Tropical exotic fruit

Do you consider "Durian" exotic?
Just like jackfruit it has thorns which really can hurt. Some people hate its smell but some love it. It has cyanide contents so eating more of it can cause something.

 

Here in South Africa pretty much everything grows, in our garden we have mangoes, oranges, lemons, guavas, fig, pomegranates, an olive tree (no olives), qumquats and pecan nuts.

 

I envy those of you that can grow them. It gets way too cold in the winter where I live to grow any type of exotic plant. I have only tried once to grow one indoors here but there just isn't enough daylight in the winter to keep them happy. We are in climate zone 4-5.

 

The magic of exotic fruits, is usually grown in special places. The weather in my town is quite hard in winter. For this reason, we don't have the possibility to have that kind of fruit throughout the year. Anyway on the outskirts we can have that kind of plantations. My city is the largest producer of kiwis around the country, but the kiwi isn't an exotic fruit (although lately the price is quite exaggerated). I also really enjoy that kind of fruit. Most are very tasty, meaty and offer a very different sensory experience. They are ideal for eating alone or combine them in a fruit salad. I tried Lychee long time ago and I liked a lot, but in local stores is somewhat expensive.

 

Jackfruit does not have thorns, they grow on trees forty to fifty feet high. They are huge and you would need an army to eat them. The smell heavenly though the skin looks like a prickly pear from outside.. Believe me it does not hurt. My husband's mom has four trees in her garden.
Lychees are awesome. They have huge stone, but the flesh is sweet and refreshing. Litchee juice and ice creams are my favorites. The smell so good and taste heavenly too. I do know that I can get them here in the local markets in season. They are summer fruits in the tropical regions.

 

I have fig, persimmon, olive, grapefruit, orange and lemon trees in my garden in Spain. I had around 6lbs of olives a couple of years ago, and I've had a few grapefruits and figs, but the trees are still fairly young, so they're not into full fruiting mode yet. I'm hoping for big things next summer, though. Even though they are not fruiting heavily, they do provide much needed shade in the garden.

 

I'm in Zone 7, but I have a Pineapple Guava shrub growing along the South side of the house that produces nicely. Guavas are almost weed-like in their durability - the Strawberry Guava is forbidden to be imported to Florida, classed as an invasive there. I have one in my greenhouse that produces fruits each year. The Strawberry Guava is the one that give the pink color to commercially processed Guava juice, which is a blend of different Guava juices.

There are also Lemon Guavas, which are quite popular in Hawaii and easier to eat (not so much peeling or de-seeding), but I've never been able to get one...

 

Have you heard of star-apple? It's a round fruit, a jelly-like meat and sappy. It's a seasonal fruit. I just don't know why it was called star-apple. It does not even look like an apple because it is usually reddish-violet in color.

 

I love the jaboticaba, its the most awesome thing I've ever seen. I am looking into finding exotic fruits that will grow in zone 7, so far the most exotic is the passion flower. They grow naturally in Georgia.

 

The wildest things I have in my backyard are pineapple. I started by cutting off the tops of a store bought pineapple and I let it soak in a plate of water then planted it in my backyard. It probably won't bear fruit for about 3 years, but I'm going to love the payoff. Pineapple smoothies for me!