Guide to Exotic Fruits
Asian Pear
The oldest known cultivated pear, the fragrant Asian pear dates to 1100 B.C. It is very juice, crisp and slightly sweet. Color ranges from green to yellow to brown. Select firm fruit. Refrigerate three to four weeks.
Uses: Eat out of hand, add to fruit salads, bake like apples.
Cactus Pear
Also called a prickly pear, this sweet, somewhat bland berry has a melon-like aroma and small, hard seeds. It comes from a variety of cactuses and ranges in color from green to purplish-red. Buy firm, ripen at room temperature up to two days, then refrigerate up to three days. Take care with the prickles.
Uses: Carefully peel the skin, slice or cut lengthwise, and scoop out seeds with a spoon. Serve cold. Use in marmalades, jelly, ice cream or dessert toppings and blended drinks.
Cherimoya
Also called a custard apple, this tropical fruit is native to Central and South America and has creamy white pulp with large, black, almond-shaped seeds. Its flavor resembles a delicate cross between a pineapple, papaya and banana. Select blemish and bruise-free fruit, ripen at room temperature until soft, and then refrigerate, well wrapped, up to four days. Serve well chilled.
Uses: Slice it in half, remove seeds and scoop out flesh with a spoon. Add to tropical fruit salads, puree for fruit drinks or use as a topping for ice cream or pudding.
Guava
Skin color varies from yellow to green to pink. Flesh may be pale yellow to bright red. It tastes sweet to sour, so eat only when very ripe. Choose tender fruit with some yellow; store at room temperature until soft. Refrigerate up to two days.
Uses: Enjoy alone or use in jams, jellies, sauces or deserts.
Kiwano Horned Melon
Grown in New Zealand but originally from tropical Africa, these spiked melons with edible seeds have jelly-like pulp and a sweet-tart flavor evocative of bananas and cucumbers. Select fruit free of bruises and splits; store at room temperature up to two weeks. At peak ripeness, it turns golden orange.
Uses: Slice into wedges or cut in half lengthwise and eat directly from shell with a spoon. Use shell as a serving dish for ice cream topped with the pulp or for fruit dips.
Korean Melon
This bright, yellow and white ribbed gourd has white, crispy flesh arid is aromatic. Choose firm, symmetrical melons with good rind color and a dull, waxy texture. Store uncut melons up to five days at room temperature. Wrap cut melons in plastic and refrigerate up to three days.
Uses: Eat fresh in wedges or cube and add to fruit salads. Use as a garnish or serve with ice cream.
Kumquats
These miniature orange "footballs" are entirely edible, with a sweet skin and tart pulp. Choose firm, glossy fruit and store at room temperature up to two days, then refrigerate up to two weeks.
Uses: Enjoy whole, or slice into salads or desserts.
Manzano Banana
These short, chubby bananas have a mild strawberry-apple flavor. They develop peak flavor when fully black. Select fruit relatively free of blemishes and ripen at room temperature until soft.
Uses: Enjoy alone, add to fruit salads or use in recipes calling for bananas.
Passion Fruit
Native to Brazil, this is the largest berry around. Its leathery, purple-brown skin becomes brittle and wrinkled when ripe. The yellowish, jelly-like pulp has a lemony, tart flavor and contains many small, black edible seeds. Select one heavy for is size; pulp is ripe when skin is wrinkled. Refrigerate up to one week.
Uses: Cut fruit in half and scoop out pulp with a spoon. Use to top ice cream or add to blended drinks.
Plantain
Classified as a fruit, but mostly served as a vegetable side dish. Cooked green, plantains have a starchy taste with no banana overtones. Cooked ripe, they have a sweet banana taste with a cheesy, gummy texture. Select firm; do not refrigerate until ripe. To peel plantains, cut off ends. Cut slit lengthwise through inner curve of skin. Cut crosswise into one-half inch rounds and, beginning at slit, pry off skin.
Uses: When green, bake, slice, fry or add to soups and stews. When more yellow, bake or sauté and add brown sugar, cinnamon or dash of lemon juice.
Sharon Persimmon
Grown in China and Japan since ancient times, this fruit is pale orange to brilliant orange-red and is nearly seedless. It has a sweet, mild flavor. Store in a cool place; use within a month. Blemishes or black spots on the skin do not affect the interior. Refrigerate ripe fruit up to three days.
Uses: Eat like an apple or in a riper stage, sliced and added to fruit salads or desserts.
Starfruit
Also known as carambola, it resembles a star when sliced crosswise. When ripe, the skin turns a thin, glossy yellow with brown spots along the ridges indicating sugar development. Flavor ranges from tangy sweetness to lemon tartness and the fruit can be eaten in its entirety. Store at room temperature until ripe, then refrigerate in covered container.
Uses: Slice and enjoy. Add to fruit salad or use in jellies, tarts and drinks.
Recipes:
Guava Jam
Ingredients
8 cups guavas, variable in degree of ripeness
8 cups sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
Directions
Cut the fruit in half. Place in a pan with a little water and cook until soft.
Strain the fruit, leaving behind the seeds and skins.
Add the sugar and the lemon juice and bring to the boil. Steadily boil until you achieve the setting test for jam.
Bottle and seal.
Note: You may need less sugar when using yellow guavas.
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Asian Pears with Vanilla-Poached Kumquats
Ingredients:
1/2 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 pound kumquats (about 20) ends trimmed, sliced crosswise 1/3-inch thick and seeded)
3 pounds Asian pears (four large) peeled, cored and sliced lengthwise one-quarter inch thick
Directions:
Scrape seeds from vanilla bean into water with lime juice in small heavy saucepan, the add pod, sugar and pinch of salt. Bring to boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved, then simmer three minutes. Add kumquats and simmer, covered, until they just begin to soften, three to four minutes.
Place pears in a heat-safe bowl. Pour kumquats and syrup over pears and toss gently, then cool. Chill fruit, covered, at least two hours. Fruit can be chilled up to one day.
Recipe makes six servings.
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Kiwano Horned Melon Lemonade
Ingredients:
One horned melon, halved
2/3 to 3/4 cup sugar
Two lemons, thinly sliced
4 cups water
Ice cubes
Directions:
Halve melons lengthwise; scoop out pulp and seeds. In blender or food processor fitted with metal blade, process to puree. Strain out seeds. Turn strained mixture into medium saucepan; add sugar to taste, lemon slices and water. Bring mixture to boil; remove from heat. Pour into heat-safe pitcher or container; cover and chill. To serve, pour over ice into tall glasses.
Recipe makes 4-1/3 cups.
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Horned Melon and Lime Mousse
Ingredients:
2 kiwano horned melons
3 tablespoons lime juice
Grated peel of 1 lime
2/3 cup sugar
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1 cup whipping cream, whipped
2 egg whites, stiffly beaten
Few drops green food coloring (optional)
Lime slices, horned melon slices or fresh mint sprigs for garnish
Directions:
Cut the melons into halves lengthwise. Use a grapefruit knife or small sharp knife to scoop out the pulp. Spoon the pulp into a blender or food processor container. Process until pureed. Strain out and discard the seeds and pulp, reserving the juice. Chill the shells, if desired, to use later for serving containers.
Stir together the melon juice, lime juice, lime peel, sugar and gelatin in a small saucepan. Let stand five minutes. Then heat over medium heat for about 2 minutes, stirring until the gelatin is dissolved. Remove from the heat. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes or until it is partially set; mixture will be the consistency of beaten egg whites.
Fold in the whipped cream, egg whites and food coloring. Spoon into a medium bowl. Chill, covered, for several hours or until firm. Serve in six-footed dessert dishes or in reserved melon shells. Garnish with slices of lime and horned melon or mint sprigs.
Recipe makes four servings.
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Platanos Maduros (Fried Sweet Plantains)
Ingredients:
Three to four ripe or very ripe plantains
1/3 to 1/2 cup olive oil
Directions:
Cut ends from plantains and peel fruit. Diagonally cute plantains into one-half inch thick slices. In large non-stick skillet, heat 1/3-cup oil over moderately high heat until hot, but not smoking. Sauté plantains in batches, without crowding, until golden brown, one to two minutes on each side (or longer if you prefer caramelized consistency), adding more oil to skillet as necessary. With spatula transfer plantains as sauteed to paper towels to drain and season with salt if desired.
Recipe makes four to six servings as a side dish.
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Cherimoya-Pineapple Sorbet
Ingredients:
Four ripe cherimoyas
2 cups shopped fresh pineapple
1 cup raspberries or strawberries, hulled
1 to 2 tablespoons sugar
Directions:
Halve cherimoyas. Scoop out pulp; remove seeds. In blender or food processor fitted with metal blade, process pulp until smooth. Fold in pineapple; turn mixture into 9 x 9 x 2-inch pan. Cover; place in freezer several hours or until almost firm. Break up frozen mixture with fork; place in chilled medium bowl. Beat mixture just until frothy; turn back into pan. Cover and freeze several hours or until almost firm. Prepare berry sauce in food processor fitted with metal blade or blender: Place raspberries or strawberries and sugar to taste in blender or processor. Cover and process until smooth. If using raspberries, press mixture through strainer to remove seeds.
Recipe makes about 1-cup.
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Tropical Prickly Pear Mousse
This recipe adds cactus pears (also known as prickly pears) to canned pineapple juice to create an intriguing mousse. Do not substitute fresh pineapple juice; that will prevent the gelatin from setting up.
Ingredients:
One envelope (1/4 ounce) non-flavored gelatin (1 tablespoon)
3/4 cup canned pineapple juice or water
Four prickly pears
1/3 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
Dash salt
1 cup whipping cream, whipped
Directions:
In medium saucepan, sprinkle gelatin over pineapple juice or water; let stand five minutes. To peel prickly pears, wear protective gloves. Using tongs to hold fruit, slice off both ends of fruit. Slit fruit lengthwise and lift out pulp. Chop pulp. In blender or food processor fitted with metal blade, process pulp until liquefied. Strain out seeds. Stir liquid into gelatin mixture with sugar, almond extract and salt.
Cook and stir five minutes over medium heat to dissolve gelatin. Place in refrigerator; chill one hour until mixture mounds when dropped from spoon. With rubber spatula or whisk, fold in whipped cream until blended (do not stir). Spoon into four dessert dishes or long-stemmed goblets; chill several hours or until firm.
Recipe makes four servings.
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Kumquats
Ingredients:
1 pound ripe kumquats
2 cups white sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Directions:
Wash kumquats and cover with water in a non-aluminum saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Add sugar and cinnamon, return to a boil and cook for five minutes. Remove from heat and drain.
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Manzano Banana Cake
Ingredients:
1-1/4 pounds Manzano Bananas
1 cup sugar
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons butter melted
7 slices sandwich bread
Directions:
Slice the bananas diagonally and sprinkle with half the sugar. Cook the remaining sugar in coconut milk until dissolved, then add the vanilla. Remove the crusts from the bread, and soak the bread in the sweetened coconut milk.
Butter a 12-inch non-stick pan. Arrange a layer or banana on the bottom of the pan. Cover with a layer of bread, then another layer of banana, another layer of bread, and so on, finishing with a layer of bananas. Drizzle the remaining butter over the top, then cover with foil and bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Let rest for approximately 12 hours before cutting.
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Passion Fruit Freeze
Ingredients:
2 cups orange sherbet
1 cup milk
3 Passion fruit
Directions:
Cut open three passion fruit and scoop pulp and seeds into the milk. Stir with a fork to extract the juice from the pulp. Strain into blender. Add the sherbet and blend for 15 seconds or just until all the sherbet is smooth. Pour the passion freeze into a tall, chilled glass. If available, place a sprig of mint on top and serve immediately.
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Baked Sweet Plantains
Ingredients:
4 very ripe plantains (black)
1 cup (low fat) milk
1/2 cup sugar or brown sugar
4 tablespoons margarine
Directions:
Peel plantains, place them in a baking dish and pour the milk
and sugar over them. Spread one tablespoon of margarine over the
top of each plantain. Bake at 400 for about 1/2 hour.
Microwave: Cut off the ends of the unpeeled plantains and
place them on a microwave-safe plate. Place a moist paper
towel over them and microwave on high for about eight minutes
or until the skin opens up. Let cool and then peel. Place
them in a microwave-safe baking dish and pour the milk and
sugar over them. Spread one tablespoon of margarine over the top
of each plantain. Microwave on high for about 12 minutes.
Serve as a side dish (like candied yams).
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Persimmon Pudding (Sharon Fruit)
Ingredients:
2 cups persimmon pulp
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Directions:
Combine persimmon pulp, sugar, butter and eggs and mix well.
Combine dry ingredients and add alternately with milk and buttermilk and mix well.
Pour batter into a greased 9 x 12-inch pan and bake at 325 for one hour.
Chill and serve with whipped topping.
Defat: Use your favorite sugar and egg substitutes. Use low fat milk and substitute light half-and-half or low-fat (buttermilk) for the buttermilk.
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Starfruit Muffins
Ingredients:
1 stick butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon molasses
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup quick oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup chopped starfruit (carambola)
1/4 cup flaked coconut
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
12 slices starfruit
Confectioners sugar to dust on top
12 muffin cup papers
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375-degrees. In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugar with beater until fluffy. Add molasses and eggs; beat until well blended.
In medium bowl, combine flours, oats, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. With a wooden spoon, stir flour mixture into butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Fold in chopped starfruit, coconut, and orange peel.
Divide batter into paper-lined muffin cups, filling each two-thirds full. Top each cup with one starfruit slice. Bake muffins 20 to 25 minutes or until they're golden brown and spring back when pressed lightly. Cool on rack five minutes; remove from pan and dust lightly with confectioner's sugar.
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Starfruit and Strawberries
Ingredients:
2 Starfruit
1/4 cup sugar
2 cup strawberries, cut in half
3/4-cup champagne or sparkling catawba grape juice
Directions:
Cut starfruit crosswise into 1/4-inch slices. Sprinkle with sugar. Let stand 30 minutes. Spoon starfruit and strawberries into six dessert dishes. Pour champagne over fruit.
Recipe makes six servings.
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