all by way of mexico ! Clockwise from left: rambutan(asia), jackfruit(asia), pineapple(tropical america), cantaloupe(possibly africa), chewy banana and plantain(both from asia). Great to see our southern neighbor managing to grow foreign species commercially. Prices have dropped on a yearly basis,and should continue to drop since all shown here, except for cantaloupe, are long-lived perennials.
5 Likes
Our kocal Stop n’ Shop had Rambutan yesterday in plastic boxes. They were moldy! Ugh! Small too.
1 Like
sorry to hear that @mrsg47. Rambutan, lychee, and longan get moldy when bagged/boxed and misty inside. Necessary to pick up the bag/clamshell, raise it up, and give them a shake to inspect as many fruits from below since these botom fruits tend to get moldy first due to poor ventilation.
smallish rambutan usually have the benefit of small or rudimentary pits, so offers the convenience of being able to eat the entire thing without having to spit anything out , but the flavor and brix levels are generally subpar compared to those with fully-developed seeds(the edible ‘pulp’ is actually part of the seed, which may explain why)
2 Likes
any tropical fruit is subpar by time we get it in the northeast. if you can find them at all. only ones I’ve seen from the above pic here is the pineapple, cantaloupe and bananas. never tasted the others.
Moose,
“any tropical fruit is subpar by time we get it in the northeast”
.
It’s not true in MA or CT. We have large Asian population (from Far East, Southeast and South Asia) in big cities. Those areas have many Asian grocery stores. Worcester alone has at least two huge Indian supermarkets, one large Chinese supermarket, two Southeast Asian markets. They carry these tropical fruit. I can buy a whole jackfruit, or a whole box of rambutans, fresh from NYC wholesalers. I even bought fresh (as opposed to frozen) durian. Plenty of these tropical fruit.
Next time you come down to MA, try H Mart in Burlington or any Asian Supermarket around Boston. You’ll be surprised.
should have said n. new england . not enough people or incentive to have tropical varieties up here. no asians per se up here either. from Bangor south you start to see more diversity. up here its 95% french acadian/ canadian. french is spoken in businesses and stores as much as english.
In Chicago land，there about 90k Chinese population, and plus indian，Philippines，Vietnamese，korean， and people from other part of Asia. Asian population is growing in big city as high tech job created in big cities. We see more and more good tasting exotic Asian fruits in regular supermarket. In fact one of local Italian grocery store sales lychees for $1.99/lb this week. What are good price.
1 Like