4 Exotic Fruits You Should Consider Trying
Typically, the exotic fruit selection is relatively limited at your local super market, and while this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it means there are many different kinds of fruit in the world that you may never get to try. If you really want to maximize the knowledge gained from your online cooking courses, it’s best to branch out past apples and pears. There are likely many different types of tasty fruit that you’ve probably never even heard about.
African cucumber
Originating from the Kalahari Desert, African cucumber, also known as horned melon, is a spiked orange melon-looking fruit that has yellow and green flesh and seeds inside of it. Because of its bright colors, this fruit is often used to bring color to a dish, but it also has a distinct flavor that has been likened to a mixture of banana, cucumber and lemon, according to Women’s Day. This fruit is commonly used in smoothies, sundaes and other dessert foods.
Monstera deliciosa
Native to Central America, the monstera deliciosa fruit can be used in a number of ways, including spreadable jams, flavoring drinks and desserts, or just eating it raw. The fruit can take up to a year to ripen enough to pick from the plant, and it can take some time after that to get to the point where it’s edible, as all parts of the monstera deliciosa plant are poisonous. The fruit itself is poisonous only until it is ripe. Once it does ripen, it is said to taste like a combination of banana, mango and pineapple, according to the National Tropical Botanical Garden. The fruit is shaped similarly to an ear of corn, but has the color and appearance of a pineapple.
Mangosteen
This round, dark purple fruit has an outer shell that hardens after it is picked, with the edible portion of the fruit foundon the inside. Upon slicing around the outside with a knife, the edible core can be removed. It peels apart much like an orange. While the fruit can be used in recipes, it is most often eaten fresh. According to the Mother Nature Network, mangosteen has a sweet, tangy, citrus flavor mixed with the flavor of a peach.
Lychee
Lychee is a rough, reddish in color berry that almost resembles large, rough grapes. The tough skin can be peeled off to expose the soft, white fruit inside. Each berry has a pit that is inedible. While Lychee is most often eaten alone, it can be added to smoothies and yogurt. According to Food Facts, Lychee is sweet and juicy and can be dried in the way grapes are dried into raisins.
