Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
ifraser25

The five WORST tropical fruit

ifraser25
13 years ago

I just read a very interesting and entertaining thread on what people thought were the 5 best tropical fruit and thought it might be fun to do the reverse. What do you think is either disgusting or overrated? I'll go for:

breadfruit (nauseous)

jackfruit (not much better)

papaya (bland,yucky)

durian (don't care what it tastes like, that smell...)

passionfruit (either sour or tasteless, full of seeds, love the flowers though).

I'll probably think of some more...

Comments (126)

  • stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Coconut,TropicalPapaya,Tamarind,Chocolate,Vanilla orchid,amd maybe pineapple.
    Because I cant grow them outdoors makes them worst in my view.

  • liz_wickboldt_yahoo_com
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    1. Papaya (tastes like vomit)
    2. Papaya (smells like vomit)
    3. Papaya (seeds smell like vomit)
    4. Papaya (seeds look like fish eggs)
    5. Papaya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • jac12358
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Other than candy form, I have not tried durian, or even been close to one to smell it.

    The WORST has to be Noni - though I have not tried that either, but I did smell it. I actually got a handful of seeds from a dropped ripe fruit, and it did have an acidic vomit-like smell, so I wasn't about to taste it. Sadly, only one seed sprouted, and it did not survive long.

    On the other hand, I had 2 "stinking toe" germinate. I found the seeds scattered under a parent tree in the Virgin Islands, so the pulp around them was well rotted away and the smell gone. The first one to sprout was albino, lacking any green! After that died another sprouted, and that is green and still alive. I did not know this was a stinking toe when I got it. It was identified as a West Indian Locust I think.

    I agree papaya is bland, but I have had rather tasty and refreshing ones when in Hawaii. What a difference fresh makes! Also bought one of the large ones and it was quite good. I've made a spicy coconut thai fish soup with papaya chunks in it that was delicious. Also, consider that you can eat papaya unripe, grated into crunchy strips. I've had many asian salads that feature it.

    Has anyone said AVOCADO? Talk about BLAND - you must agree that the avocado has even less taste than a papaya - so it is all about how it is prepared, since when done correctly, I like both.

    The Starfruit is pretty good, and I have had more luck getting family members to like that. It has to be ripe to be sweet, turning a yellow-orange color. Yes, it is tart, but so are certain apples and other fruit. They all said it had a citrus taste but I thought it was like a crisp tart grape. Not what one imagines when one thinks "tropical," but that does not mean it is "bad." The paw paw, after all, is technically NOT tropical, but DOES taste like it is.

    I am trying to grow a few cherimoyas - I have to say I was underwhelmed with the taste of the fruit - perhaps picked too green and now allowed to properly ripen? I bit like a mealy pear. I expected more from a tropical relative of the paw paw, which is amazing.

    Guavas - well I like juices and jellies made from them. Not an easy fruit to dig in because of the seeds, but does well put in a blender with ice cream and milk to make a smoothy (with or without passionfruit, mangoes).

    Passionfruit - the look isn't that bad. Best way is to strain out seeds and use pulp to flavor other things. Seeds, I learned, are edible, and so I tried leaving them in and they were delightfully crunchy and not at all unpleasant.

    Lot of hate here for breadfruit - you DO know you have to cook it, right? So not exactly a juicy fruit. More of a starch, like plantains. Best to bake it. I also sliced thin and fried it.

    Only tried jackfruit once fresh, and once canned. Preferred fresh, and am growing my only tree to sprout from a seed!

    Among the similar-tasting lychees, rambutans and longans, my wife and I would rate their taste from best to worst in that order, though none are bad. Genips are a sour novelty, as I suppose is tamarind.

    We tried a sapote (mamey?) once, and it was interesting, but not bad. Like eating a room temperature baked sweet potato with a texture between that and an avocado. Seed did not sprout! :o( Neither did seeds of mangosteen and rambutan, thanks, I think, to the irradiation process that was labeled on them. Darn irradiation!

    Never eat an unripe astringent-variety persimmon. Otherwise they are sweet and delicious - and I think the local small wild variety have the best taste!

    So I guess I've yet to meet a tropical (or any) fruit that I hate. Nobody mentioned kiwis (though not tropical) or pomegranates (somewhat also not as tropical), bananas, pineapple, dates or coconuts, so I guess those must be the best!

  • dan_nz_gardener
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Very interesting thread, here in new zealand its hard to find a back yard that doesnt have a passion fruit vine trailing up a fence, and the taste is sweet and divine, never tasted a hint of sourness, and we just eat them with a spoon crunching the seeds.
    Also ripe avocado is extremely common here and packed with flavour, spread on toast. ..delicious

    Dan

  • soaht
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The secret to eating ripe papaya of any kind is to use some sour(lemon/lime) agent and a little bit of salt. Green/unripe papaya in Lao papaya salad is so good like someone mention previously. You can even use your green mangoes the same way too(mouth is watering just typing about it).

    Seng

  • thetropicaldude
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Wow what a deeply moronic thread.. and it's the one with the most replies too

    I only read until the ignorance of reply 3 and had to reply with the obvious:

    -if someone thinks 1)sapodilla
    2)mamey sapote, and 4)canistel are "the worst fruits in the world" (when proper specimens of these are among the most delicious fruits on earth) you should tell that to anyone who's lived in a tropical place (anywhere besides ignorant Florida) so they can have a good laugh

    No offense intended. But seriously, lol.. What are you all doing ON A TROPICAL FRUIT forum??

  • wardog25
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Just came across this thread. I live in Florida now, but having spent many years in South America, I had to register an encouraging word for the poor, maligned papaya.

    Even growing up in the tropics, the trees were hit and miss. People would learn the bland-tasting papaya trees and the fruit would be ignored or the tree cut down. But if you got a tree that produced sweet, excellent papaya, there was nothing like it. I could never understand when I moved to Florida why so many people say papaya tastes terrible. Then I bought one at the store and I understood.

    Picking papaya green so that you can sell it at a grocery store is a sure way to make it horrible no matter what tree it came from. EVERY time I see a beautiful looking one in the store and buy it, I regret it. I think, SURELY that one will taste good. And it never does.

    So now I'm trying to grow some trees myself to see if I can get a good one. If I can't, I guess I'll give up on papaya unless I ever move back to the tropics.

    (for the record, guava was somewhat similar as well, in that if you got a tree that produced nasty bland fruit, you'd wonder why you ever liked guava. But we learned which trees were good and frequented those ones)

  • ianbrazil
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I agree Papaya should never be picked green though the Vietnmese do so and eat it with salad. It is definitely not sweet in this condition. As for guava, you can do the same thing, but in Brazil it is mostly made into a rich sweet marmelade, eaten with cream cheese. Delicious.

  • tropicbreezent
    11 years ago

    But it's also very subjective. Not everyone's taste is the same. And store bought fruit is not a good source of material to make a judgement on. Often they're pumped ip with chemicals to increase weight/size. Also picked to be more transportable, ie green. And some fruit is produced for cooking, not for eating fresh. Those are often picked and cooked green.

  • RastaYoga
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Least favorites:

    1.) Tommy Atkins mango
    2.) (bad) papaya
    3.) Sapodilla
    4.) Persimmon
    5.) (bad, super seedy) guava

    Fresh local durian is probably my #1 favorite fruit, don't care much for the frozen crap they sell in Asian markets.

    Brett

    This post was edited by RastaYoga on Mon, Jun 17, 13 at 14:45

  • greenman62
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Papaya has to be RIPE to be good.
    completely ripe....
    when they sell it in stores they have to pick it green and let it ripen, which never works out like it should.
    a good cultivar and a papaya that has ripened on the tree is excellent.
    stuff you buy in stores is crap.

    that goes for LOTS of fruit...

  • gonebananas_gw
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I have liked most of what you all have listed you don't like, though I more have had durian specifically in cookies and such, not raw.

    One I did not like was (I think) muntingia, with a very strong musty smell and taste, if I recall right..

  • slopfrog
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I had a seedling of Hawaiian solo sunrise papaya given to me. I was told one of the finest varieties in the world. I grew it, nurtured it, and got lucky that the plant happened to be bisexual. I was so excited when it set fruit. I watched them every day, and was heartbroken when fruit were aborted. Eventually, it grew one to full ripeness. The day had finally come, when I could go from hating store bought papaya to loving home grown ones...

    Too bad it still tasted like the crotch of a morbidly obese person who hadn't bathed in a week.

    I am officially done with papaya forever.

  • smallfern
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Just my small contribution & hope to revive this topic - greenman62 is right.

    I grew up with papayas in grandma's backyard in the tropics. I now have papayas in my backyard in FL (9b).

    You have to let it fully ripen on the tree. After harvest, it's best to let it sit 1-2 days by your window with morning sun, then sniff the fruit. When it has that fruity smell (don't know how to describe "fruity") you put it in the fridge for 2 hrs, then cut it!! You will never dislike papaya again. :D

  • sapote
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    "Papaya: nature's boring fruit"

    make sure the papaya you had tried are not from Mars. I find papaya from Hawaii are great.

    Sapote

  • bunti
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Papaya is an yummy fruit. I am from india. we used to have papaya tree in our backyard. one tree fruited for almost 2 years like one fruit a day, since it started fruiting. they are really really yummy.

    You can make them ripe on the tree out you can cut them when are changing color.

    you can also eat little ripe one. its going to crispy, but tasts really good.

    I have eaten few hybrid ones, which are tastless. After coming to US i have tried papaya they are tastless.

    It depends on the variety too. next time I go to india, i will try to get few Tasty papaya seeds, if anyone is interested.

  • kittybouquet
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I agree that papaya smells like vomit. Maybe I've just had bad papayas.

    I like tamarind chutney and tamarind margaritas.

  • rottilover
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I agree with everyone else, Papaya is a horrible bitter fruit but it doesn't even come close to breadfruit. I tried breadfruit for the first time last night and I have been vomiting every since. I guess I need to say that I ate it raw. It was very very ripe, had a great taste but about 30 minutes after eating it I was hugging the commode and projectile vomiting. I will NEVER eat breadfruit again!!!

  • rottilover
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Has anyone else eaten raw really ripe breadfruit and then found yourself projectile vomiting for hours on end?
    Now I'm talking about eating it by itself. Not mixing it with coconut milk or anything else. Just the fruit alone. I had never had it before and my landlord brought me one the other day and he and his wife both ate some. (just a few bites) and it didn't bother them. I've read where it can cause nausea but I haven't heard anyone say it made them physically vomit. Am I the only one???

  • sapote
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    "I agree with everyone else, Papaya is a horrible bitter fruit "

    Had you ever tasted Hawaii papaya -- the small size and orange/red inside?

    If yes then you taste pallete needs to be re-calibrated :)

  • glib
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    that is mamao in portuguese, Sapote. I always had two for breakfast when in Brazil, together with two bananas and two guavas. All great fruit. And for jackfruit, jaca dura is unpleasant and usually fed to pigs, but jaca molle (soft) is nice, although a little heavy on the digestion, a bit like persimmon.

  • sapote
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I total agreed with glib on these fruits. You have great ....taste.

  • greenman62
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    agreed Sapote.
    papaya is wonderful if you get it at the right point of ripeness
    often to send to the store
    they are picked green... very green.
    yuc.

    besides ripeness, also variety, temperature etc...

    papaya with an orange color skin is wonderful

  • zarafet
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Omg, I LOVE Jackfruit and durian!!!! I can't get enough of them (I'm Hispanic, they are normally popular with Asians).

    I can't stand:

    1. Star fruit
    2. White guava
    3. Bread fruit
    4. Papaya (I grow TR Hovey for its looks)
    5. Papaya
    6. Papaya
    7. Papaya
    8. Papaya
    9. Papaya
    10-1,000,000,000. Papaya

  • bunti
    8 years ago

    I have tried papaya in US Few times. But they don't taste good. In 1-10 scale, I give 0 for papaya fruits that are available in U.S. The varieties you find in india are the best. I want to get few seeds from india next time I visit and grow them even though I live in zone 7.

    coming to guavas...

    i don't like the taste of ruby supreme guava. There are very bad. I don't know why they are being propagated when there somany superior varieties. Try the fruit from Asian markets. If you taste the right one, you will give first place to guava. Guava comes year round. The fruits that comes in winter months are tastier.


  • stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area
    8 years ago

    Mountain papaya- Babaco is not good.

    Tree Tomato Cyphomanda I think it is...same.

    Rose Apple..if your starved for fresh fruit.

    Thats three I know of.

  • Steph
    8 years ago

    Ooh stinky bean! My company works with a distributor in malaysia and they delight at introducing American guests to such delicacies as durian and stinky bean. Or as their kids call it... SMELLY BEANS! (yelled in a tone of delight)

    SMELLY BEANS! Thank you for making me think of that. It always makes me smile.

    I had delicious papaya once. Only once. I have never had papaya in the States that I would voluntarily put in my mouth. I have heard that about the hawaiian ones, but my experience with grocery papaya has been so bad I think I'll let somebody else pick one out and taste it first before I try any. ;)

    I'm disinclined to decide I don't like fruits based on common supermarket varieties. I "hated" mangoes for most of my life until someone introduced me to better varieties than Tommy freakin' Atkins.

    Here's a tropical fruit I hate: Pineapple. To me it tastes terrible. I'm not really fond of cherimoya either - it has kind of a pineappley taste. Am I the only one? I almost never meet anyone who has strong negative feelings about the pineapple. Yeah, I know this one is a matter of personal preference, but so are durians ;)

  • Amaryllis H
    8 years ago

    Noni juice has been found to cause autoimmune liver disease, per the FDA; I tried it once, had a severe reaction, and went looking for what might be known about the stuff and found that out (a little late). Thought I'd mention.

  • steiconi
    8 years ago

    I love papaya, but I eat it fresh off the tree, so it's probably a different experience. I like all kinds, but the pink fleshed ones are the sweetest. I've had green papaya salad many times, but prefer the ripe fruit. Papaya seed dressing is good, too; the seeds have a peppery taste.

    Lilikoi (passion fruit) makes GREAT vinaigrette or marinade. Use it in place of or in addition to the vinegar in any simple recipe. Leave the seeds in!

    I like guava enough to spend the time blending the fruit and straining out the seeds. Then I freeze the pulp and use it in smoothies, oatmeal, and other stuff. I grow ruby and chocolate varieties. I don't know why they call it chocolate guava, it doesn't look or taste like cacao.

    Fried breadfruit is delicious--if you like fried stuff. Yeah, I do, give me more! My tree is only about 6 feet tall, I hope it fruits soon.

    I briefly lived near a noni orchard. Wow, what a stink! Can't stand the fruit.

    I think rambutan and lychee are bland and boring. Ditto starfruit. Double ditto plantains--unless they're fried, of course.

    Tree tomatoes are gorgeous, but not particularly tasty.

    Yellow dragonfruit are not worth dealing with the spines. Other dragonfruit are delicious.

    I guess it's all a matter of personal preference.

    and rrandomizer5, there's nothing wrong with being a white person.

  • parker25mv
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    I would hardly call Lychee boring. The fruits have a nice texture and a rose scented perfume to them. The only downside is that eating too many of them begins to make the back of my throat feel just a little irritated. I do not have this problem with Longan, but unfortunately Longan has a much more bland flavor than Lychee, without the rose perfume aroma. It basically has a melon flavor. Longan seems to be just a bit smaller than Lychee which means that there's more of them to peel, another downside.

    Another problem is that Lychee and Longan do not taste good if they are not fresh. If the fruits begin to taste sour and lemony, that means they have gone bad. They only last a few days off the tree if not refrigerated. Unfortunately, some people who have tried Lychee for the first time get a bad one and think they do not like it. If the outer skin is still bright red and not too brownish, that is a sign that the Lychee is very fresh.

    Dragonfruit may have an exotic appearance, but the inside reminded me of kiwi but without the flavor. Really boring.

    Papayas smell and taste like vomit to me. But, have you ever had green (unripe) papaya salad at a Thai restaurant?

  • djschmidt1991
    8 years ago

    1. papaya. At best it tastes fermented, at worst it tastes like the smell of fresh dog poo.

    2. durien.

    3. black zapote. There's got to be better things to eat than this.

    1. fresh soursop/guanabana (for the texture). It's like eating fruit flavored cotton that kind of dissolves in your mouth. But I actually love Jumex Guanabana juice, it's one of my favorite tropical flavors.

    I like guavas, just pop them into your mouth without trying to chew the seeds. The same goes with dragon fruit and prickly pear fruit (tunas), both have a mild pear flavor, and just swallow them with the seads. I like Cheremoyas, sort of a strawberry-tropical flavor. Mamaye zapote kind of tastes like sweetened squash. It's ok, I just didn't grow up eating it. Lots of folks down in southern Mexico tell me they like it.

  • Liam Coldwell (Zone 9a)
    8 years ago

    WOAH, WOAH, WOAH! Passionfruit shoudn't be sour! The store tends to have it unripe, they really are sweet, anyway...

    1.Coconut (I hate the milk, i love the meat)

    2.Banana (sorry, i just don't like them)

    3.Rambutan

    4.Persimmon (I'm gonna grow a black sapote regardless, even if it is a persimmon, anyway they taste to much like apples...)

    5.Apples (well kinda, just not my first choice...)

    By the way, papaya isn't unbearable to me

  • Liam Coldwell (Zone 9a)
    8 years ago

    Lets be more optimistic... Favorite Tropical fruits!

    1. Passion Fruit

    2.Vanilla Orchid (the beans are a fruit)

    3. Avocado (guac... ARRRIBA!)

    4. Barbados Cherry (only had juice)

    5. Kiwi

  • Maria Elena (Caribbean - USDA Zone 13a)
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    ...and this, my friends, is why we've penned: "Para los gustos, se hicieron los sabores...y colores!"

    BTW, ripe, fresh picked Papaya is delicious and nutritious. Noni smells like Don Goyo's dirty black polyester socks.

    Peace!

  • parker25mv
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    I do not really find Passion Fruit to be that palatable, but it's not so much because of the flavor (although the flavor is a little too intense for me). Passion Fruit is like the very essence of "tropical flavor". Even if you are not growing it for eating, Passion Fruit makes an attractive ornamental plant.

    Despite its spectacular outer appearance, Rambutan has a taste that is a little "putrid" to me, and the flesh of the fruit has a waxier consistency than lychee.

    Liam Coldwell, you should try "young coconut". The inner flesh is soft enough that you can scoop it out with a spoon. A note for anyone eating coconut: Do not eat more than half of the coconut in one sitting, coconut has a fairly high fat content so eating an entire coconut can make your stomach feel a little queasy. But it makes a wonderful dessert. And I love drinking the coconut water from a freshly cracked open coconut. If you don't like how the inside water tastes, maybe you haven't had a really fresh coconut.

    A starfruit picked fresh off the tree tastes substantially different than all the ones I have tasted from supermarkets. True, it was kind of bland, a bit watery, sour, and very slightly astringent, but it also had a very compelling tropical-like flavor to it that made me keep eating.

    Guavas are too astringent when they are less than ripe, but I don't like how the flavor develops when they become ripe, so guava is kind of a no-win scenario for me.

    Plantains, sometimes when I have some I feel like snacking on them raw. This is just a personal thing I do, the vast majority of people are not going to find raw plantain the slightest bit palatable. It's kind of like biting into a raw potato, but just a little bit like a banana too. I can't eat too much, maybe just half a plantain, because it makes my mouth feel all astringently dry, but I feel it gives me energy and is easy on my stomach to digest.

    I'm not a huge persimmon fan. All the Hachiya persimmons I have ever tasted I have found absolutely too astringent to be edible. I have had some Fuyu persimmons with good flavor, but this fruit feels a little pumpkin-like to me, I think maybe this fruit could be better baked in sweet breads or muffins.

  • Levar
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Purple Possum passion fruit is amazing. I eat them just out of hand with a spoon. Like every passionfruit I've ever had, these are definitely tart but PP have a good amount of sweetness that makes them perfect for eating raw. They should be slightly withered on the vine when you pick them, or perhaps more often, when they've dropped.

    I've had awful, astringent, and bland Nisperos/Sapodillas from farmer's markets but there's a tree in my neighborhood that has lime-sized fruit that are really incredible. The flavor resembles shortbread cookies if those cookies were made totally out of pears and rum. Hard to explain but go with me on this.

    Also, I forgot the name of my Starfruit but I'm almost 100% it's a Lara. It is not bland at all. It's sweet with a gentle tartness, but still very flavorful.

    But anyway, my least favorites:

    1. Papaya ( I do not get the appeal.)
    2.Dragonfruit (The biggest let down in the fruit world. It looks like it's going to have ALL the flavor in the universe and it just never does. What the hell is this supposed to taste like?)
    3. Tommy Atkins mango. (Why is this in circulation? Because it's prolific and grocery stores value quantity over quality?)
    4. Rambutans. (A friend said the Costa Rican Rambutans were lovely. When she had ones sold in Miami, we both agreed that the skin around the seed that invariably latched onto the fruit tasted like sweat, funk, and feet.)
    5. Surniam Cherry. (Yeah... However, if you make a jam out of this with just a little bit of sugar and water, its sourness is mellowed and it becomes kind of a simple "chutney." It's great with duck. )

  • Michele Nicholas
    7 years ago

    I think a lot of the disgust comes from having encountered a bad variety of the fruit. Tommy Adkins is not highly rated. Some papaya taste heavenly. Papaya are mild, but some are just bland where others, especially the red ones, are like a very sweet melon. (Just think of the difference among apples--mouth-puckering crab apples to cooking varieties, to sweet ones, to delicious. It's a good idea to try fruits at farmers' markets and flea markets. They are more likely to have been picked ripe. When I was a girl in Canada I thought oranges were horrible, sour fruits. Then I came to Florida and found that ripe ones tasted as sweet as candy.

  • Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
    7 years ago

    I don't like guava because of the seeds and the pungent flavor. That's the one yellow outside, pink in. We grew it and tossed it. Yuk! Breadfruit is to be baked like a potato and it tastes better than a potato. It's a starch. I wish we could grow it here, but not tropical enough. I have ordered Papaya from Hawaii seeds. They will ripen on the tree here and I'm betting they will be delicious!

  • tropicbreezent
    7 years ago

    I like breadfruit too but, as you say, it needs to be baked (or fried). My tree's still a bit small but hopefully I'll have some fruit before long.

  • subtropix
    7 years ago

    I have never had Jackfruit raw. We like to stir fry it with some garlic and pepper..., delicious!

    As for the guava, mostly what I see being sold as guava in the North is just awful, but one day, I was an Hispanic market and passed very large, ripe, white guava. It smelled delicious even wrapped in plastic and exquisite in taste, so I will give them another chance.

    Let's consider another tropical fruit for some perspective as we contribute to this list of fruits we despise..., the TOMATO. Store bought ones out of season are usually hideous; a sun-ripened, warm one just off the vine is exquisite!

  • tropicbreezent
    7 years ago

    Jakfruit is one of those that people tend to like, or like to hate. There are lots of varieties with differing tastes but that's also a matter of personal preference. I have one that produces well but have trouble giving a lot of the fruit away, some people can't thank me enough. I find it quite good, I even freeze a lot for the off season. A single household certainly doesn't need many but the tree likes to be productive.

  • Francesco Delvillani
    7 years ago

    When you must judge tropical fruit you might consider more things.

    Some are delocious when grown in Tropical climate, when grown in sub-tropical or even worse in Mediterranean climate they could not ripe properly and have a bad taste.


    Also those grown in tropical and then harvest unripen, shipped by boat and arrived to the market 3 weeks later, could be not good...


    For instance,Rambutan if correctly ripen is fantastic, when starts to rot, it taste as fish.

  • tropicbreezent
    7 years ago

    Same with Mangosteen (Purple), when they start to go off they really go off.

  • Dylan Joaquin(NorCal)
    7 years ago

    Mine would have to be:

    Papaya (not dried)

    Durian (can't stand the smell)

    Loquats (weird aftertaste)

    Pears (not tropical)

    Melons (not tropical)

  • Jarome Suwoko
    4 years ago

    1: Noni, smells and tastes like overaged blue cheese

    2: Durian, smells like garbage

    3: asian pears, just bland

    4: papaya, tastes like fish

  • Gabriel Zambrano
    3 years ago

    1. June Plum - To me it tasted like dirt!! I hated it, but my dad likes them.

    2. Mamey - Okay, I have had ONE good one before, but really most of them taste the same, the texture is both slimy and dry and they are not great.

    3. Mulberry (technically not tropical) but they just taste like simple syrup, no flavor at all.

    4. Caimito - I hated this one, it was FULL of latex and left my lips and mouth sticky and rubbery, and it tasted like an overripe persimmon

    5. Durian - I have yet to find it in its fruit form, but I had durian wafers that tasted like onion and it was truly gross.

  • Dave in NoVA • N. Virginia • zone 7A
    3 years ago

    I agree with Francesco Delvillani . You can't judge a fruit that's picked too early, then shipped half way around the world, then sits in a warehouse before it finally hits the grocery store.

  • Nathaniel Edison
    2 years ago

    All right now, I created an account just to stand up for Papayas, Babaco, and all the other fruits that you haters are bashing on here.


    If you dislike papaya, go to a tropical locale where they are grown, pick em when they're yellow, leave em out for two days, refrigerate them overnight, then cube them and slather them with lemon juice.


    As for all the other ones...are y'all eating the same fruits I am? Jambu and Star Fruit are two of my favorite things. Perhaps I'm more tolerant when it comes to weird tastes but the only tropical fruit I truly can't stomach is Noni. It really stands in a league of its own as a thing that humans have deemed 'edible.'

  • socalnolympia
    2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    I've had some good Surinam cherries off a bush (these were big bushes). They are best when they get all the way ripe. Still not as good as regular cherries though, in my opinion. Also I noticed the fruits from different bushes growing right next to each other had slightly different flavors. Some had a slightly stronger plum/nectarine flavor, others more cherry, blackberry, or spicy bell pepper. Almost more like the type of thing to snack on off the bush than something people would specifically want to buy.

    Asian pears are definitely not "just bland". Maybe they were not fresh or picked before they were all the way ripe (which would be understandable in a supermarket). They have a strong musky perfume type of aroma. They are less sour and can be a little less sweet than regular European pears, as well as having a more crunchy-watery jicama-like texture than the more buttery-paste texture of European pears.

    I'm not a huge fan of pineapple, just feel so-so about it. Rarely I might buy one if it looks really fresh. I really like the exterior look of the fruit more than I like eating them. I can only eat a little bit before the back of my throat starts becoming a little bit itchy. Maybe I have a slight allergy to it.

Sponsored
Macanson Construction
Average rating: 5 out of 5 stars1 Review
Custom Cabinetry & Flooring Company in Ashburn – Since 2013!