When I travel, I love to find new and uncommon foods from around the world. I always visit local markets and grocery stores to hunt unusual produce and regional ingredients. When I get home, I enjoy looking for those unique foods here in California.
A few months back, I decided to plan a Bay Area meetup to share some of these interesting global foodie finds. I scoured local ethnic food stores and specialty grocers to buy a selection of rare and unusual fruits–the weirdest stuff I could find here in California. Bay Area grocer, Molly Stone’s Market and their produce supplier, Melissa’s Produce offered to contribute a selection of uncommon fruits to last weekend’s event (called “#FruitCrawl”, inspired by our #SweetsCrawl tours)–photos to follow!
But before that, here are the things that we tried — 15 rare and exotic fruits from around the world.
Have you tried any of these unusual fruits?
1. Durian
Durian is a large, spiky fruit native to Southeast Asia. It’s famous for its pungent aroma and savory smell that is sometimes described as fried onions While foreigners often have a tough time stomaching the smell, it’s much loved in many parts of Asia.
At our tasting, we cracked into it last, so that it wouldn’t interfere with our other flavors. Everyone tried it but only a few people liked it. The best description I heard for the strong flavor was “garlic pudding.” One #FruitCrawl attendee took some home and said she planned to make a durian cheesecake!
Where to find it: Asian grocers, typically sold whole and frozen. In the Bay Area, I found durian at Lion Market in San Jose.
2. Jackfruit
Jackfruit is native to Southeast Asia. It’s the largest tree-borne fruit in the world and can sometimes grow up to 80 lb in weight. The starchy fruit has a subtle sweetness and apple/banana flavor. When cooked, it takes on the flavor of other ingredients and shreds like pulled pork so it is becoming popular in the U.S. as a vegan meat substitute. A few people at our meetup said they had seen jackfruit tacos on menus.
Where to find it: Asian grocers, typically sold fresh, whole or by the slice. It’s becoming more common so some mainstream grocery stores stock it. I saw sliced fresh jackfruit on sale last week at a Lucky grocery store in Sunnyvale, CA.
3. Dragon Fruit (White Pitaya)
Colorful red and green cactus fruit with white flesh spotted with tiny black seeds, similar in texture to a kiwifruit. While the appearance is dramatic, the flavor was surprisingly subtle. Dragon fruit is native to Mexico but is now grown across Latin America and in Asia.
Where to find it: Well-stocked grocery stores and Asian markets. Here in the Bay Area, Mollie Stones Market sells it.
4. Cherimoya
Cherimoya was one of the most popular new discoveries at our FruitCrawl. The fruit, native to South America is filled with a soft, custard-like white flesh that gives it the nickname “custard apple.” I think it tastes like a combination of banana, pineapple, and bubblegum.
Where to find it: Latin American markets and well-stocked grocery stores. Here in the Bay Area, Mollie Stones Market sells it.
5. Kiwano (Horned Melon)
Kiwano is a beautiful and otherworldly-looking fruit that is native to Sub-Saharan Africa. The fruit has bright orange spiky skin filled with yellow and green seeds. The vibrant flesh tastes like lemony cucumber.
Where to find it: Well-stocked grocery stores and specialty food stores. Here in the Bay Area, Mollie Stones Market sells it.
6. Korean Melon
A small yellow melon with deep white stripes and white interior flesh with small, edible white seeds. The fruit tastes like a cross between honeydew and cucumber with the crisp texture of a cucumber.
Where to find it: Korean grocery stores.
7. Passion Fruit
Small, golf-ball sized red or yellow fruit with hard skin and tart, jucy seeds that you can scoop out with a spoon. Passion fruit is native to South America, but it’s now grown around the world.
Where to find it: Well-stocked grocery stores and specialty food stores. Here in the Bay Area, Mollie Stones Market sells it.
8. Feijoa (Pineapple Guava)
This fruit was another one of the most popular new discoveries at #FruitCrawl. Feijoa is a small elliptical fruit with tart, slightly gritty flesh that you can scoop out with a spoon. It’s native to Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina.
Where to find it: Forage it, it’s a common garden tree in California. I suspect some homeowners with pineapple guava trees don’t know the fruit is edible! Also, look in well-stocked grocery stores and specialty food stores. Here in the Bay Area, Mollie Stones Market and the Berkeley Bowl stock it.
9. Tamarillo (Tree Tomato)
An egg-shaped fruit with a tart, astringent, and pulpy flesh that you can scoop out with a spoon. The tamarillo is native to South America. I discovered it in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador where it was where it blended with water and sugar and made into a juice.
Where to find it: Well-stocked grocery stores and specialty food stores. Here in the Bay Area, Mollie Stones Market sells it.
10. Loquat
Loquats are a small, pear-shaped orange fruit with large seeds. It tastes like a combination of peach and mango.
Where to find it: Forage it! They are a common ornamental tree in California and you’ll find them ripe in the spring.
11. Sour Plum
Sour plums are the same variety of summer-ripening plums that we know and love, picked in the spring when they are still sour and green. They are a common season snack food in the Middle East, where they are enjoyed dipped in salt.
Where to find it: Middle Eastern grocery stores.
12. Longan
Longan is a small round fruit with a translucent white flesh and a shiny black seed. Longan means “dragon’s eye” in Chinese, and is named because it looks like an eyeball when shelled. Longan is native to South Asia and is similar in appearance and texture to lychee.
Where to find it: Asian grocery stores.
13. Physalis (Golden Berries)
A small orange berry that is sour and sweet. It’s related to tomatoes and tomatillos and you can sometimes see it sold encased in a papery husk similar to a tomatillo. The fruit is native to the Americas but it is most common today in South America. In Peru, the fruit (called aguaymanto) is added to pisco sours and it makes a delicious cocktail.
Where to find it: Well-stocked grocery stores and specialty food stores. Here in the Bay Area, I’ve seen it several times at the Berkeley Bowl and, once, at Whole Foods Palo Alto.
14. Mulberries
An elongated red berry that grows on a small bushy, tree. It’s native to China and was historically grown as fruit for silkworm larvae
Where to find it: Forage it! One of my neighbors has a tree in her front yard and offered some of them to me, just in time for #FruitCrawl!
15. Jujube
A small oval and sweet red fruit that wrinkles and looks like a date when it’s mature. Native to China, but now grown around the world.
Where to find it: Asian markets. I found this bag of dried jujubes at a local Korean grocery store.
Photos from #FruitCrawl, Oakland:
Our very first #FruitCrawl tasting was a lot of fun. About 15 adventurous eaters met on a sunny Saturday afternoon at Lake Merritt Park in Oakland, California. Everyone tried something new and even took home whole fruit as leftovers.
Want to learn about future culinary tours and food meetups? Join our mailing list and be the first to know!
Thanks to Molly Stone’s Market and Melissa’s Produce for donating a selection of their #FreakyFruits to this event. We had a blast!
Photo credit: #7+8: Melissa’s Produce; #11: Wikimedia.
Fun! My husband bought a durian in Bali and tried it. I didn’t, but I also am not a fan of jackfruit, so I kept thinking of durian as like jackfruit but much worse. Someday you should go to Brazil just for the fruit. There are so many kinds that it’s truly mind-boggling–some are only grown in the Amazon! I also like that you mention kinds that you can forage. We used to have a pineapple guava tree, and of course many houses around here have loquat trees.
I’m dyyying to go to Brazil, especially since you shared that photo of jaboticaba, such a fascinating fruit. I love the way it grows! I did find it fresh in Hawaii last year, but I think it was imported.
Durian and jackfruit don’t actually taste similar and the texture is also different, but if you don’t like jackfruit, definitely stay away from the durian 🙂 I’m so jealous you have a pineapple guava tree! It’s on our long and ever-growing wishlist of backyard fruit trees.
I am Bolivian born, because we have all climates from the Andes, valleys to the Amazon our fruits ,and all products are in the thousands, my favorites are chirimoya, and pacay.
I can find sometimes chirimoya at $ 6 for a small one, what a treat.
Having lived all over the world, have tried all types of fruits.
What a difference in the USA from 1967 when I arrived for college, limited coffee,breads,fruits to eat.
Had classmates from Hawaii that would get fruit from home and would share with this homesick 16 year old.
I want to try a Durian just because. I suspect I will like it.
You should! You might!
I love fruit. My neighbour has a passionfruit tree as well as a mulberry (although she calls it a Pakistani berry) tree. I also have a mini dragon fruit tree growing.
Have you tried mangosteen, rambutan, and langsat (or lanzones)? Those are my favorite besides lychee.
Nice! Do they get fruit on the passionfruit? There was a guy at the event who is growing the vine but he said it takes a few years to get started so he hasn’t had anything yet. Send me a pic of your mini dragon fruit tree!
And I love rambutan and have never tried mangosteen, and hoped to have them both at the event, but I couldn’t find them. Just yesterday I spotted them both fresh in a small Vietnamese store–one I did NOT go to before the event. Argh. And I’ve never heard of langstat! Have you ever seen it here in California? Looking it up now…
Ohh, interesting! If I have ever seen these in an Asian store, it’s possible I assumed they were lychee or longan–looks just like it when in a bunch: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lansium_parasiticum
They have the Vietnamese word for it listed here so I’ll ask for it next time I’m at the store. I bet I’ll at least be able to find it canned in syrup.
Yes my neighbour has tons of passionfruit and fruit on her trees. It’s a Brazilian jungle back there. She said I could go back any time to pick some which is awesome because passionfruit on top of yogurt is my new favorite thing.
I’ve honestly never seen lanzones (what they call them in the Philippines) anywhere over here. I remembered the taste from childhood when my mom stopped our driver to pick some up on the side of the road when we were in the Philippines. Then 2 years ago when I was in Thailand my friend was eating them and when I tried it I freaked out because it took me back! It’s a unique taste and so addictive once you start.
I’ve tasted Jackfruit it’s so sweet I’ve never thought it is going to be
so sweet
It’s so interesting! I’ve recently tried a few of those marinated jackfruit meat substitutes I’ve been seeing pop up in my grocery store and I think it pairs well with sweet sauces, like teriyaki or sweet & sour, etc.
I am also like lychi
the durian smells like rotten eggs!!
haha, yup! Didn’t taste awful to me, though, once I got beyond the smell. It was hard, though 🙂
Have you heard of the African Butter Tree, the edible fruit and the oil rich seeds it produces at least annually? I doubt it! If you are curious, pleased me the e-mail address.
You mean shea butter? I know that’s used in chocolate sometimes. And in beauty products. Thanks for sharing!
Something I love and never see anywhere is canistel. Growing it in Haiti but we brought it in. Also growing black sapote. Trying to get as wide a diversity grown locally in our area of Verrettes Haiti. We also have jackfruit, rambutan, cherimoya (native),
Interesting, I haven’t heard of canistel nor (I don’t think?) black sapote, though lots of people have white sapote trees here in California. Thank you for sharing this!
Mulberries come in black and white (yes really) as well as red varieties.
Thanks for sharing this! I’ve seen photos of the white ones, but never seen them in person anywhere.
I’m from Colombia, but live in LA. We are lucky we can find almost anything here, though sometimes it’s so expensive and seasonal. We were able to buy a passionfruit vine about 3 years ago that now produces pretty much year long, biggest harvest in the late summer. We were gifted a loquat that gives us tons of fruit in April and have about 3 more plants growing from the seeds that were thrown in our backyard after some workers who were redoing our backyard ate them. We also have a feijoa tree and 3 pineapples growing that I planted from store bought fruit. After paying $20 for 1 medium cherimoya, I immediately bought a tree when we saw one at Lowe’s and this year finally had our first crop of amazing tasting cherimoyas, only about 7. They are heavenly. We also have a pink Guava and several small ones growing in our front and back yard as birds and squirrels love them. We are able to get the golden berries, which we call uchuvas at several stores like Trader Joe’s. For the tree tomato, we can find it frozen at hispanic market and rarely have seen it at our local Albertsons store. The only things I’ve never been able to get, are guanábana ( soursop) only find it frozen, or granadilla. A friend brought us mamoncillos last year that they sell in the San Fernando Valley, and apparently also in Florida, as another friend who’s been to Colombia saw them in a grocery ad, called something else and asked me if they were the same. They look like longan, except they are green in the outside and a peachy color on the inside and taste way better. We do get jackfruit at different markets but they are a pain to clean and not all are juicy, some are pretty dry. But can’t complain to have so many amazing fruit available to us!