Top 5 favorite fruits (including non tropicals)

[HMHausman]

This is quite daring to say, but, I must say, any well flavored tree ripen pluots(plum x apricot), peaches(yellow & white flesh), nectarines and Japaneses plums, will rival even some of the best tasting mangoes

That statement is not daring at all.  I think it can be backed up with fruit quality and flavor 100%....so you'll get no argument from me.

[thao]

This is quite daring to say, but, I must say, any well flavored tree ripen pluots(plum x apricot), peaches(yellow & white flesh), nectarines and Japaneses plums, will rival even some of the best tasting mangoes

That statement is not daring at all.  I think it can be backed up with fruit quality and flavor 100%....so you'll get no argument from me.

It's quite a honor for such a mango enthusiast to say But Stone fruits from this part of the Ca, really is one of the best, if not "THE" best in the world.

[HMHausman]

Stone fruits from this part of the Ca, really is one of the best, if not "THE" best in the world.

Ok...now you are pushing your luck.  LOL.  I am not going to say "the best" but they are up there and can compete with the best.  On a given day, they might be the best, but not all days and not against all mangoes. 

[fruitlovers]

#1 is Durian. Just ate an exquisite durian and it knocked all the other fruits off the list. HAHA At least temporarily.
California peaches, nectarines, plums, and apricots are awesome. Only problem is California has very short time these are available. For this reason when i lived there i always yearned for summer time. But what do you do there the REST of the year?    Not a big fan of canned peaches.  And fruits shipped in from Chile just don't cut it.

[Tim]

I don't think you ever lived here at all

#1 is Durian. Just ate an exquisite durian and it knocked all the other fruits off the list. HAHA At least temporarily.
California peaches, nectarines, plums, and apricots are awesome. Only problem is California has very short time these are available. For this reason when i lived there i always yearned for summer time. But what do you do there the REST of the year?    Not a big fan of canned peaches.  And fruits shipped in from Chile just don't cut it.

[fruitlovers]

I don't think you ever lived here at all

You can think whatever you like, but that doesn't change the facts, lived in Calif. for 26 years, so most of my life!

[thao]

Stone fruits from this part of the Ca, really is one of the best, if not "THE" best in the world.

Ok...now you are pushing your luck.  LOL.  I am not going to say "the best" but they are up there and can compete with the best.  On a given day, they might be the best, but not all days and not against all mangoes. 

Darn, should have kept my mouth shut, while, I was ahead. But any tree ripen fruit, no matter where they are grown, will always taste better in season than imported from some where else. Now time to shhh and just observe

[JF]

I don't think you ever lived here at all

#1 is Durian. Just ate an exquisite durian and it knocked all the other fruits off the list. HAHA At least temporarily.
California peaches, nectarines, plums, and apricots are awesome. Only problem is California has very short time these are available. For this reason when i lived there i always yearned for summer time. But what do you do there the REST of the year?    Not a big fan of canned peaches.  And fruits shipped in from Chile just don't cut it.

y este el fruteros de Los fruteros LOL wait until Daniel reads this he'll put him place

[NYC_FruitKing]

Talk about tough choices! Here goes:

1) Persimmons (Jiro and Giant Fuyu)/Lychees
2) Figs
3) Loquats
4) Raspberries/Strawberries (Mara de Bois!)
5) Golden Kiwis

Honorable mentions and runner-ups on my list include: Cherries (especially Rainiers!), Pears (Anjou), Apples (Cripps' Pink & Stayman Winesap), Apple Bananas, Moro Blood Oranges/Satsuma Tangerines, blueberries, and redcurrants. The list could go on and on but these are my top contenders as of today.

On my wish list to try (which is another topic all in itself) there'd be:
Tsurunoko persimmons (among other PVNA vars.), Violette de Bordeaux figs (among PLENTY of other vars.), Golden Russet apples, Parfianka pomegranates (or any good soft-seeded pom for that matter), blueberries (Hannah's Choice, Spartan, Razz, Elizabeth), Sugarloaf pineapples, notable dragonfruit/opuntia/cereus/stenocereus cactus fruits, good misc. kiwi/hardy kiwi varieties, jujubes, a well-ripened loquat, and ditto for peaches. Just thinking of everything I'd love to try in it's best quality is making my head spin..

But really, mangoes are first place overall? Considering how I've almost never gotten the chance to eat fruit well-ripened and fresh off the plant, I'm not surprised my favorites aren't as tropically-oriented as most of your guys' lists; pineapples, mangoes, avocados, mangosteen, dragonfruit, etc. i've only ever eaten store-bought, and the quality was only ever moderate to disappointing, and never worth the money or the effort to get them. The only fruits on my list i've ever eaten fresh off the plant are raspberries and red currants, unless you want to count wild blueberries and strawberries I'm on a serious mission to grow (and especially eat!!) any and all fruit worth the time and effort to grow, and amass a collection of the best

[Tropicaliste]

1 being best, 5 being least best
Tropical:
1. Lanzones, when they're not bitter
2. Banana(tree ripened)
3. Rambutan, rongrien
4. Jackfruit, deep orange
5. Young Coconut
(5.5 Mangosteen)

Temperate:
1. White Peach
2. Strawberry
3. Plum
4. Kyoho Grape
5. Nashi Pear

honorable mentions: mangoes, lychees, longans(at peak season), soursop, pineapple, and "sumo" oranges.

Obviously I failed at the directions. lol

[AnnonAddict]

Hard decision!

My top five tropical fruits(no particular order):

1) Jaboticaba

2) Soursop

3) Rollinia

4) Quenepa

5) Durian

And for temperate fruits(no particular order):

1) Peach

2) Plum

3) Wild Strawberries(Fragaria vesca)

4) Cantaloupe

5) Watermelon

Phil, I failed the directions a lot more worse than you... LOL... 

[LEOOEL]

Tropicals: Mango, Lychee, Peach (thank you UF), Jackfruit, Avocado

Temperate: Persimmon (specifically the astringent one that's bell shaped with a beautiful orange-red color and that has a refreshing great taste; it would be great if UF also developed these into low chill hours for Zone 10 in South Florida)

[fruitlovers]

Tropicals: Mango, Lychee, Peach (thank you UF), Jackfruit, Avocado

Temperate: Persimmon (specifically the astringent one that's bell shaped with a beautiful orange-red color and that has a refreshing great taste; it would be great if UF also developed these into low chill hours for Zone 10 in South Florida)

You're probably referring to Hachiya persimmon.

[zands]

But really, mangoes are first place overall? Considering how I've almost never gotten the chance to eat fruit well-ripened and fresh off the plant, I'm not surprised my favorites aren't as tropically-oriented as most of your guys' lists; pineapples, mangoes, avocados, mangosteen, dragonfruit, etc. i've only ever eaten store-bought, and the quality was only ever moderate to disappointing, and never worth the money or the effort to get them. The only fruits on my list i've ever eaten fresh off the plant are raspberries and red currants, unless you want to count wild blueberries and strawberries I'm on a serious mission to grow (and especially eat!!) any and all fruit worth the time and effort to grow, and amass a collection of the best

Unfortunately it is all true.... that tree ripe back yard mangoes are 10x better than what you can get in NY. Tropical fruits do not travel well. Avocados do. Those mangoes you see with an alluring red blush are the biggest travesty. Smaller yellow mangoes have a better chance of being good in NYC

Here in Florida I can get great cherries from the NW. They travel well and so do apples and other Northern fruits if you are selective about what you buy. Plums get here in good shape and can be very sweet. Peaches and apricots are soft so are problematic. Grapes can make it here sweet depending on when picked

[gunnar429]

Whole foods usually has green/yellow mangoes from haiti ( i think they're madame francis) that i think taste pretty good....nothing like coming to FL in June/July, but WAAAAYYY better than Tommy Atkins!   The champagne (ataulfo) mangoes are pretty good as well, compared to TA or nothing. 

[bsbullie]

Zands - you have obviously never visited the northeast or northwest during apple and pear season.  What you are buying in the grocery store or anywhere down here in SFla is pure crap.  I lived there growing up and worked in the orchards.  My friends family owned an apple orchard, growing so many varieties it would make your head spin.  Going out in the orchard and plucking a tree ripe apple off and eating it, nothing like it.  The apples that were picked for shipping or for use over the year for after the season sat stored in a gas controlled cooler.  How do you think you get apples from a location when they are out of season?  Same goes for pears.  And plums, what you buy here should not even be allowed to be called a plum.

with all of these fruits, it is truly the same as comparing a home grown mango to a store bought fruit that is passed off as a mango.

[fruitlovers]

Totally agree with Rob. I didn't even like apples tell i tasted one straight off a tree at an apple orchard. It was in Ramona, California. They were growing some Winesap apples. Usually these are used to make cider and are not seen for eating out of hand at markets. But i still remember their taste. Was incredibly good! Like, holy cow! That's an apple? I once saw Winesap apples here imported from California. Had to try them, and while good they didn't knock my socks off like the fresh ones from the tree.

[kgknight]

I grew up in ct and I can say that the apples I get here from the store in fl don't hold a candle to the farm fresh apples from an orchard. I miss those apples but we have a lot more variety in terms of what we can grow down here. 

[HMHausman]

I am going to have to say that I agree more with Zands on the apple question than I do with Rob or Oscar.  I have eaten freshly picked apples in the northeast and the northwest.  They are great...no doubt and the varieties are obviously much greater than what we have access to here in South Florida.  However, I do buy and enjoy apples that I buy here in Florida I am sure considerably more than a mango buyer would enjoy a mango purchased in the northeast or northwest.  I don't think there is any question that apples hold up for shipment a whole lot better than do mangoes. I eat about 6 apples a day on average (except during mango season).  Yes, I am trying a new twist on the "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" adage.  I am thinking six apples a day will keep six doctors away. Anyway, you can certainly get crappy apples here......especially those that are cold stored.  However, I have found that apples that are shipped in their season arrive in good condition and are reasonably representative of the apples that I have picked myself in New York Sate, New Jersey, Washington State and in Quebec. So either you guys are not buying the right apples here or I was picking the wrong apples there.

[Future]

1. Mango
2. Jackfruit
3. Abiu
4. Soursop
5. Custard Apple

[fruitlovers]

I am going to have to say that I agree more with Zands on the apple question than I do with Rob or Oscar.  I have eaten freshly picked apples in the northeast and the northwest.  They are great...no doubt and the varieties are obviously much greater than what we have access to here in South Florida.  However, I do buy and enjoy apples that I buy here in Florida I am sure considerably more than a mango buyer would enjoy a mango purchased in the northeast or northwest.  I don't think there is any question that apples hold up for shipment a whole lot better than do mangoes. I eat about 6 apples a day on average (except during mango season).  Yes, I am trying a new twist on the "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" adage.  I am thinking six apples a day will keep six doctors away. Anyway, you can certainly get crappy apples here......especially those that are cold stored.  However, I have found that apples that are shipped in their season arrive in good condition and are reasonably representative of the apples that I have picked myself in New York Sate, New Jersey, Washington State and in Quebec. So either you guys are not buying the right apples here or I was picking the wrong apples there.

The second: you were picking the wrong apples there. There are so many high quality gourmet and heirloom apple cultivars that you can't get at the store, just like you ain't gonna get no Maha Chanok at any super market any day soon.
Don't think anyone is going to argue that apples don't store better than mangos. But apples are often stored a whole lot longer than mangos, as in weeks or months. Any fruit stored looses quality over time...the longer the storage the more quality is lost.

[NaturalGreenthumb]

1. Feijoa / pineapple guava
2. Mangosteen
3. Logan
4. Cherimoya
5. Sugar cane drink
6. Rose apple
7. Cape gooseberry
8. Kumquats
9. Passion fruit
10. Pomegranate   

[ClayMango]

What the heck!!!! Mangos and cherimoyas aren't even making the list....I think I may have jumped the gun on my recent 11 mango tree purchase

[zands]

What the heck!!!! Mangos and cherimoyas aren't even making the list....I think I may have jumped the gun on my recent 11 mango tree purchase

Go back to where this thread starts and mangoes & lychees dominate. People are just trying to be creative.

[bangkok]

What the heck!!!! Mangos and cherimoyas aren't even making the list....I think I may have jumped the gun on my recent 11 mango tree purchase

Probably does people have never ever tasted a real good mango? How can you prefer a soursop or guave above a mango?? Or maybe i have never tasted those soursops or guave myself? The ones i did taste sure were not in my top 5.