Exotic Fruits to explore

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The Word Exotic Means - "foreign", literally "from the outside" Wiki dictionary

Star Fruit / Carambola

Click to see picture The fruit is entirely edible, including the slightly waxy skin, unlike other tropical fruits. The flesh is crunchy, firm, and extremely juicy, having a texture similar in consistency to grapes. Carambolas are best consumed when ripe, when they are yellow with a light shade of green. They will also have brown ridges at the five edges and feel firm. Overripe starfruit will be yellow with brown spots and can become soggier in consistency. Ripe carambolas are sweet without being overwhelming, and have a tart, sour undertone. The taste is difficult to compare, but it has been likened to a mix of apple, pear and citrus family fruits all at once. Unripe starfruits are firmer, sour, and taste like green apples.Carambola is rich in antioxidants and vitamin C and low in sugar, sodium and acid. It is also a potent source of both primary and secondary polyphenolic antioxidants. A. carambola has both antioxidant and antimicrobial activities: scavenging of NO by the fruit extract is dependent on concentration and stage of ripening. Extracts showed antimicrobial activity against E. coli, Salmonella typhi, Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus.

Custard-apple/Bulls Heart
Click to see picture The custard-apple, also called bullock's heart or bull's heart, is the fruit of the treeAnnona reticulata. This tree is a small deciduous or semi-evergreen tree sometimes reaching 10 metres (33 ft) tall and a native of the tropical New World that prefers low elevations, and a warm, humid climate. It also occurs as feral populations in many parts of the world including Southeast Asia, Taiwan, India, Australia, and Africa. The fruits are variable in shape, oblong, or irregular. The size ranges from 7 centimetres (2.8 in) to 12 centimetres (4.7 in). When ripe, the fruit is brown or yellowish, with red highlights and a varying degree of reticulation, depending on variety. The flavor is sweet and pleasant, akin to the taste of 'traditional' custard.

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Kumquats
Click to see picture Kumquats are often eaten raw. As the rind is sweet and the juicy centre is sour, the raw fruit is usually consumed either wholeto savour the contrast or only the rind is eaten. The fruit is considered ripe when it reache s a yellowish-orange stage and has just shed the last tint of green. Culinary uses include candying and kumquat preserves, marmalade, and jelly. Kumquats can also be sliced and added to salads. In recent years kumquats have gained popularity as a garnish for cocktail beverages, including the martini as a replacement for the more familiar olive. A kumquat liqueur mixes the fruit with vodka or other clear spirit. Kumquats are also being used by chefs to create a niche for their desserts and are common in European countries. Cumquats or kumquats are a group of small fruit-bearing trees in the flowering plantfamily Rutaceae, either forming the genus Fortunella, or placed within Citrus sensu lato. The edible fruit closely resembles that of the orange (Citrus sinensis), but it is much smaller and ovular, being approximately the size and shape of an olive.

Dragon fruit-Pitaya
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Sweet pitayas come in three types, all with leathery, slightly leafy skin: Hylocereus undatus (red pitaya) has red-skinned fruit with white flesh. This is the most commonly-seen "dragon fruit". Hylocereus costaricensis (Costa Rica pitaya, often called H. polyrhizus) has red-skinned fruit with red flesh. Hylocereus megalanthus (yellow pitaya, formerly in Selenicereus) has yellowskinned fruit with white flesh. To prepare a pitaya for consumption, the fruit is cut open to expose the flesh. The fruit's texture is sometimes likened to that of the kiwifruit due to the presence of black, crunchy seeds. The flesh, which is eaten raw, is mildly sweet and low in calories. The seeds are eaten together with the flesh, have a nutty taste and are rich in lipids, but they are indigestible unless chewed. The fruit is also converted into juice or wine, or used to flavour other beverages. The flowers can be eaten or steeped as tea. The skin is not eaten, and in farm-grown fruit it may be polluted with pesticides.

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Durian
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In Southeast Asia as the "king of fruits", the durian is distinctive for its large size, unique odour, and formidable thorn-covered husk. The fruit can grow as large as 30 centimetres (12 in) long and 15 centimetres (6 in) in diameter, and it typically weighs one to three kilograms (2 to 7 lb). Its shape ranges from oblong to round, the colour of its husk green to brown, and its flesh pale yellow to red, depending on the species. The edible flesh emits a distinctive odour, strong and penetrating even when the husk is intact. Some people regard the durian as fragrant; others f ind the aroma overpowering and offensive. The smell evokes reactions from deep appreciation to intense disgust, and has been described variously as almonds, rotten onions, and turpentine and gym socks. The odour has led to the fruit's banishment from certain hotels and public transportation in Southeast Asia. The durian, native to Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia, has been known to the Western world for about 600 years. The 19th-century British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace famously described its flesh as rich custard highly flavoured with almonds".

Tamarillo
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The fruits are egg shaped and about 4-10 centimeters long. Their color varies from yellow and orange to red and almost purple. Sometimes they have dark, longitudinal stripes. Red fruits are more acetous, yellow and orange fruits are sweeter. The flesh has a firm texture and contains more and larger seeds than a common tomato. The fruits are very high in vitamin and iron and low in calories (only about 40 calories per fruit).The fruit is eaten by scooping the flesh from a halved fruit. When lightly sugared and cooled, the flesh is used for a breakfast dish. Yellow-fruited cultivars have a sweeter flavor, occasionally compared to mango or apricot. The red-fruited variety, which is much more widely cultivated, is more tart, and the savoury aftertaste is far more pronounced. In the Northern Hemisphere, tamarillos are most frequently available from July until November, and fruits early in the season tend to be sweeter and less astringent.

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Cape goose berry-Physalis

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Physalis peruviana is closely related to the tomatillo, a fellow member of the genusPhysalis. As a member of the plant family Solanaceae, it is more distantly related to a large number of edible plants, including tomato, eggplant, and potato, and other members of the nightshades. It is not closely related to the cherry, Ribes gooseberry, Indian gooseberry, or Chinese gooseberry, as its various names might suggest. The fruit is a smooth berry, resembling a miniature spherical yellow tomato. Removed from its cape, it is about the size of a marble, say 1-2 cm in diameter. Like a tomato, it contains numerous small seeds. It is bright yellow to orange in color, and it is sweet when ripe, with a characteristic, mildly tart flavor, making it ideal for snacks, pies or jams. It is popular in salads and fruit salads, sometimes combined with avocado. A prominent feature is the inflated, papery calyx enclosing each berry. The calyx is accrescent; at first it is of normal size, but after the petals fall it continues to grow until it forms a protective cover round the growing fruit. Because of the fruit's decorative appearance, it is popular in restaurants as an exotic garnish for desserts.

Baobab Fruit
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Largely found in Africa, Arabian Peninsula and Australia. The fruit offers some nutrients, possibly having more vitamin C than oranges, and perhaps significant calcium content, but nutrient qualities of the dried f ruit powder available in some developed countries remain undefined scientifically. The dry fruit pulp, separated from seeds and fibers, is eaten directly or mixed into porridge or milk, and is also known as "sour gourd" or "monkey's bread". In Malawi, the fruit pulp is used to make juice. In Zimbabwe, the fruit is known as mawuyu in the Shona language and has long been a traditional fruit. In the coastal areas of Kenya, baobab seeds, called mbuyu, are cooked with sugar, colored, and sold as a snack.Mabuyu is also the term used in Tanzania for seeds of the calabash gourd, which are prepared in a similar fashion. The dry pulp is either eaten fresh or used to add to gruels on cooling after cooking a good way of preserving the vitamin contents. It can also be ground

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to make a refreshing drink with a pleasing wine-gum flavour. In Tanzania, it is added to aid fermentation of sugar cane for beer making. Pulp can be stored for fairly long periods for use in soft drink production, but it needs airtight containers. Storage is improved by the use of sodium metabisulphite (Ibiyemi et al., 1988). It can also be frozen if ground to a powder. Pepsi Japan has used baobabs in a limited-edition carbonated soda called Baobab Pepsi that is described as having a citrus taste.

Japanese persimmon or kaki or Sharon fruit

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Japanese persimmon or kaki (Diospyros kaki), is the most widely cultivated species. These are sweet, slightly tangy fruits with a soft to occasionally fibrous texture. This species, native to China, isdeciduous, with broad, stiff leaves. Cultivation of the fruit extended first to other parts of East Asia, and was later introduced to California and southern Europe in the 1800s, to Brazil in the 1890s and numerous cultivars have been selected. It is edible in its crisp firm state, but has its best flavor when allowed to rest and soften slightly after harvest. The Japanese cultivar 'Hachiya' is widely grown. The fruit has a high tannin content which makes the immature fruit astringent and bitter. The tannin levels are reduced as the fruit matures. Persimmons like 'Hachiya' must be completely ripened before consumption. When ripe, this fruit comprises thick pulpy jelly encased in a waxy thin skinned shell. "Sharon Fruit" (named originally after Sharon plain in Israel) is an Is raeli-bred cultivar of the D. kaki fruit. The cultivar is called 'Triumph'. As with all pollination-variant-astringent persimmons, the fruit are ripened off the tree by exposing them to carbon dioxide. The Sharon fruit has no core, is seedless, particularly sweet, and can be eaten whole. Eating the Sharon fruit regularly is believed to reduce the risk of developing atherosclerosis heart attacks
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