| Ah, the everyday fruits at the English-speaking table: | | | | suggestion that it looks like a dragon's egg, although |
| apple, orange, banana. Tangerine, peach, strawberry. | | | | how anybody found a dragon's egg to compare with |
| Maybe a bunch of grapes or the occasional kiwi. As | | | | is anybody's guess. Native to Asia. The season is |
| anyone can see, the fruit table at the typical banquet is | | | | September to March. |
| stuck in a rut. We haven't seen nearly enough exotic | | | | Durian - This is the canonical weird fruit. If you can say |
| offerings to invigorate our taste buds with a new | | | | you've eaten a durian, you've at least stepped outside |
| experience... and sometimes challenge our notion of | | | | of your comfort zone and possibly can lay some claim |
| fruit entirely! Here, we present a guide to some | | | | to courage. The appearance of it is like an avocado |
| up-and-coming fruits whose time for recognition is long | | | | with a suit of spiky armor. Slice it open and discover a |
| overdue: | | | | kind of pod-like structure with a thick core and skin. |
| Atemoya - Atemoyas are popular in Taiwan, though | | | | The smell of the durian is a legendary turn-off. It has |
| they are native to the South Pacific in general. | | | | been compared to many disagreeable things from a |
| Atemoyas are round in shape, with green, bumpy skin. | | | | rotting corpse to a skunk. Stories abound about how |
| They are juicy and smooth, tasting slightly sweet and a | | | | the fruit stinks so bad that it is actually banned in hotels, |
| little tart. Some say they taste like an alcohol-free pina | | | | subways, and planes. The odor can be picked up from |
| colada! Watch out for the black seeds, however, | | | | miles away, and if you store a cut durian in your fridge, |
| which are said to be toxic. Their season is late | | | | it will taint the odor of everything else, including the |
| summer through early winter. | | | | garlic. Once you get past the smell, the taste is |
| Bilberry - No wonder you haven't seen these; they are | | | | commonly described as nutty and sweet, but other |
| rarely cultivated! Bilberries are native to Scotland, | | | | descriptions range from custard to onions. Possibly the |
| Ireland, and Poland. They have an appearance and | | | | most complex flavor known in nature. You either love |
| taste close to a blueberry, but redder rather than bluer. | | | | it or hate it, but it's been consumed in its native Asia |
| You can eat them fresh, or as they are more | | | | since ancient times. Seasonal in April and May. |
| commonly used, in jams, juices and pies. In France, | | | | Elderberry - Found in the warmer parts of Europe and |
| they are used as a base for liqueurs, sorbets, and | | | | North America, these berries are black with a luminous |
| other desserts, and in Brittain they are often used to | | | | blue tint. They are also poisonous raw! They have |
| flavor crepes. | | | | cyanide content, which can only be destroyed by |
| Black Sapote - This is a species of persimmon found | | | | cooking. Nevertheless, they are used to make both tea |
| native in Central and South America from Mexico to | | | | and wine. They have a smell described as "fetid", and |
| Columbia. Black Sapote is tomato-like and the size of | | | | hence (it's there, look it up!) the insult from the movie |
| a tangerine, with a rind which is greenish-yellow. The | | | | "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", where a soldier |
| brown, pulpy meat of this fruit is said to taste like - are | | | | taunts "Your mother was a hamster and your father |
| you ready for this? - chocolate pudding! You'll find | | | | smelt of elderberries!" Walt Whitman, the poet, is said |
| them in Mexican markets from August to January. In | | | | to have been fond of elderberry wine. |
| the Philippines, it is served as a dessert with milk over | | | | Feijoa - This is a warm-temperature to subtropical fruit |
| it. | | | | that ripens in Autumn. It looks about like an elongated |
| Cherimoya - Strange that the cherimoya has taken so | | | | lime. It's flavor is sweet, juicy, and aromatic; the rind, |
| long to be accepted into mainstream culture. Mark | | | | while edible, is tart. Slice one in half and find a distinctive |
| Twain is known for having complimented cherimoyas | | | | four-point plus-sign shape inside. Typically, it is eaten |
| he enjoyed while traveling abroad. Cherimoyas are | | | | with a spoon. Popular in New Zealand, where it is used |
| green and bumpy, about the size of a grapefruit, with a | | | | in smoothies, yogurt, and drinks. It can even be made |
| shape that looks like it had an artichoke or perhaps a | | | | into wine. |
| pine cone in its family tree. Taken that you avoid the | | | | Granadilla - Sometimes distinguished as the "sweet |
| seeds, which are poisonous but easy to remove, the | | | | granadilla", because there is also a "giant" variety. It is |
| fruit tastes tangy and sweet, somewhere between a | | | | native to the Andes mountains around Bolivia and |
| strawberry and a mango. | | | | Venezuela, but can be coaxed to grow as far north |
| Clementine - Surprising that we don't hear more of this | | | | as Mexico and as far south as Argentina. The fruit |
| one; the best way to describe a clementine is that it's | | | | ripens in May and June. When ripe, it is about the size |
| exactly like a tangerine, but without the sour taste! This | | | | and color of an orange, with a yellow cast and a hard, |
| is a straight citrus fruit all the way, looking, peeling, and | | | | smooth shell. The meat consists of a mass of |
| sectioning just like a tangerine or a mandarin orange. | | | | pesto-green seeds and clear pulp. It tastes sort of like |
| The origins of it are lost in time - some say China and | | | | citrus, but sweet, and is popular in sherbets. |
| some point to Algeria. They are in season from | | | | Gooseberry - Native to Europe, this is not to be |
| November to January, and so they go by the | | | | confused with two other species mistakenly called the |
| nickname of "Christmas Oranges". | | | | gooseberry. The berries come in green and red |
| Dragon Fruit - It doesn't get any more exotic than this. | | | | varieties, in an oval shape looking very much like |
| Dragon fruit is the fruit of the pitaya tree. It ranges in | | | | grapes but with a veined skin texture. They are |
| color from red to yellow to green, kind of like bell | | | | described as having a sour, bitter flavor when raw, but |
| peppers. It is shaped kind of like a pear that is trying to | | | | are extremely popular in everything from pies to jellies |
| grow vines. The inside is a wonder - tasting vaguely | | | | to wines. The gooseberry is very "old world", it is rare |
| like a kiwi and the meat is either Oreo-cream-white or | | | | because it is so difficult to cultivate, having several |
| fig-brown, peppered with hundreds of tiny, crunchy | | | | pests that destroy the crop entirely if given half the |
| seeds. The name supposedly comes from the | | | | chance. |