The deep purplish-crimson-colored BANANA BLOSSOM is used as a vegetable from Sri Lanka to Laos. The flower is borne at the end of the stem. Long, slender, sterile male flowers with a faint sweet fragrance are lined up in tidy rows and protected by large reddish bracts. Higher up the stem are groups of female…
No one tasting Bread Fruit for the first time is likely to dispute that it is an acquired taste (and texture). Bread Fruit is used almost exclusively as a vegetable, generally when wholly or partly green. When completely green, the raw Bread Fruit is hard and starchy, like a raw potato when slightly ripe, the…
‘He was a brave man who first ate an oyster’, goes the old saying. Well, a man that brave pales in comparison to the man who first ate a DURIAN. Banned from most airlines for their sewer-reminiscent odor, durians originated in Malaysia or Borneo and have always been considered, for reasons beyond our ken, an…
Sometimes, it’ s a little difficult to work bright green into the color scheme of a presentation. Well, Gold Kiwi brings a completely different color and flavor (beautiful yellow-gold and a bit of a mango taste with hints of melon) to salads and recipes. It is quite sweet, very juicy. Gold Kiwi has a smoother,…
This beautiful Passion Fruit variety is very similar to the common Purple variety. It doesn’t wrinkle up when it’ s ripe but its pulp is rich, sweet, tangy and flavorful…like a tropical real fruit Sweet Tart!
Jack Fruit originated in India and is the world’ s largest tree fruit, and can weigh up to 40 kilograms. The skin of the fruitis light green, deepening to yellow-brown when ripe, and covered in hard, knobby spines. Inside, the fruit is divided into numerous segments (pericarps) which are encased in stringy, white tissue of…
Native to China, India and Indonesia, Carambola is also known as starfruit, thanks to its appearance when sliced cross-wise. The preferred way of eating them in tropical countries is half-ripe, dipped into or lightly sprinkled with salt. The Carambola’ s skin is very thin and shiny, and the fruit needs only to be washed, not…
One taste of these small Tahitian Pineapples sent us scrambling for our refractometer. Our palates were dead on…these little gems registered a strong 16. Flown to us from Tahiti via New Zealand, these Pineapples will have you reaching for sunscreen, and a second helping. Tahitian Pineapples are so sweet that they are best appreciated when…
Two schools of thought have emerged regarding the origin of watermelon: Some historians posit India as the place of origin, and others believe this very popular melon is native to Africa. Yellow Seedless Watermelon have bright yellow flesh and a more delicate (some might say dull) flavor than the red-fleshed varieties. Like all seedless watermelon…
A native of the Japanese island Okinawa, the Okinawa Sweet Potato with its light brown skin and unusual purple flesh is richly nutritious and surprisingly sweet. Scientifically classified as a yam, this root vegetable is a staple among the people of Okinawa and Hawaii, and has surpassed the popularity of the ordinary yam due to…
As he searched for an appreciative market for his old variety tree ripe Peaches, David “Mas” Masumoto kept thinking about the Nectarines of his youth. He remembered them as incredibly juicy and intensely flavorful with a great balance of high sugar and high acid. The memory haunted and inspired him. Mas’s late father was pretty…
Everyone knows the story of Jack and the Beanstalk however few people know about the Good Mother Stallard Bean! Glenn Drowns reintroduced this heirloom variety and has brought excitement to cooking with legumes. The pod is a buttercream color and inside rests 3 to 4 beans. The Good Mother Stallard beans are a deep maroon…
The Spitzenburg Apple is aromatic revealing its sweetness simply by holding it up to your nose. Spitzenburgs have a distinctive and persuasive smell when opening the box, slicing, eating and especially when baking the Apple. These Apples are greatly desired for baking pastries and pies because of their rich and sharp sweetness and their fragrance…
The Warren Pear is a deliciously sweet and juicy Pear. This variety was discovered by Thomas Oscar Warren as outside of a post office in Mississippi. The origin prior to his discovery is unknown and people have fallen in love with the delectable flavor and mysterious history. Warren’s are soft and lack the grittiness of…
This Pepper mix has various varieties and colors such as Toro De Oro, Lipstick, Pimento, and Bell with colors of red, orange, yellow, and purple. They have thick walls making for a great crunch when eaten raw. The sizes range from medium to large sized Peppers, some being round and others being elongated and pointed…
This pepper is celebrated annually at the Espelette Pepper Festival in the Basque region of France. The peppers are harvested in September and hung across balconies to dry out and simultaneously decorate the town for the festival in early October. Espelette Peppers are a deep red and when dried turn to a maroon- red color….
The official name of this pepper is The Jimmy Nardello Sweet Italian Frying Pepper. The pepper is named after Jimmy Nardello, the man who brought the seeds over from Southern Italy in 1887 and donated the rest of his seeds just before his death in 1983. This vibrantly red pepper is characteristically unique because of…
Torpedo Onions received their name from their elongated bulb, resembling a torpedo. They are a sweet onion that comes from the Mediterranean and is very popular for Italian cuisine. The bulb is reddish-purple and has a mildly sweet flavor and tender texture. This variety is great eating raw and when cooked the Torpedo Onion is…
Young Ginger is the original Ginger used to make “Gari”, pickled Ginger featured with sushi dishes. It has the same shape as traditional Ginger but it is much less fibrous and offers plump texture with juicy flavor. Young Ginger is mild and able to be eaten raw. When thinly sliced the color is almost translucent…
The Black Twig Apple is a tart, tangy apple that is perfect for desserts and for making cider. The Apple’s skin is light yellow, green with faint brushes of red. The flesh is soft yellow and dense. Black Twigs’ body brings tannic acids to sweet or hard ciders for the perfect kick. This variety is…
