Breakaway Destination Guides (International)

Most of the fruit we buy, at the grocery store, has left the garden far behind, having been picked before its prime to avoid shipping damage and storage loss. All the more reason for us to understand the ripening process and learn some tricks for telling which fruit is ripe now and which will get ripe once you take it home from the market.

As fruits ripen, they go from hard, sour, inedible, near-invisible parts of the plant to stand-out, brilliant-colored, sweet, juicy objects with enticing aromas. They change in color, size, weight, texture, flavor, and aroma (some even produce ethylene gas); these varied attributes can be good indicators of ripens.

Apples have a rounded shape with a depression at the top where the stem is attached. Some apples are almost perfectly round, while others are more rounded at the top and narrower at the bottom. In addition, some have knobbly lobes at the calyx end (bottom) of the fruit. Apple fruits are firm and the skin is shiny and smooth. The color of the skin can be red, green, yellow, or a combination of those colors. The flesh is white or ivory.

At this moment there are five different types of bananas common on the market:

♦ Red bananas: have a green/red peel and pink fruit flesh. They taste the same like yellow bananas. The redder a fruit, the more carotene it contains, so maybe they are healthier than their yellow colleagues.

♦ Fruit-bananas: are the normal, yellow bananas, 15-30 cm.

♦ Apple-bananas: are smaller, 8-10 cm., and ripen faster. They are also yellow.

♦ The baby-banana (pisang susa): is yellow as well and measures 6-8 cm. It is the sweetest of the banana family.

♦ Baking bananas: are 30 to 40 cm. large and are green, yellow or red-like. They cannot be eaten raw. They fulfill the role of the potato in the tropical countries.

Sometimes called Fingered Citron or Bushukan, Buddha's Hand is part of the citron (not citrus) family though it looks nothing like your average lemon or lime. Slice open a 'finger' and another surprise awaits: there's no pulp, just whitish pith. This isn't a bad thing, as the pith and peel are pleasantly fragrant yet are much less bitter than that of citrus fruits like lemons or limes. Exotic and strange-looking, Buddha's Hands add interest to your meal even if only used as a decoration. They do have much more to offer, however. Steep some in hot water to make a lemony tea or slice thinly and use as you would lemon zest. They're not exactly cheap but not much is needed. You will find them at specialty food retailers like Whole Foods.

Natural diversification and biotechnology have produced hundreds of varieties, differing greatly in hotness, size shape, and ranging in colors from orange to red to yellow to green. They can be eaten fresh, pickled, or preserved by drying in the sun. Perhaps the world's most famous chilli is the Jalape', the stubby green variety from the city of Jalapa, on Mexico's gulf coast. The Chilpotle chilli is a dried and smoked Jalapeño that is spicier than the green version and usually available in a pickled form. Other famous varieties of chilli include the extremely hot Habenero (or scotch bonnet), the birds-eye, the Thai, and the tiny Pequin, which is the fiery base for Tabasco sauce.

There's 2 kinds of coconuts that you see growing on trees, one is green color, the other is yellow/golden. Those are young coconuts and are sweet and tasty. The brown coconuts are old ones and some people use the coconut milk from these old coconuts for cooking:- especially Malaysian dishes. Is a Coconut a fruit, vegetable or a nut? Not an easy question, because some of these words have a technical meaning as well as the meaning your granny would expect.

Both in tree and in fruit, the custard apple, is generally rated as the mediocre or "ugly duckling" species among the prominent members of this genus. Its descriptive English name has been widely misapplied to other species and to the hybrid ATEMOYA, and it is sometimes erroneously termed "sugar apple", "sweetsop" apple. Custard Apple goes by a number of names including Cherimoya and Bull's Heart, and unlike many tropical fruits it grows best in highland mountain valleys

This climbing cactus is one of the most beautiful and wide spread members of the Cactaceae family. The magnificent night blooming white flowers can be up to 14inches in diameter. The fruit is popular eaten chilled, out of hand. It is also used to flavor drinks and pastries. Unopened flower buds are cooked and eaten as vegetables.

Durian is a fruit which is well liked in Southeast Asian countries, but westerners usually do not want to try it because it has a pungent smell that is difficult to describe. Some people compare the penetrating odor of durian to cheeses like limburger. Airlines and hotels in Southeast Asia do not allow clientele to enter them with durian in their possession. Durian has a very thick and thorny husk, which usually is opened with a machete or large knife. The color of the skin is yellowish green. Inside there usually are large sections [phuu] that are pale yellow in color and covered with a thin membrane undetectable to the tongue. At the center of each section is a large, brown seed that is discarded. The flesh is like a thick, rich, mildly sweet custard or soft cheese like brie. It is claimed that they are very high in cholesterol, and there are recurring reports of older people addicted to the durian dying from overeating it. The durian is roughly the size of a soccer ball. The very best durians are, per kilogram, the most expensive of all fruits during a normal harvest year. It is often eaten with sticky rice and coconut cream or used to flavor ice cream.

The guava plant was domesticated more than 2,000 years ago; and it is common throughout most tropical regions where it enriches the diet of millions of people. A tropical fruit believed to have originated from Central America, guava is a good source of lycopene, beta-carotene, and vitamin C, and is an excellent source of soluble fiber. Guava fruits may be round, ovoid or pear-shaped, 2-4inches long, and have 4 or 5 protruding floral remnants (sepals) at the apex. Varieties differ widely in flavor and seediness. The better varieties are soft when ripe, creamy in texture with a rind that softens to be fully edible. The flesh may be white, pink, yellow, or red. The sweet, musky odor is pungent and penetrating.

Horned Melon, Melano or Kiwano' call it what you will, though "Blowfish Fruit" particularly suits what is most commonly known as the African Cucumber. This vine-grown oddity may look like one of Dr. Zoidberg's extra internal organs but there's nothing animal or mineral about it. Plus, it might look odd but you may be finding it more often - it's successfully made the trip from darkest Africa to sunniest California, Chile, Australia and New Zealand.

Jackfruit is the largest tree-borne fruit in the world, reaching 80 pounds in weight and up to 36 inches long and 20 inches in diameter. The exterior of the compound fruit is green or yellow when ripe. The interior consists of large edible bulbs of yellow, banana-flavored flesh that encloses a smooth, oval, light-brown seed. The seed is 3/4 to 1-1/2 inches long and 1/2 to 3/4 inches thick and is white and crisp within. There may be 100 or up to 500 seeds in a single fruit, which are viable for no more than three or four days. When fully ripe, the unopened jackfruit emits a strong disagreeable odor, resembling that of decayed onions, while the pulp of the opened fruit smells of pineapple and banana. There are two main varieties. In one, the fruits have small, fibrous, soft, mushy, but very sweet carpels with a texture somewhat akin to a raw oysters. The other variety is crisp and almost crunchy though not quite as sweet. This form is the more important commercially and is more palatable to western tastes.

The fruit is covered by a leathery rind or pedicarp which is pink to strawberry-red in color and rough in texture. The fruit shape is oval, heart-shaped or nearly round, 1 to 1-1/2 inches in length. The edible portion or aril is white, translucent, firm and juicy. The flavor is sweet, fragrant and delicious. Inside the aril is a seed that varies considerably in size. The most desirable varieties contain atrophied seeds which are called "chicken tongue". They are very small, up to 1/2inch in length. Larger seeds vary between 1/2 to 1 inch in length and are plumper than the chicken tongues. There is also a distinction between the lychee that leaks juice when the skin is broken and the "dry and clean" varieties which are more desirable. In some areas lychees tend to be alternate bearers. Fruit splitting is usually caused by fluctuating soil moisture levels.

Logan's are well recognized as a premier tropical fruit in Thailand and China. The Chinese nicknamed the Logan Dragons Eye because of its white oval eye-like shape where the pit looks similar to an eyes pupil. The Logan is a succulent fruit that is fragrant, sweet, extremely juicy, easy to eat, and consistently outranks other varieties in taste tests. The smooth thin leathery brown skin varies from light brown when most fresh, then begins to turn darker brown with age and/or environmental changes. Once the skin has been easily peeled off, the translucent grape-like fruit is exposed. Logan's are mostly eaten fresh by themselves and in salads. Refrigerated lagans taste very refreshing.

The mangosteen tree is very slow-growing, erect, with a pyramidal crown and has dark-brown or nearly black, flaking bark, the inner bark containing much yellow, gummy, bitter latex. The fruit, capped by the prominent calyx at the stem end and with 4 to 8 triangular, flat remnants of the stigma in a rosette at the apex, is round, dark-purple to red-purple and smooth externally. The rind is thick, red in cross-section, purplish-white on the inside. It contains bitter yellow latex and a purple, staining juice. There are 4 to 8 triangular segments of snow-white, juicy, soft flesh (actually the arils of the seeds). The fruit may be seedless or have 1 to 5 fully developed seeds, ovoid-oblong, somewhat flattened, that cling to the flesh. The flesh is slightly acid and mild to distinctly acid in flavor and is acclaimed as exquisitely luscious and delicious.

There's not much that's orangey about the Osage Orange, save for a slightly similar fragrance when the fruit is ripe. Ripe Osage Orange fruit are sensitive to the touch, exuding a milky, sticky liquid that is as unappealing as their creepy, brain-like appearance. The Osage Orange is also known as the Hedgeapple or 'Horse Apple' though even horses avoid it unless there's nothing else edible in the vicinity. Even then, eating one is a dicey proposition as the starchy inner pulp is slightly toxic to mammals.

Considered to be the sweetest, most flavorful of all Papayas, the salmon-red to pink flesh of Melissa's Strawberry Papayas is fragrant and juicy, with a hint of fresh peaches and berries. Delicious with a simple squeeze of fresh lime or added to smoothies and salads, cubes of Melissa's Strawberry Papaya can also be added to fresh pineapple, peppers, pearl onions, and teardrop tomatoes for a unique fruit kabob for the grill.

Also called Chinese grapefruit, shaddock, pumelo, pommelo, and pompelmous. The pummelo is an exotic large citrus fruit that is an ancient ancestor of the common grapefruit. It is the largest of the citrus fruits with a shape that can be fairly round or slightly pointed at one end (the fruit ranges from nearly round to oblate or pear-shaped). They range from cantaloupe-size to as large as a 25-pound watermelon and have very thick, soft rind. The skin is green to yellow and slightly bumpy, flesh color ranges from pink to rose.

Originates from Malaysia and Sumatra. Sometimes known as Hairy Lychees comes from the Malay word "rambout" meaning hairy. Rambutans row in large clusters on the tree. Vivid red or variegated cultured fruit covered in soft spines. A yellow variety is also available. The flesh is usually transparent or white in color and contains one seed. Sweet flesh with a mild acid flavor, which is very refreshing.

The Salak, or snake fruit, comes attractively packaged in its own distinctively patterned, leathery hide. The dark-brown skin is tough, but surprisingly thin and easy to peel. Inside you'll find a light-tan fruit divided into three or more lobes, usually with a single seed in the largest section. Salaks are not juicy which makes them especially convenient to peel and eat. The fruit has the firmness of a carrot and a distinctively agreeable flavor quite unlike any other fruit. The unusual beauty of the Salak and its ability to endure travelling conditions make it a tasty and unusual gift for friends back home.

The tree is small, up to 20 feet, sufficiently hardy to grow in central Florida and southern California. It is often grown as a bush or hedge. Leaves are entire, oblong, up to 3 inches, pointed at the terminal and glabrous. The fruits are an inch or more in diameter, near globose to oblate in shape, glabrous, but generally ridged. Each fruit contains 1 or 2 seeds. Flavor is quite tart, but not quite as tart as sour cherries. Fruits are seen on the markets in tropical countries, where two crops per year may be produced. In areas of continental U.S., where grown, only one crop is produced, and production is not commercial.

The 3 - 8 inch long, brown, irregularly curved pods are borne in abundance along the new branches. As the pods mature, they fill out somewhat and the juicy, acidulous pulp turns brown or reddish-brown. When fully ripe, the shells are brittle and easily broken. The pulp dehydrates to a sticky paste enclosed by a few coarse stands of fiber. The pods may contain from 1 to 12 large, flat, glossy brown, obovate seeds embedded in the brown, edible pulp. The pulp has a pleasing sweet/sour flavor and is high in both acid and sugar. It is also rich in vitamin B and high in calcium. There are wide differences in fruit size and flavor in seedling trees. Indian types have longer pods with 6-12 seeds, while the West Indian types have shorter pods containing only 3-6 seeds. Most tamarinds in the Americas are of the shorter type.

Watermelon fruit is very large, smooth, and oval to round. The skin can be solid green or green striped with yellow. The edible flesh is usually pink with many flat, oval, black seeds throughout. Seedless varieties also exist, as well as types with orange, yellow, or white flesh.

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