The Tasty Fruit Treats of the Tropics

Naples Botanical Garden was the hub of tropical fruit for their “Tasting the Tropics” event on Saturday, July 6th, and the temperature was hot and humid, just like the tropics in July. By definition, tropical fruit is a fruit that grows best in tropical regions of the globe such as tropical Asia. The same may be said for tropical trees. This type of climate makes Southwest Florida an excellent location for growing a diverse collection of tropical plant species.

Fruit and Spice Park, the Collier Fruit Growers and University of Florida IFAS Tropical Research and Education Center partnered to offer their expertise and answer many questions on how to grow tropical fruits and to taste locally grown fruits. 

The Fruit and Spice Park in Homestead is a 37-acre subtropical landscape and features more than 500 varieties of exotic fruits, herbs and nuts from around the world with 180 varieties of mangos and numerous exotic fruits and trees. They are the only public garden of its kind in the US; the park is part of the Miami-Dade County Parks and offers workshops and botanical tours year-round.

The Collier Fruit Growers Council (CFGC) is an active nonprofit organization dedicated to the introduction, propagation, and distribution of many rare tropical and subtropical fruit trees grown throughout the world. You can also check out tropical fruit trees by name and by their scientific name on their website.

The Naples Botanical Garden has over 500 varieties of fruits, nuts, and other edibles, and many of the tropical fruits displayed were also grown at the Garden, such as tamarind, papaya, vanilla orchids, mangos, jackfruits, and bananas, just to name a few. 

In addition to the tropical fruit tasting, the Garden offered demonstrations on how to process a Jackfruit, how to grow bananas and vine vanilla orchids, and tours on the fruits of Asia, Brazil, and the Caribbean.

No matter what tropical fruits you prefer – even if your taste buds are more of the pineapples, bananas, and coconuts variety – Saturday’s Tasting the Tropics was a day to take a bite into new tasty tropical fruit treats! The tasting table inside Kapnick Hall provided the only cool place to indulge!

Here are some of the more popular tasty tropical treats:

Rambutan, a spiky reddish fruit, was already cut in half for tasting showing an inside white flesh similar to a grape. The Florida season is from February to March, so add rambutan to your list for Marco Farmer’s Market in the Fall. And naturally, tropical fruits seem to taste better when grown and available by local growers.

Dragon Fruit, with its bright pink and spiky exterior is becoming a supermarket regular in the produce section. Inside this gorgeous fruit is a paper-white flesh dotted with tiny black seeds. 

The “Processing a Jackfruit Demonstration” drew a large, curious crowd. The spiky 50+ pound jackfruit looked intimidating as it is known as the largest fruit in the world! The crowd wanted to know what it tasted like. Chances are you are not going to find a 50 pound+ Jackfruit in your supermarket produce section unless you go to a specialty market. Jackfruit is native to Southeast Asia, where it is consumed regularly. It has a thick, bumpy, or spiky exterior, and the inside is plump with stringy pods containing large seeds. The pod is the edible part, tasting like a cross of a ripe banana with a faint musky smell. When is a jackfruit ripe? Follow your nose - the scent is similar to that of a ripe melon. Some compare the flavor to Juicy Fruit gum.

Rather than attempt to process the giant green fruit, you might find a manageable packaged jackfruit in the vegetarian section. The texture is often compared to pulled pork and used as a meat alternative for tacos and chili con carne.