I spent six weeks of a summer in Costa Rica. Not only is the flavor amazing, they are the size of footballs.
Mangoes. I grew up in the Chicago suburbs, but I didn’t taste a fresh mango until I went to Mexico for the first time in the summer of 1982 with my Spanish teacher. Now they are everywhere (but of course they are SO much better tree-ripened where they are grown, like all fruits).
Does anyone know why you can’t buy fresh passionfruit in the continental U.S.? I had some for the first time in Puerto Rico a year ago, and wanted to bring some home, but it’s prohibited.
Very true re fruit, and even then there are seasons in the stores here. We go through cycles: oranges are good in spring, lousy the rest of the year. Watermelon is good for a while, then mostly gone (or only available precut). Canteloupes are good for a while, then bad.
Driscoll has a “Sweetest Batch” line of berries that are pretty consistently good–when they’re available, which seems random. Big, sweet blueberries of blackberries. Some of the blackberries are so big they almost take two bites to eat. But I don’t expect these at any point, just hope for them.
In my lifetime, and on the east coast, Ghirardelli chocolate.
In the northeast, Dr Pepper, which was strictly regional before the 70s.
Specifically grocery stores—Slim Jims. Used to be strictly convenience stores.
Whole-bean coffee to be ground in the store—I’ve seen that disappear and come back.
Washington cherrys 
are only available in June and early July. I look forward to them every year.
I’m pretty sure they were only available regionally before the mid 1980’s.
Coors Beer was regional because they don’t use preservatives. It became available in all 50 states in 1991.
Lewis Grizzard, creator of the term “whomp biscuits!!”
I like that I can find tzatziki almost anytime
And yet, I can’t get Maurice Lenell Cookies anymore.
Not the swirls, not the red stars.
SoCal lad here, we had oranges, but the produce dept was indeed- rather sparse. We sent boxes of oranges to nowheresville Ohio, via “MIssion Pack”, and they were appreciated.
Yeah, even in SoCal, about a month.
There were three or four cheeses to pick from.
Huh. I’ve never found it, always made it myself.
This. I am not really much of a fruit eater but early-late summer, I’m buying cherries every time I go to the grocery store. I need to learn not to buy them in the first two weeks , they are always still a little out of season still until my 2nd or 3rd trip to the store and not the best ,but I do anyways.
Most fresh fruits and veggies from Puerto Rico are prohibited in the mainland US without special permits, but they grow passionfruit in Florida now, so it does show up from time to time in larger produce departments.
I live in a major city and have grocery shopped in a number of other major cities, but have never seen fresh passionfruit in the continental U.S. I talked to the USDA inspection folks at the San Juan Airport, and they gave me a pamphlet with all the agricultural restrictions in it - we were free to bring back citrus (and yes, I did bring back some awesome limes rather than leave them behind), but not passionfruit. Nobody could tell me why - I was just wondering whether they are particularly likely to transmit plant diseases or something.
Cara Cara oranges. Never even heard of them until maybe 10 years ago. They used to only be available in winter but now I sometimes see them into the summer.
I saw Bing cherries yesterday imported from Chile last night at the discount fruit market. They looked really good, deep burgundy & no apparent mold. The flatish clamshells they were being sold in were probably about 2 lbs each and the cost was $2.98/lb, a fantastic price, even in-season. I’d already bought a bunch of fruit or I’d have picked up some of those cherries.
I looked at Jerry’s, Super H-Mart and Shop & Save (across from Superdawg) yesterday and didn’t see any passionfruit. If you want it bad enough, it looks like Miami Fruit has some:
These are good examples, but I’m not looking for items you’re happy to finally be able find. I’m interested in those items you now expect any decently stocked grocery store to carry. I don’t expect to see Cara Cara oranges. They’re still a nice surprise. But hummus? What store doesn’t carry hummus? (Although I did have a weird situation where I couldn’t find plain hummus. Onion, red pepper, garlic, even chocolate, sure. But plain? Wasn’t there.)
Szechuan pepper. Well, maybe not at my local Safeway, but at any Asian market.
A few years ago, it was semi-illegal to sell it. I think it was thought that it had a psychoactive element, but that must have been disproved. I can now find Szechuan peppercorns easily.
But now I find that I don’t like them (much). I get that they make your tongue numb, but that’s not enough of a novelty to make me buy them. I think I got used to white pepper being historically substituted in Szechuan food and now I prefer it.
I can remember seeing a TV ad for Knudsen’s yogurt when I was a little kid in the late 50s, and they were selling it as a Swiss snack for after skiing. It was everywhere shortly after that.
Regional where? Dr Pepper was always available in California in my lifetime, and I’m old.
I can still sing the Mission Pack song, can you?
Say the magic word, say Mission Pack, and it’s on it’s merry way. No gift so gay, so bright, so right, as Mission Pack on it’s way!"
Close! It’s “No gift so bright, so gay, so right” but that’s quibbling.