5 Fruits

5 Fruits: 2 to love; 2 to try - at least once (maybe); 1 to admire

Some fruits just don’t travel. For the most part, if you live in the continental U.S., you won’t see any of these in your local markets.  You must taste them where they live and grow.  These five truly deserve the title “exotic.” Try them all, some I can guarantee you will love.

Two To Love:
 Mangosteens, the most delicious

Mangosteens. These are from Bali.

The edible wedges are succulent,  sweet,  tangy, and indescribable

There are never many Mangosteens in the markets, so watch
 for small piles of them as you wander. A small mound of
Mangosteens (right side of the image) in an open air market on Bali.

Passion Fruit comes in a close second in the delectable category

The outer skin is tough;  crack it open with your
fingernails or open with a knife.

Don't be put off by the frog-egg-look of the fruit.

Just spoon it out and enjoy. Northern Territory, Australia

Two To Try:
Rambutan, the fiercest looking but the red spines are soft

Rambutans tied up for sale.

Rambutans displayed on a Sri Lankan roadside.

Very sweet and slick.

Buying Rambutans from a street vendor in
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. 

Durian, the smelliest.  Durian is an acquired taste, so they say, with a cult-like following; I am not a member of the club. What's not to like? the texture, the color, the smell, the taste - all were definitely off-putting. The odor is so strong the fruit is barred from certain hotels and public transportation in
Southeast Asia.

Durian and other fruits for sale at a gas station in Malaysia.
Mangosteens in the white crate; yellow Rambutans on the red crate.

Gloves are needed to get at the Durian interior;
JP enjoys and records the experience.

Maybe it's the color...or everything.  Try it just to say
you did. I did, and never again.

One To Admire:
Dragon Fruit or Pitaya, the most beautiful, lovely color inside and out--unfortunately it is bland, bland. It is the fruit of a variety of cactus. Admire them wherever you see them. We bought one in Hawaii and found it lovely, but bland. It looked best as decoration on the table.

In a market in Vietnam alongside Durian.

Even the inside is striking, but still bland.

Travel involves new sights, new smells, and new tastes. Since these 5 can't be found at home, seek them out and try them; they will tantalize your taste buds.  Three of the five are native to Southeast Asia; two are indigenous to tropical America but have spread throughout the tropics and sub-tropics of the world.

Interestingly, all of these fruits need peeling; the skins are not edible and in some cases are downright off-putting in appearance. Don't be discouraged.

The scientific low down:
Common Name                 Genus Species                                     Family
Mangosteen                     Garcinia mangostana                         Clusiaceae
Passion Fruit                   Passiflora edulis                                   Passifloraceae
Rambutan                         Nephelium lappaceum                         Sapindaceae
Durian                             Durio spp.                                             Malvaceae

Dragon Fruit                   Hylocereus         

Mangosteens come from a tropical evergreen tree believed to have originated in the Sunda Islands and the Moluccas of Indonesia. It is found throughout Southeast Asia.


The edible Passion Fruits (there are many inedible species) come from vines native to Paraguay, Brazil, and northern Argentina.  They are cultivated commercially in warmer, frost-free areas for their fruit and are widely grown in India, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, the Caribbean, Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Indonesia, Peru, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, California, Florida, Haiti, Hawaii, Argentina, Australia, East Africa, Mexico, Israel, Costa Rica, South Africa, and Portugal. (They may be grown in California but I don't think I've ever seen them. I'll have to look.)  


Rambutan fruits come from a medium-sized tropical tree. It is native to Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia.


Durian is native to Brunei, Indonesia, Philippines and Malaysia, and has been known to the Western world for about 600 years.


Dragon Fruit is the fruit of several cactus species, most importantly of the genus Hylocereus (sweet pitayas). They are native to Mexico, Central America, and South America. Currently, they are also cultivated in East Asian and Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia (especially in western Java), Taiwan, Vietnam,Thailand, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and more recently Bangladesh. They are also found in Okinawa, Hawaii, Israel, Palestine, northern Australia, and southern China.

J & K enjoying tropical fruits at breakfast in Bangkok. Note the Passion Fruit on my plate. 

 Thank as always to my traveling companion, JPD. Also to Wikipedia, the source of information.