A Taste of the Tropics

Do you know what a carambola is or a monsanto or sapodilla? No, these aren't the latest dance moves or drinks served at the bar. They're actually fruits. Once only known by their appearance in upscale restaurant cuisine or some Caribbean resort, these tropical fruits are actually becoming more common in larger supermarket produce sections. Here are a few of the unusual but sweet-tasting tropical fruits you can find:

Canestel Egg Fruit

A yellow, oval fruit that tastes like a fruity egg custard. It's ready to eat when the skin is velvety and the pulp is soft; the fruit should fall apart when squeezed gently.

Carambola (Star Fruit)

A small, oval fruit with deep lengthwise grooves; waxy-looking, golden yellow skin; and juicy, crisp meat. Ranging in flavor from sweet to tart, it tastes like a combination of lemon, pineapple and apple. Carambola is nicknamed the star fruit because when it is sliced crosswise, the slices are shaped like stars.

Mamey Sapote

This coconut-sized, oblong fruit has coarse, brown, leathery skin. When ripe, it has a velvety, salmon-colored, sweet-tasting flesh reminiscent of strawberries and pears or a fruity pumpkin pie. Its texture ranges from firm to melting and juicy.

Monsanto (Apple) Bananas

These sweet, baby bananas are packed full of flavor. Once the bananas are cut, they do not darken immediately like regular bananas.

Passion Fruit

A purple or pink fruit with a hard shell that encases a yellowish green, jellylike meat and seeds that are edible. When ripe, the fruit will be shriveled and the skin will appear deeply dented. The pulp tastes tangy, yet sweet.

Tropical Sapodilla

A small, round, applelike fruit with a custardlike texture and thin, leathery yellow to reddish brown skin. It tastes like a pear with brown sugar on it.

Ugli Fruit

This grapefruit-size fruit is believed to be a tangerine-grapefruit hybrid. A thick, yellow-green skin fits loosely over large, juicy, yellow-orange sections. The fruit peels like a tangerine and tastes like a combination of tangerine, orange, and grapefruit.

To ripe fresh fruit, place the firm fruit in a small, clean paper bag. (You can mix different kinds of fruit in the same bag.) Loosely close the bag; store it at room temperature. To speed up the ripening process, place a ripe banana or a mature apple in the bag with the underripe fruit. Check the fruit daily and remove any fruit that yields to gentle hand pressure. Why use a paper bag to ripen fruit? Fruit produces a harmless gas called ethylene that promotes ripening. By placing the fruit in a paper bag, this gas stays close to the fruit and lets it ripen faster and more evenly.

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