Horned melon, snake fruit and the creepy 'fingered citron': The bizarre fruit from around the world that you've never heard of - but HAVE to try
- Incredible tropical fruits have unusual textures and flavours
- The stinky durian has a growing following; romanescos are stunning
- Dragonfruit is fast replacing acai as the super-food du jour
Our daily diets are becoming ever more adventurous with exotic foods such as chia seeds, goji berries and quinoa popping up on menus and supermarkets.
But for those with a taste for the unknown, interesting and super healthy there are even more fruit and vegetables from around the world heading to our shores.
Some may look bizarre, coming in an array of colours such as the purple akebi, or with strange formations such as the fingers protruding from the Buddha's Hand citrus fruit, but they're all worth breaking out of your culinary comfort zone for.
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With 147 calories and 5 grams of fat per 100 grams, creamy - but stinky - durians are similar to avocados
Australian raw food Instagrammer Rawpublic revealed that she celebrated her partner's birthday with a durian rather than a birthday cake
DURIAN
Often regarded as the 'king of fruits' the word durian comes from the Malay-Indonesian language word for duri or 'spike' which refers to the spikes protruding from the outer shell of the fruit.
The fruit itself is an acquired tasted thanks to its pungent odour which is often compared to rotten onions or sewage - and means that it's often banned from hotels and public transport in parts of South East Asia.
However the durian - which is becoming popular on social media, with 500,000 photos posted on Instagram under the hashtag #durian - possesses a sweet flavour and creamy texture which has been compared to custard and almonds, although it does have a mild onion taste.
The nutrient-packed fruit is also high in vitamin C, vitamin B, thiamin, copper, iron and fibre and contains healthy fats, with 13g per serving.
DRAGONFRUIT
Grown from a cactus, this peculiar pink fruit - also known as a pitaya - is packed with vitamins
Farm Girl Cafe in Notting Hill posted a picture of its brightly coloured dragonfruit bowl on Instagram
The Dragonfruit, otherwise known as the pitaya is becoming increasingly popular within the health food community.
Pitaya bowls are now popping up in London's clean-eating heartland of west London in cafes including Cpress Juice and Farm Girl, a favourite of royal it girls Marina and Amelia Windsor.
Farm Girl recently posted a photo of one of brightly-coloured dishes on Instagram with the caption: 'This morning we welcome to our menu the DRAGON FRUIT BOWL! Dragon fruit (AKA pitaya) is from the flower of a cactus...The Health benefits are enormous - high in antioxidants, magnesium & fibre. Huge fix of vitamin C.'
And with its astonishing collection of phytonutrients, including 10 per cent of your daily value for vitamin C, polyunsaturated fatty acids, many B vitamins, carotene and protein, as well as a crunchy texture and mildly sweet flavour, described as a blend of kiwi and pear, this bright beauty should definitely be tried at least once.
The white-fleshed variety is often described as 'the sweet one' and are more readily available worldwide as they are less expensive that the pink fleshed fruit, which are called 'the more tangy, savoury one'.
MANGOSTEEN
With a purple outer shell and a soft, white interior, mangosteens are not just beautiful but low in calories too
While their names may sound similar, the mango and mangosteen are miles apart.
The mangosteen, which grows in Indonesia and South East Asia, has a sweet, mildly tangy and fragrant flesh that's usually divided into four to 10 soft and fleshy segments encased in a leathery skin.
Like dragonfruit, mangosteens have a high amount of vitamin C with 12 per cent of your recommended daily amount and contains 20 xanthones - a compound that helps to reduce free radicals and give the immune system a boost - as well as high levels of magnesium, fibre and b-complex vitamins.
ACKEE
Be careful - the black buds of the ackee are toxic. Stick with the white flesh and you'll be fine
Ackee and saltfish made with the white flesh of the ripened fruit is Jamaica's national dish
The ackee is the national fruit of Jamaica and a delicious partner to saltfish in one of the country's most famous dishes.
But if eaten when it's unripe, this fruit can become deadly. Containing hypoglycin it can cause Jamaican Vomiting Sickness which in severe cases can lead to death.
However, when fully ripened ackee is not only perfectly safe to eat but has myriad health benefits including regulating blood sugar levels, and as it is full of fibre, fatty acids, vitamin C and minerals it's good for the heart, bones and immune system.
The fruit is ripe when the pods turn red and open naturally. Once open the only edible section is the white fleshy part - the black seeds are always toxic and should never be eaten.
Canned ackee is a feature on many supermarket shelves and will bring a Caribbean flavour to your dish.
BUDDHA'S HAND
Buddha's Hand, which is native to China, has a delicious zest and a sweet edible pith - but far less juice compared to its other citrus fruit cousins
Also called 'the fingered citron', Buddha's Hand citrus fruits possess a lavender fragrance and are used to make perfume
It may look like something out of a Tim Burton film but Buddha's Hand - also known as the fingered citron - is one of the oldest citrus fruits.
Native to northeastern India and China, the fruit has a number of uses including perfume as it's said to smell of lavender, as well as food and medicine.
Unlike other fruits of the citrus family, most varieties contain no pulp or juice and instead their zest is used in desserts, savoury dishes, alcoholic beverages or it's candied as a sweet. It is also prescribed as a tonic in traditional medicine.
According to tradition, Buddha prefers a closed-handed fruit because it symbolises prayer.
In Japan it is served around New Year and offered at temples as gifts to symbolise happiness, good fortune and longevity. Find it at your nearest Asian grocery.
ROMANESCO
With its mesmerizing fractals this edible flower is nothing short of beauty. Are you brave enough to try it?
A relative of the cauliflower, broccoli and Brussels sprouts, the romanesco is a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach.
A bowl of lentil, pumpkin and romanesco salad
Its amazing appearance is also something of a natural mathematical marvel, as each head is a fractal and the number of spirals on each head is a Fibonacci number - a series of numbers in which each number is the sum of two preceding numbers.
It is also rich in vitamin C, K, A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9 as well as fibre, manganese, magnesium, protein, phosphorus, potassium, tryptophan and omega 3 fatty acids.
The vegetable also only contains 31 calories per serving.
An increasingly common sight in supermarkets and markets when it comes into season in October and November, the romanesco is one piece of veg that can be served close to its natural state.
New York celebrity chef Mario Batali recommends sauteing it, 'slowly with garlic and lemon zest, and punctuate with red pepper flakes for zing.'
PRICKLY PEAR
Better watch out for those spikes! Picking a prickly pear could be dangerous but the sweet taste is worth it
The prickly pear got its first brush with fame as a line in The Bear Necessities in the 1967 film The Jungle Book.
But today it's gaining recognition for more than just the spiny plant it grows on.
Also called tuna fruit and barbary fig, this cactus fruit, which is though to have originated in Mexico and grows in semi-arid parts of the world, has a flavour similar to a watermelon.
It is also loaded with health benefits. US-based nutritionist and biochemist Paula Simpson said: 'Cactus fruits contain high levels of amino acids, especially proline, serine, and taurine.'
While famous for use in energy drinks, taurine is also a potent antioxidant.
US dermatologist Judith Hellman also praises the fruit for containing 'betalains, anti-inflammatories that fight cell damage and ward off premature ageing.'
For those who can't snap up a fruit at their local supermarket, juices made from the fruit including CaliWater and Truenopal, available at health food stores, promise to work wonders to boost the immune system and even improve the appearance of your skin.
GAI-LAN
Gai-lan is a delicious green related to broccolini and packed with folate, vitamin K and carotenoids
Known as Chinese kale or Chinese broccoli, this vegetable with thick, flat, glossy blue-green leaves and a thick stem, makes a delicious side dish when steamed and served with oyster sauce.
An ancestor of broccolini (it is mixed with broccoli to create the delicious green) it contains just 22 calories and 1.1 g of protein per 100g making this vegetable a go-to for anyone on a low carb diet.
And for those getting fed up of kale, this dark leafy green tastes just as good and has similar health benefits thanks to its heart-boosting vitamin k, folate and carotenoids.
HORNED MELON
The horned melon can be slurped from the rind or eaten with a spoon like a pomegranate
Whatever you call it, whether it be kiwano, African horned cucumber or melon, jelly melon, hedged gourd, melano or the blowfish fruit; most people will agree that this fruit is strangely beautiful.
Native in California, Mississippi, Chile, Australia and New Zealand,
When in season, during the UK winter, your best bet for tracking down one of these bright yellow and green fruits is to visit Whole Foods although you may have luck at Waitrose and Sainsbury's.
With a taste comparable to a cross between a cucumber, courgette, kiwi and banana - and with a slimy texture - tasting the fruit is a one-of-a-kind experience.
The melon is more than 80 per cent water making it the perfect snack during bikini season.
It also has a high antioxidant capacity with its high alpha-tocopherol levels (a potent antioxidant form of vitamin E) which is important for nerve and blood vessel health - also present are vitamins A, C and and with an abundance of organic compounds, is sure to keep you stress and anxiety-free.
SNAKE FRUIT
The snake fruit or salak is as common in Indonesia as apples and oranges are in the West
The bosses behind New Zealand brand Tailor Skincare posted a picture of a half peeled snake fruit on Instagram, showing the white segments which lead the fruit's appearance to be compared with garlic cloves
The snake fruit - named for its brown scaly skin - is also called salak and grows on palm trees in Java, Sumatra and Bali in Indonesia as well as Malaysia.
The flavour of the fruit is tropical, with hints of pineapple with a slightly acidic taste. Some varieties have a flakier consistency while others are moist and juicy with a spongier texture.
They can be boiled with sugar into a sweet spread, pickled or fried into chips but most Indonesians enjoy them raw.
The fruit is said to improve eye health and reduce irritation, eliminate digestive disorders such as diarrhoea, and is acclaimed so much for its ability to improve ability that it is dubbed the 'memory fruit'.
But while snake fruits are ubiquitous in South East Asia where they are piled into baskets at markets or added to breakfast buffets in hotels they are a still a rare sight in the UK.
AKEBI
The outer pod of the akebi can be prepared and eaten like a vegetable. Fried akebi anyone?
This beautiful fruit is native to the north of Japan and has only been cultivated and available in stores in recent decades so it's one item of produce you're unlikely to find outside the country.
The purple fruit look similar to an aubergine but when they're ripe they open naturally to yield the translucent white flesh within, which is studded with black seeds.
While some people say akebis can be mixed with salt and pickled cucumber, or the pod can be stuffed and deep fried or made into akebi tempura, others describe its flavour as 'unremarkable'.
The texture is also an acquired taste. Blogger Kyoto Foodie says: 'The look and feel is similar to the flesh of lychee but is much softer.
'And it is full of tiny seeds that are essentially impossible to separate from the flesh. The flesh is best slurped up, seeds and all. If the seeds are chewed, the taste becomes bitter. Just eat it like you would yoghurt or a thick fruit smoothie.'
If you're keen to sample this super-local specimen, you have to be quick as it is only in season for about two weeks in early autumn and available in either a speciality fruit 'boutique' or upscale grocery stores in Japan.
CHERIMOYA
Eat a cherimoya with a spoon and its smooth, sweet custard-like texture will have you in awe
Mark Twain once called the cherimoya 'the most delicious fruit known to men' and although its flavour is said to be a cross between a banana and a pineapple in the UK it is called a 'custard apple' thanks to its vanilla taste, smooth texture and green skin.
Native to the Andes, cherimoyas thrive in hot climates and are now common in Mediterranean countries including Spain and Italy and are also a common sight in California.
They are also as good for the body as they taste.
The fruit has no saturated fat and is cholesterol free, with a high fibre, iron and niacin content, it also contains cytotoxins that are said to fight cancer and is rich in magnesium, iron and manganese.
Cherimoyas are best eaten raw, although take care to discard the black seeds which are toxic, but they can also be added to smoothies or made into purees.
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