Whenever I go to the supermarket I see various kinds of fruits and vegetable that I have never tried or never heard of. I am a curious person and would like to expand my horizons, but I am also very cheap and do not want to waste money. Does anyone out there have any recommendations about what kinds of exotic fruits and/or vegetables are worth trying?
Puddleglum! Great name! Well, there’s always yummy eel stew…
OK, that’s not an exotic fruit/veggy. Depends on what you call exotic, I guess. At one point I considered avacados exotic!
One of my favorite exotics are pomegranites. You break 'em open and eat the seeds. They’re a hassle to eat, but very good.
Try Jerusalem Artichokes (or Sunchokes). They are the tuber/root of an aster like flower. They look like ginger and taste like a nutty potato. Sort of like a potato crossed with a water chestnut.
Daikon is another delicious tuber. It is a long white raddish that has a crisp, spicy flavor. It is delicious shredded into a salad. It also makes a nice presentation/garnish. Just shred some up, place on a plate and stack main course on top. Voila! Presentation worthy of an Iron Chef.
The best exotic fruit I’ve tried in the past few years is the lychee. It’s a little red thick-skinned round fruit., you peel it and there’s a translucent white flesh surounding a large seed. It’s pretty damn good.
I had one of these recently, too. It was pretty good. Sort of reminded me of a grape mixed with a grapefruit. The texture was very interesting. It made me wonder if that was what eating an eyeball would feel like.
Exotic fruit:
Chermoya (?sp). This is, hands down, the best piece of fruit I’ve Ever had. It looks ugly, it’s bulbous and rather non-descript in colour. The fruit is a very pale yellow/creamy white with decent sized black seeds. Texture is fairly close to a mango (IIRC) and the taste is indescribably fantastic!
Don’t know what you consider exotic but here are some of my favorites:
Mangoes. Just plain delicious.
Fresh coconuts. Fresh coconut is worth the work - that shredded,sugared stuff just cannot compare.
Asian pears. A little bland but very juicy. Bring back memories of Okinawa for me.
I’m sure more will come to me but I can’t think of anymore right now!
Ugli Fruit are pretty good. It’s a citrus-type thing.
Did anyone else have a mother (oh, excuse me, “Santa Claus”) who put these sorts of exotic fruits in the Christmas stockings? When we were older, she’d let us pick them out. I guess in her day, she always got an orange or something like that–figured that our generation needed something a bit more special than that.
I love doing this–it’s a hobby of mine. We have really good markets around here, but I miss a store I used to go to in Berkeley that had EVERYTHING. Ten kinds of apples, all sorts of Asian greens, fresh exotic mushrooms. And the checkers were amazing–they never had to ask a price–they must have had to memorize hundreds of different types of produce and it changed all the time.
Anyway, exotic faves for me are any type of green, leafy thing. I like them all, from mild chard to bitter dandelions. I love to saute them with garlic, olive oil and a dash of cayenne and then eat them with crusty bread. Sauteed bitter greens are my favorite accompaniment to a rich meat dish.
I also love to try different types of mushrooms. They can be expensive, but a few go a long way. Try fresh shitakes–they are cheaper now that they are cultivated. They are wonderful in soups, stews, or stir-frys.
For fruits, right now you might want to try persimmons. I like the ones that are sort of acorn-shaped. After you buy them you need to wait until they are completely soft. The inside gets jelly-like and sweet as candy.
Fresh figs are another favorite.
Have fun!
I will second the Cherimoya. It is wonderful and custard like. It can be a bit sweet, but it’s very good. (Just dont consume the seeds, theyre poisonous, but you might also choke :)).
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Senorita type bananas. These are usually from the Philippines (IIRC) and are the small types. Not too different from the common cavendish, but the red types have a slightly different flavor.
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Passion fruit. It looks ugly, but the pulp inside is wonderful. The pulp goes nasty if it ferments though. (BTW the passion refers to the Passion of Christ, i’ve heard, not lusty passion :)).
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Mangoes. I know, pretty common, but if you get the Philippine Carabaw type, i hear these are the best (they are kind of kidney shaped and bright yellow). The pul is string free I hear.
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Spiny melons. I have not tried these, but they might be worth a shot. At least they look weird (kind of a mottled orange yellow with dull spines all over the skin).
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Persimmons. Easily found in Asian markets. Very good. Certain types MUST be left to mature til mushy soft (they are extremely astringent if you dont). Fuyu type is non astringent when underripe. Hachiya is the type that must be mushy ripe. You can also buy dried persimmons in Asian Markets. They taste something like dates or a “very high quality prune” according to Sunset Magazine’s Western Garden Book.
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Tamarind. You can buy small packs of the pods in Mexican groceries. The pulp inside the pod is sweet, but also sour. I like eating them as is. Mexicans make a drink from the pulp, Filipinos use it for Sinigang, a sour soup.