8 RARE fruits

Durian (Durio zibethinus)

Durian is apparently one of those love-it-or-hate-it things. It stinks so badly that it is banned from airplanes, hotels, and mass transit in a number of cities in Southeast Asia. However, while its pungent odor has been compared to that of Limburger cheese (or worse), the taste is reportedly something like banana-lemon custard. This possibly-disgusting fruit sounds like a must-try!

Cupuaçu (Theobroma grandiflorum)

Inside of a Cupuacu Theobroma grandiflorum. Exotic fruit grown in the Amazon Rainforest in northern Brazil. Packed with nutrients and closely related to cacao. Aka cupuassu, cupuazu, cupu assu, copoasu

This exotic fruit grows in the Amazon Rainforest in northern Brazil and is being hailed as maybe the most super of superfruits. Packed with nutrients and closely related to cacao, the cupuaçu is described as having creamy white pulp with a chocolatey-pineapple flavor and juice that tastes like pear and banana. Move over blueberries, cupuaçu just might be my new favorite superfood (theoretically…I have to try it first).

Ackee (Blighia sapida)

Interior of frozen Ackee fruit (Blighia sapida) with white flesh and large black seed. Native to tropical West Africa. National fruit of Jamaica. Unripe fruit is toxic (poisonous). Aka achee, ackee apple or akee

Native to West Africa, ackee is widely cultivated throughout tropical and subtropical regions. When ripe, the red fruits open to reveal three segments of white flesh, each with a large black seed. Ackee is considered the national fruit of Jamaica, where the soft, bland flesh is commonly eaten as a vegetable with fish. Not impressed by a bland fruit you eat with fish? Did I mention that eating the unripe fruit can kill you?! This one is on my list for the adrenaline rush.

Fresh inga fruit. Grown in trees in South America the giant bean pods are filled with juicy pulp that taste like vanilla ice cream. Ice Cream Bean, Inga edulis, joaquiniquil, cuaniquil, guama or guaba

ice cream bean

This is not a fairytale. There is a tree in South America that produces giant bean pods (up to 1 meter long!) filled with a juicy pulp that tastes like vanilla ice cream. You just scoop it out fresh! Ecuador, here I come!

Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus)

Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus).

Reaching up to 36 kg (80 pounds), jackfruit is the largest tree-borne fruit and therefore must be eaten by me. Widely cultivated in Bangladesh, India, and tropical Southeast Asia, the greenish unripe fruit is cooked as a vegetable and the ripened fruit is eaten fresh. The flavor of the fresh fruit is said to be similar to a combination of apple, pineapple, mango, and banana. Gigantic and tasty!

Langsat Lansium domesticum aka lanzones fruits look similar to small potatoes. Grow in grapelike clusters. Taste like a grapefruit grape combination. Look like translucent orbs when peeled.

langsat fruits

Langsat fruits look similar to small potatoes and grow in grapelike clusters. While that description is enough to pique my interest, apparently they also taste like a grapefruit-grape combination and look like translucent orbs when peeled.

Mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana)

Fruit of the mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana).

Having recently been banned in the U.S. (they were falsely thought to carry the Asian fruit fly), mangosteens still have the allure of a forbidden fruit. While the rind of the mangosteen is bitter, the white, citruslike pulp is tangy and sweet. They reportedly melt in your mouth and feature “the perfect balance of acids and sugars.”

Salak growing on a palm tree. A fruit Salacca zalacca or salak are sweet and acidic and taste similar to pineapple.

salak fruit

In addition to having a super fun scientific name, this awesome fruit looks like snakeskin and grows on a palm tree. About the size and shape of a ripe fig, salak consists of rough, scaly skin enclosing three yellow-white lobes of edible fruit. Apparently the lobes have the look and consistency of large peeled garlic cloves and can be used in soups or pickled. When eaten fresh, salak are sweet and acidic and taste similar to pineapple. Pineapple-garlic fruit, why not?