Which Fruit is That? Eight Favourite Tropical Fruits

Hike the Caribbean islands’ lush hillsides or wander around an open-air market on a Saturday and you’ll discover luscious fruits.

However, tropical fruits in these settings don’t come identified by name or with instructions. To solve that problem, here is the scoop on eight favorites.

Which fruit is it?

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Let’s start with Mangoes

Mangoes

Kidney-shaped with orange flesh and varying shades of green, yellow, pink or red skin depending on variety, the mango is the most widely consumed fruit in the world. Green unripe mangoes are used to make chutney. Ripe fruit are best enjoyed out of hand or in a smoothie, tart or fruit salad. Squeeze a mango gently. If it gives to slight pressure, it’s ripe. Don’t judge ripeness by color alone.

Calories in Fruit

A 1-cup serving provides 100 calories. Mangoes are rich in vitamins A, C and dietary fiber.

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Next… Papayas

Papayas

Melon-like in taste, papaya neon orange flesh is dotted by a central cavity of black seeds. The seeds are edible. Some use their peppery flavor to enliven the taste of homemade salad dressing. Use thin cut slices of green unripe papaya in savory salads. Ripe papaya is predominantly yellow and has a slightly sweet smell. Use ripe fruit in smoothies, salads, salsas or sprinkle with lime and eat the flesh with a spoon. Papaya contains the natural enzyme papain, which can be used as a meat tenderizer.

Calories in Fruit

One-cup of cubed ripe papaya provides 55 calories, plus vitamins A and C, dietary fiber, and minerals like potassium, magnesium and vitamin K.

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Next… Star Fruit

Star Fruit

Cut this yellow fruit across its center and you’ll see where it gets its name: slices are shaped like a five-pointed star. Star fruit, also called carambola, doesn’t ripen much after it’s picked so look for those that are mostly yellow with only a tinge of green at the tips. Slice over fruit salads or use as a garnish for meat, poultry and fish entrees. The taste is sweet and texture crunchy like celery.

Calories in Fruit

One 3½ to 4-inch long star fruit contains 28 calories and half of an adult’s daily requirement for Vitamin C.

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Next… Cashew Apple

Cashew

No, not the nut, the fruit. Also called cashew apple, this is the yellow or reddish-orange part that grows above the nut and is attached to the stem. It somewhat resembles a bell pepper. Some peel and eat it fresh. Taste can range from tangy sweet to bitter. Others boil it in a sugar syrup (make by combining one part sugar to one part water and bring to a boil), pickle it or use in curries and chutneys. Wear kitchen gloves or use a towel to protect hands when separating the nut from the fruit. Raw cashew nuts contain a natural resin called urushiol that can cause a skin rash.

Calories in Fruit

Cashew apples contain 39 calories each, twice an adult’s requirement for Vitamin C and minerals such calcium, phosphorus and iron.

Next… Soursop

Soursop

Folks in Spanish-speaking islands call this guanabana. The fruit is oblong or slightly heart-shaped, its green skin is covered with spines and the white flesh inside is full of seeds. The best way to enjoy soursop is to first press the flesh through a sieve or through cheesecloth to extract the juice from the seeded pulp. Then mix with evaporated milk, water and sugar until the desired consistency and sweetness. Add a splash of rum, if desired. You can also use the soursop juice to make custard.

Calories in Fruit

One average soursop that measures seven to eight inches long and five to six inches in diameter contains between 400 and 450 calories. It’s rich in vitamin C and contains a fair amount of potassium, iron, magnesium and dietary fiber.

Next… Sugar Apple

Sugar Apple

It may resemble a foreign-looking green pinecone before it’s fully opened. However, the taste of the soft white flesh inside is a familiar combination of pineapple-strawberry with the creaminess of a banana. The fruit, sometimes called sweetsop, is ripe when the outer segments start to separate. Enjoy fresh, but remove the many black seeds first because they can be toxic.

Calories in Fruit

A 3½oz serving provides 95 calories, an excellent source of vitamin C, and good source of the B-vitamins thiamine and B6, and fair quantities of other B-vitamins, iron and potassium.

Next… West Indian Cherry

West Indian Cherry

Sourball sized and bright red, this fruit resembles its namesake grown in cold weather climates. Where it differs it that the West Indian Cherry, or Barbados Cherry, or Acerola Cherry (same fruit; different names) contains one of the largest doses of natural vitamin C of any fruit studied.

Calories in Fruit

Four of these gems provide a day’s worth of this cold-fighting nutrient, plus a moderate amount of iron and potassium. One cup serves up only 31 calories. Juice the cherries, dilute with water and add sugar. Or, put the cherry juice in a blender with sugar and several handfuls of crushed ice and blend until smooth. You can also make the juice into a sorbet.

Next… Pomegranate

Pomegranate

Yellow or red in color, this sweet-sour fruit is filled with many seeds each surrounded by what looks like fleshy droplets of juice. To use, score the outside of the fruit, break apart by sections and hold the fruit under running water with a bowl to catch the seeds as they run off. The seeds will sink while the fruit’s rind, membrane and other debris will float to the top where they can be easily discarded. Seeds can be eaten with a spoon or made into juice or jelly.

Calories in Fruit

One-half cup of pomegranate seeds has 72 calories, plus they’re a good source of vitamin C and dietary fiber.

Carol Bareuther has written for ALL AT SEA since 2004.