This Christmas, I ordered boxes of exotic fruit (and some not so exotic) for my sisters and for my family from Robert is Here in Florida. Everything in the boxes seemed to be very high quality. The mangoes were some of the best I have had, the avocados were huge and delicious, and the oranges were big and perfectly flavored. The one papaya in the box had been bruised badly in shipping, but it was ripe on arrival and tasted perfect (unfortunately Cathleen hates papaya, but that just meant more for me).
When I ordered, I asked for a variety of exotic fruits, and I was not disappointed. Some of the fruit I have seen before and not tried, and others I had never seen before.
Jamaican Tangelo
The Jamaican Tangelo, branded Ugli Fruit, is a cross amongst an orange, a tangerine and a grapefruit. It tastes most like an orange, but with some of the tartness of a grapefruit, but not the bitterness. The sections are large, and very juicy.
I skinned the sections and they were excellent in a fruit salad with some mango. Given there large size, they would make a very impressive presentation on a plate of mixed fruit.
Egg Fruit (Pouteria lucuma)
The Egg Fruit is so named because the flesh bears an uncanny resemblance to hard boiled egg yolk (which I can't assume is a desirable texture for a fruit). It is described on Wikipedia as tasting like maple and sweet potato, but that was not my experience, I thought it just tasted like slightly sweet hard boiled egg yolk. It is reportedly very nutritious, but I would need to find a way to mix it into another dish to make it appealing.
Passion Fruit
I love passion fruit. Similar to pomegranate, but more so, there is not much flesh to eat. The passion fruit is mostly juice, seeds and a little pulp. But the flavor is the height of 'sweet/tart' and screams essence of tropical fruit. One of the best margaritas I have ever had was the passion fruit margarita at Taqueria in London. After tasting my own ripe fresh passion fruit I am on a mission to find enough to make my own margaritas.
Black Sapote
The black sapote is a close relative of the persimmon, to which it is externally very similar but completely different in taste.
Some people call the black sapote the 'chocolate pudding fruit' because the flesh is vaguely similar to chocolate pudding. Given the absence of chocolate flavor, this comparison takes a bit of imagination, but the color, and to a lesser degree the texture could suggest chocolate pudding. At least if mashed and photographed, the picture might look like chocolate pudding.
I do think if pureed in a smoothie with bannana or pineapple, the black sapote would be very good. I just found that by itself it was a little more challenging.
Despite my lack of enthusiasm for a few specific types of fruit, overall I was thrilled with the fruit from Robert is Here. We polished off the orange, the pomelo, the papaya, and most of the avocado. There is one mango left, which will be enjoyed at breakfast tomorrow. My kids are already asking to order more.
