyone has different tastes, for me Papaya is a bit like a firm Peach, but more scented and less sweet. Persimmon are a bit hit and miss, usually the ones you buy in supermarkets are not very nice, maybe because they need to go past a 'ripe' state to become edible, but that's just my opinion.

[Ruby Slippers]

I particularly value your input, Horus, because a lot of the fruit we get now originates in Africa, and I know you are our resident expert on Africa!

[Horus]

I particularly value your input, Horus, because a lot of the fruit we get now originates in Africa, and I know you are our resident expert on Africa!

Kind of you to say so RS
I would not say expert, but rather knowledgeable of Africa, believe it or not I often find myself explaining to some young Africans on their own social media about their local history and culture. Recently there was a discussion on the origin of a town that I used to live in and the general consensus amongst the posters living there was that their towns name of Luanshya meant 'Death Valley' in one of then local dialects (in which there are over 70) I found myself having to explain that the name Luanshya roughly translated as ‘The valley of the Antelope’ due to the large number of Roan Antelopes that frequented the very marshy area around the river that flowed through the area they now lived in (all now long gone). It was only in later years at the turn of the century when European’s arrived to exploit the areas huge underground Copper deposits that many of them fell victim to Malaria from the Mosquito’s that lived in this swampy area near the river, this led to the Whites (Musungu) calling it Death Valley.

Another sad thing was that in another discussion they only knew that the roads and avenues of the main town in which they lived by alphabetical letters i.e. ‘A’ Avenue or ‘B’ Avenue. Many were amazed when I listed the true names of all the avenues which were all named after beautiful shrubs and trees, so ‘S’ Avenue was really Syringa a shrub similar to Lilac, ‘H’ Avenue was really Hibiscus and ‘J’ Avenue was Jacaranda a beautiful tree. Each avenue was also planted with that tree or shrub along the avenue and their town was once known as the ‘Garden Town’ of the Copperbelt Region, it makes me feel so sad to even think about it after so many years.

In another they were discussing and old neglected and derelict monument and speculating on what it used to be for. Again I had to explain to them that it was the 'William Collier' Monument dedicated to the explorer who first discovered the huge copper deposit that their countries economy is based upon. It marked the very spot where he shot and killed one of the many Antelope I spoke of earlier, the species are known as ‘Roan’ (red) Antelope and where it fell he discovered the huge copper ore deposit that set the whole mining operations in motion that continue to this day (now under Chinese control). The company name of the mine at that time was RCM which stood for ‘Roan Consolidated Mines’ (a reference to the Roan Antelope). Now only half a century on these young people seem to have little concept of their own history and an old guy like me is trying to teach them their recent past, how sad is that?

[FABlux]

That loss of their heritage is really sad Horus, but good that you can educate some of them about their history

Apart from pomegranates I am not keen on most exotic fruit as I find most too soft or too sweet. We inherited redcurrants when we moved her, which I love & now grow seedless grapes, raspberries, strawberries (cultivated & wild), blackcurrants, blueberries, physallis & rhubarb & I hope to get some gooseberries next year (order in with a local nursery). I missed the fresh berries etc in Luxor so making the most of them here! I do think Egyptian strawberries are outstanding & glad we should be there for them again in January.

[LovelyLadyLux]

Fruits 'r ME! Love almost all of them.

My #1 all time favourite that I can't get here is guinep which is grown pretty much in Tobago. It is rather like a lychee in that you peel back the green skin and then there is the gloriously wonderful tasting pulp around a large seed. It is probably the most delicious fruit I have ever tasted. The downside is it spoils fast. It is basically picked in Tobago and transported to Trinidad markets and I do mean directly to the open markets as it hardly lasts a couple days. This I think has stopped it from being transported to other larger markets around the world.

I'm also more than enamored with lychee and rambutan but if I had to chose it would be lychee.

Persimmons run a close third to these first two followed by pomegrantes and blue berries.

Love "Juli Mangoes" (red mangos grown in Trinidad) as well as the Zambuca (huge avocados) that grow there too.

I gave up on oranges, apples, pears, strawberries - all the local fruits years ago. Actually find them pretty blah.

Mexican ripe watermelon can be super tasty but it has to dark red and at the right stage of ripeness so you get the juicy sweetness.

I like Star Fruit but know on the each of the ribs there is a vein that runs the length and you have to remove these prior to eating otherwise it'll affect the taste and good old Pineapple always tastes 10 times better when it is heated vs cold.

Just my summary on Fruit

Very interesting info @Horus . Enjoyed reading your summary of the villages and info re: Africa.