Resembling a straight banana with rounded ends, this passion fruit prefers a cooler and less humid environment than others, when it will produce dozens of large, bright yellow fruits which usually hang, hidden, deep within the foliage of the plant, the vines sometimes having the tendency to fall down to the ground with the great weight of the fruit. These are ripe when they are easily pulled from the vine, the interior being a deep, dark orange. Unlike the more common passifloras, this is quite sweet, and when very ripe can be eaten out of hand. It is native to the Andes, and is found wild in Venezuela, Columbia, Peru, and Bolivia at high altitudes up to 5400 to 10,500 feet. In warmer climes the bright pink flowers, which bloom continuously throughout the year, attract hummingbirds, as well as being a favourite food of the butterflies. ... Learn More

Clusters of starry flowers later become bizarre fruits, which are usually oval in shape and at first green before turning yellow then almost white as they ripen, with a vague resemblance in shape to truffles and with a strong smell and sometimes bitter taste. This unusual tree from the coffee family has a native range extending through south east Asia and Australasia. One of the many uses for Morinda citrifolia is for its medicinal properties, in fact, for many cultures in Burma and Australia this fruit is a vital part of their diet. Polynesian healer used this plant for thousands of years to prepare effective remedies to various health challenges. In addition, the bark produces a brownish-purplish dye for batik-makin dyeing. In a study in Costa Rica, looking at its anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects, it reduced inflammation in rats significantly due to the presence of flavonoids, coumarins, iridoids and vitamin C! We cannot guarantee these effects in humans though........ ... Learn More

Carica Papaya, the Papaya, Pawpaw or Fruta Bomba, is a fruit tree that comes from sub-humid tropical regions of South America and Central America, especially Mexico, where, in the open ground it often reaches up to 8 meters high and 4 meters wide. These trees can make extremely attractive specimens with palmed leaves when grown in a large pot indoors. The succulent yellow and green fruits, with yellow-orange pulp and weighing up to 1kg, grow attached to the trunk. Although there are now hybrids that can have both sexes, the male trees have cream flowers whilst the female trees have white-yellowish flowers. ... Learn More

These new, rare and absolutely delightful, small Central American fruits look like tiny watermelons but taste of cucumber with a hint of citrus fruit. They can be grown like regular cucumbers and can be trained up canes or wires but are quite pest resistant, hardy enough to grow well outside, drought resistant and contain male and female flowers. Pick the fruit when still firm to the touch. ... Learn More

Clusters of beautiful, deepest blood-red flowers bloom from the trunk, often in great number toward the bottom of the tree. These are followed by impressive clumps of attractive, slightly multi-lobed, oblong fruits, which have a pale green waxy skin, and crunchy flesh, very similar to the star fruit, a single tree often producing hundreds and hundreds of fruits. This is essentially a tropical tree, less resistant to cold than the carambola, in Florida, where it is an occasional curiosity, it prefers protection from wind and cold. It has countless other uses, including being used either curried, or added as a souring agent for the common Filipino dish sinigang. The uncooked bilimbi is often prepared as relish, and served with rice and beans in Costa Rica. In the Far East where it originated, it is occasionally added to curry. The juice is also made into a cooling beverage, and in Indonesia it is added to some dishes as a substitute for tamarind or tomato. Additionally, the fruit can be preserved by pickling,which reduces its acidity, and finally the flowers can also be preserved in sugar. Some fruit! ... Learn More

"Dragon Fruits" are the fruits of the exotic "PITAHAYA" cactus. This plant can be grown as an ornamental plant indoors, or outside in hot countries, where it will put forth large fragrant white flowers. These in turn produce an almost endless supply of attractive, grapefruit-sized red fruits, with numerous, rather fascinating, tiny, green-tipped, red 'wings'. When the soft, rubbery, inedible skin is cut open, the attractively contrasting, delicately-flavoured white flesh, studded with tiny edible black seeds is revealed, rather similar to "Kiwi Fruits". These incredibly healthy fruits contain generous servings of vitamin C, along with numerous antioxidants, and are sold in Supermarkets in the UK at very high prices. ... Learn More

The sizeable tasty yellow fruits are usually round or oval with thick skins, and can be eaten raw or are often bottled in syrup. The seeds are small, with thick flesh, a sweet scent, and a sweet or sour skin. There are two main groups of cultivars, duku and langsat and also mixed duku-langsat varieties. Some parts of the plant can be used in making traditional medicine. The bitter seeds can be pounded, and mixed with water to make a deworming and ulcer medication. The bark is also used to treat dysentery and malaria, and powdered can also be used to treat scorpion stings. In the Philippines the dried skin is burned as a mosquito repellent and also burned as incense. ... Learn More

This spiny, football-sized fruit with the divinely custardy flesh is as much a cultural icon as it is a treasured and eagerly anticipated food. It has been called "hell on the outside and heaven on the inside." Some people regard the Durian as having a pleasantly sweet fragrance; others find the aroma overpowering and unpleasant. The persistence of its odour has led to the fruit's banishment from many hotels and even public transportation in Southeast Asia. The trees themselves are pollinated by bats, and three to four months later, the fruit, each weighing several pounds, plummets down, already reeking with its characteristic aroma. Because of the short duration of its tasty ripeness, durians are expensive, and only by smell can one determine whether a durian is truly ripe. All parts of the durian tree are used in folk medicine, and the flesh itself is regarded as an aphrodisiac. The enormous and extremely valuable fresh seeds are very rarely available, but these are imported to us on a regular basis from Indonesia. ... Learn More

Attractive, frilly flowers mature into guava fruits, which may be round, ovoid or pear-shaped, 2 to 4 inches long, and are commonly used in jams and juices. A series of tests on Indian fruits, including Himalayan apples and pomegranates, bananas from the south, and grapes from Maharashtra, found the guava, (exotic in Europe but a poor man's fruit in India), to be the ultimate super food with the highest concentration of antioxidants which protects against the cell damage that often ages skin! From seed, common guavas may bloom and set fruit in as little as 2 years. They are evergreen, faintly fragrant, and growth, in California for example, is rarely over 10 - 12 feet. The bark is smooth, mottled green or reddish brown and peels off in thin flakes to reveal the attractive "bony" aspect of its trunk. Guavas can bloom throughout the year in mild-winter areas, but the heaviest bloom occurs with the onset of warm weather in the spring. And if the tops of the trees are frozen, they usually sprout from the ground and are back in production in 2-3 years! ... Learn More

Purple fruit, 3–4 cm in diameter, with one to four large seeds, have white, sweet, juicy pulp, closely resembling grapes, and with a similar flavour, which can be eaten raw or be used to make jellies and drinks (plain juice or wine). They are borne directly on the main trunks and branches of the tree, giving a distinctive and very odd-looking appearance. They do well in tropical and subtropical climates, but will survive temperatures as low as 22-27F, even when young. They make attractive conservatory plants if grown in a large pot. They are native to the Minas Gerais region of Brazil, spreading into Bolivia, Paraguay, and Northern Argentina. Fresh seeds are very rarely obtainable. ... Learn More

Sprays of orange flowers mature to bunches of white to slightly yellow coloured fruit, with a crunchy, juicy, acidic flavoured pulp, which are borne in great abundance. The Malay Gooseberry is tropical or subtropical, and can take several degrees of frost for brief periods of time, two fruiting cycles occurring per year, and depending on the climate, trees can produce occasionally throughout the year. Often the fruit is cooked with sugar, upon which the pulp and juice turns bright red, common uses for the resulting fruit mixture are for beverages and sauces. It is native to Madagascar, but was spread long ago by humans throughout much of India, south east Asia, some Pacific islands, the Caribbean region and Central and South America. ... Learn More

The gorgeous round fruits of the Melon pear are cream skinned with purple streaks and have deliciously sweet and juicy flesh which is a succulent mixture of honeydew melon and cucumber. It is grown in a manner similar to its relatives such as the tomato, although it grows naturally upright by habit, and can thus be grown as a free-standing bush. Supports are sometimes used to keep the heavy crop of fruit from pulling the plant down. It has a fast growth rate, bearing fruit within 4 to 6 months after planting, and seeds are rarely produced in the UK. Although it is strictly a perennial, making a sizeable shrub, it is often cultivated as an annual, the attractive fruit often being seen in markets in Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru and Chile. ... Learn More

These lovely fruits need no description, being one of the healthiest foods you can eat, providing roughage as well as being sweet and juicy, so people in warmer countries can soon have a long-lived fruit tree in their garden! These plants also make attractive indoor container plants for growers in colder climates. ... Learn More

The "Custard apple tree" or Graviola is native to the Caribbean and Central America but is now widely cultivated in tropical climates throughout the world. From bright yellow flowers grow dark green, prickly fruits with soft bristles, which are egg-shaped and up to 30 centimetres long. The firm, white, tasty, juicy flesh is aromatic and is eaten and used as an ingredient in many foods and beverages, and processed soursop is widely available as a concentrate. In addition this is also one of the most commonly used medicinal plants in the Caribbean, with almost miraculous healing properties attributed to it. ... Learn More

Sweet, spiky-shelled, lychee-like fruits are produced twice a year, yielding crops in August and January. Growing seasons vary, however, in all of the tropical countries where it flourishes. Truly tropical, Rambutan trees love warm, humid climates, but also make perfect potted plants for indoors, although for non-tropical areas they can cope with temperatures down to 10 °C in the open. They are grown commercially within 12–15° of the equator where they do best in deep soil, clay loam or sandy loam rich in organic matter, and thrive on hilly terrain as they require good drainage. Fresh seeds and rarely available. ... Learn More