growing fruits in the rose family: apples/nectarines/strawberries are a nightmare in logistics, when the intent is to make a profitable business out of it sans use of pesticides. If not for pesticides, many varieties in this family will easily go extinct.
so couldn’t really blame fruit farmers when they nuke their trees/plants with a cocktail of pesticides.
Il
If you ever visit Florida, you can visit this tropical fruits farm own by a Vietnamese family. I loved it.
Tony
Tony, Thanks. I will bookmark this. One day, before I am gone, I want one of each these trees in my back yard 
Update. I tasted the Kiwano mellon and pretty much spit it out. It was terrible. I don’t know why anyone would grow such a hideous beast. Lol. An agricultural waste in my opinion.
Have anyone here tried this fruit? I am curious how it taste like, the texture etc. , if does not taste too bad, how to pick out a ripe one from the market. It was hard as a rock when I saw it.
IL
I picked the one somewhat give with a gentle squeeze. I then placed them in a paper bag with a couple of ripe bananas or an apple to speed up the ripening process. They taste super sweet with a brown flesh. I bet the BRIX would be in the upper 20’s.
Tony
wow, super sweet, sounds very good. Tony, Thanks for the info. I will not pass it next time I see them in the grocery store. This thing just looks so unappetizing from outside.
it is a mamey sapote. It has the anatomy of eggfruit(canistel), having a similar pit like a peach, but has the taste and texture exactly that of a non-gritty sapodilla, or chico.
mamey, canistel, and sapodillas are in the same botanical family.
chico also comes in gritty varieties, but both gritty and non-gritty taste like custard with brown sugar.
i get craving for mamey every now and then and is truly worth the price, as they could cost upward of 5$/lb in most asian/hispanic grocery stores, so you need to make sure the fruit, albeit pending ripeness-- was not picked immature. Most reliable way of telling is to scratch the rind to see the color of flesh inside. If it is reddish-orange, or at least dark yellow, then it is likely to ripen nicely. If greenish yellow or outright green, drop it!
mature mamey’s should ripen in a couple of days, depending on your kitchen’s temperature. Its loss of firmness, as with avocados, indicates ripeness.
jujubemulberry, Thanks for the info. By your description, I am definitely interested to taste this fruit. I assume, you just cut it open and eat like a honeydew melon? If there is specific way to eat it, I would like to hear as well. BTW it is big fruit for one day and expensive, can you freeze the rest?
you’re welcome. And yes, you could eat it like a honeydew melon, straightaway!
Only difference is that honeydew melons have tough rinds, whereas the mamey has a soft skin which usually need to be peeled by hand or with a knife. They sell mamey as frozen fruit sometimes, but are not as good as when eaten soon after it has ripened. I never really got to that part where i have to freeze it, as i could eat the entire thing in one go(even the big ones!)
it’s all i have for lunch, sometimes, lol!
It must be tasted really good!
A lot of people use the mamey for smoothies. Just google mamey smooth and you’ll find recipes. I think that is the best way to eat them unless you find perfectly ripened ones. The varieties that are found in stores aren’t usually the best for eating out of hand in my experience. like with most fruits, the top varieties aren’t what is being sold commercially.
I stopped at my local Asian market and they had fresh lychee for sale. I bought a pound of them. Likes and dislikes are subjective but to me these things were terrible. The texture is god awful. I can’t imagine anything having a worse mouth feel. They were juicy and squirted juice all over when I tried tearing into the first few. But in my opinion these things are like eating a piece of raw squid or raw scallop in texture. I’ll never waste money on them again. The flavor was tolerable although not even half as good as a fresh peach, plum, or mango.
Ha! That’s kind of true. My dad used to pretend they were squirrel brains when I was a kid. But for me, it’s one of the best fruits I’ve tasted.
SMC,
I eat fresh Lychee by the lb. My wife usually buy a couple of the red baskets from the Asian market. I got a 30 lbs Jack fruit sitting in the kitchen waiting to cut. My kitchen smell so good right now.
Tony
Speed,
I hear you. Maybe, squishy is not the kind of taste you like. My husband does not like durian. He said he can stand the smell of durian but can’t stand the mushy, custardy texture of it.
You may not want to waste your money on mangosteen, then. It’s not as squirshy but it’s somewhat soft. Also, it’s white and could remind you of cooked squid
Would you like to send the rest to me? Will gladly accept them.
I just had Rambutan for the first time today. It’s related to Lychee, but looks far scarier from the outside, like hairy little birds nests.
I found these at Stop and Shop and remembered reading about them in one of the posts here, so I had to get them. They were $6.99 for a 12 oz clamshell. I examined all of them to find the fullest, which had 10 fruit (some had only 6…more than $1 each).
They are interesting and I liked them, but I’m not sure they are any better than lychee. The pit is flattened and shaped like an almond. The pits are more tender than lychee and longyan, so even though I was careful (very careful on the first one). I still nipped a bit of the pit’s skin off.
The flesh tastes a lot like lychee, but the texture is firmer/denser, or put another way, slimy and chewy. It reminds me a bit of a scallop (I used to go out on the boat for them with my father a long time ago, before deciding I didn’t like seafood). But they have a nice flavor, maybe depth than Lychee. Brix was 17-18, so pretty similar to the lychees I’ve had recently.
I’ve notice that rambutan has a layer of skin over the pit that gets stuck to the flesh and makes the eating experience less pleasant. Lychee doesn’t seem to have that. I’ve also heard that rambutan translates to something like “the hairy one” but I can’t remember now where I read that.
Bob V, SMC,
Have you guys try the fresh Jack fruit. It is so sweet and lots of aromas.
Tony
Lychee and the ‘custard fruits’ are an acquired taste. I think its a ‘love/hate’ thing. I happen to love them… Fresh lychee are fragrant (they smell like jasmine petals to me) and the taste is refreshing. The ‘mouth-feel’ takes getting used to, but I love them all! Just ‘chaque a son gout’!
