Rare tropical fruits from around the world are often never exported. In today's video we'll cover the top 10 fruits you've never heard of. From amazing delicious tropical fruits to weird, gritty fruits growing in your own backyard we cover them all. It's important to remember that not all fruits look like fruits and you'll soon learn what I'm talking about.
Salak Fruit - 0:12
Salak fruit, also known as snake fruit, comes from a species of palm tree in south east asia. It gets it’s name from it’s scaly snake like appearance and is about the size of a fig. The outer shell and seed are inedible but the yellowish flesh is, which has the appear of a clove of garlic but tastes mostly sweet with a bit of sour and hints of pineapple and banana.
Buddha’s Hand - 0:30
Buddha’s Hand is an abnormally shaped fruit that looks like the mixture of a squid and a lemon. It comes from a small tree or bush that originates from China and India, and has long been used as an ornamental fruit in ceremonies and gardens. It is often used in Japan as room fragrance, or used to perfume personal items like clothing. Buddha’s hand has the fragrance similar to lavender, contains no seeds or juice just an oily pith.
Wood Apple - 1:01
Wood Apples, native to India, have the shape of an apple but appears to be made of wood. Wood Apples are reputed for their medicinal properties, which includes relief of constipation, diarrhea, indigestion and respiratory problems.
Gac Fruit - 1:28
Gac fruit, which originates in south east asian, is an orange to reddish colored fruit on the outside with a blood red inside that resembles bloody organs. Gac fruit is an incredibly rare fruit that is only harvested in December and January and often served at Vietnamese ceremonies and weddings. It has the very, very mild tropical taste but primarily overwhelms your senses with how creamy it is. It’s most commonly mixed with gluten rice to make a bright red rice dish called Xoi Gac.
Jabuticaba - 2:00
Jabuticaba, is a grape like fruit that grows right out of the bark of the Jabuticababeira tree. Jabuticaba has anti cancer properties, can be used to treat swollen tonsils and is an effective treatment for asthma and diarrhea when dried out.
Lakoocha - 2:19
Monkey fruit, is a highly nutritious fruit that comes from the Artocarpus Lacucha tree which is a species of the Moraceae family found in India. The best way to describe it is a mixture of sweet, sour, tangy with a citrus overtones. Lakoocha fruit can help treat arthritis swelling, dysentery, clean wounds and prevent hair loss.
Miracle Berry - 2:49
Miracle Berry originates from west africa. It tastes very sweet but a little tart a lot lot like a peach or apricot. Miracle berry contains miraculin a protein that binds to the taste buds but becomes active when mixed with acids. The side effect is that the tongue will no longer taste sour or bitter flavors.
Strawberry Tree Fruit (Arbutus Unedo) - 3:19
Strawberry tree fruit comes from an evergreen shrub that grows all over the world. It has a similar appearance to a strawberry but tastes bland, bitter, a little tart and gritty.
Hala Fruit - 3:37
Hala fruit is a species of screwpine that is native to eastern Australia and Hawaii. Hala has a spherical core with up to 200 phalanges that grow outwards. Theses phalanges contain a very sweet juice, for this reason you would tend to chew on hala fruit vs. eat hala fruit. Hala trees produce a group of fruits which average between 1 and 2 dozen per group.
Ackee Fruit - 4:16
Ackee fruit is a member of the soapberry family as are longan and lychee. It has a very strong taste of …. you guessed it..cheddar cheese, what else would a rare tropical fruit taste like. The fruit is pear shaped that turns from green to red to orange then splits open to reveal 3 large black seeds. These seeds are wrapped in a yellow spongy flesh which is the only edible part, the seed and the rind are both highly poisonous. If you consume either of those you’ll get what is called “Jamaican Vomiting Sickness”. Ackee originates in west africa but was imported to jamaica and now a days is common in the caribbean.
