What tropical fruits impress normal people?

[lycheeluva]

fruit hunters is an amazing book- in my top 5 books ive ever read and definitly my fave fruit book.

harry, its funny that you recounted the story of the jamaican lady relishing the soursop- i had the exact same experience with an office colleague from the carribean. i gave her a cherimoya and her eyes lit up- "Soursop! I love you Gerry". I tried to explain that it was a Cherimoya but her face was buried inside the cherimoya making such noises of enjoyment and pleasure.

[Pancrazio]

I won't never forget my first taste of a proprely ripen Kensington Pride mango. After the first bite i was hooked in a unbelievable way. For few weeks, while it was avaiable, i have been spending a lot of time searching in it groceries in my city.
After this i supposed that other people who don't appreciate mangos or other tropicals were simply unaware of their awesomeness... well, i was wrong. 
The few tasting experiences i have done with some friend of mine haven't given the same results. Nobody was blown away like i were.
This bring to my point: what make me different from some of my friends?
Well, i think that there are maybe 2 point.
First, i think some appreciation is situational. I mean, that maybe it is somewhat related on what your body needs on a particular phase of your life, or season, but i see my appreciation of fruit/vegetables vary a lot from year to year. And this happens even with vegetable that aren't complex enough to have some variation from year to year (let's say chickpeas, for example). Maybe, i think, many people that tasted the fruit i gave them weren't in "the right time".
Second, I think that taste is a very complex element. It suffers a lot of cultural factors, as pointed in previous messages, but it also must be trained. Some years ago i attended a class to learn wine tasting, and this changed a lot of things for me when i'm approaching to food. You can learn to appreciate the complexity even of something you don't like very much: this because something really multilayered has an intrinsic value.
This is what lacks to most people, maybe: the ability to recognize complexity and appreciate it. The only way to undestand complexity that i'm aware of is education, but regarding food many people are totally uneducated (and many companies earn from it, so there isn't really anyone interested in people more educated regarding food).
At this point i don't want to seem elitist: but i think is a fact that one of the greatest compliment you can do to a fruit it that it is "complex". If that holds true then seems obvious to me that you need some kind of training to appreciate that complexity, and many people simply haven't had it.

[Berto]

Ciao Pancrazio,
Va bene! Sono d'accordo!
Berto il brasiliano!

That's my half cent in broken Italian!  Yor live in a beautiful place!  Bella Firenze!
Pancrazio I agree with you!  I also believe that some people are more "open" than others to new tastes and smells!

[fruitlovers]

Ciao Pancrazio,
Va bene! Sono d'accordo!
Berto il brasiliano!

That's my half cent in broken Italian!  Yor live in a beautiful place!  Bella Firenze!
Pancrazio I agree with you!  I also believe that some people are more "open" than others to new tastes and smells!

That's right! Some people love to try new things, new tastes, new adventures. Others are happy living their whole life in same place, eating same thing, and doing same thing day in and day out.
I think another factor in appreciation of fruit, or any other food, is what you are eating, drinking, smoking? It's well known that tobacco numbs the taste buds. I think eating a lot of junk foods does the same thing.
Oscar
Oscar

[Saltcayman]

Great topic!  I just finished a book that explores this subject and our passion for fruit in a pretty funny way. "the fruit hunters". By Adam leith gollner.  Anybody else read it?  Dave

The author of that book, Adam Gollner, came and visitied me before writing that book, and there is a little section in there about me. He is a funny guy, a great writer, but not very good with recording his facts. But all is forgiven as he makes you laugh!
Oscar

Very cool Oscar. Why let the facts get in the way of a good story:). It seemed like he was exaggerating just a bit. I will have to look back and figure out was parts he got wrong about you. dave

[mangomandan]

I've found that many people who have never tasted a mango are very pleased with their first one (if it's a good variety nicely ripened).
Those whose first experience was a bad mango can be very hard to convince to even try a taste.

If I'm working with good but not great mangos to share with friends, I'll slice them up, and add a sliced banana. It adds sweetness and mellowness.

[fruitlovers]

Those whose first experience was a bad mango can be very hard to convince to even try a taste.

Unfotunately a lot of fruit collectors/hobbyists are this way also. They say, for example, they hate durians, but have never truly tasted them, or have only once tasted a frozen fruit. I think a lot of us, myself included, are also affected by what we read, so if a fruit is much maligned in the literature we tend to dislike it even before trying it. I tasted durian about 1/2 a dozen times before i realized what all the craze was about. Turns out most of the ones i had tasted before weren't really properly ripened and tasted quite rubbery. The first well ripened durian was an ecstatic experience! Another fruit that is quite maligned in the litearute is black sapote. Many people dislike this one also because they've read it looks like axle grease...so that is what stays in their mind...even before they take the first bite they are turned off. So i think that authors that write such things don't fully realize how much they've turned people permanently off to certain fruits. I don't think any real fruit lover should write about any fruit in this way. One person's least favorite fruit is another person's potential treasure, and vice versa.
Oscar

[natsgarden123]

It  goes both ways. People rave about Jaboticaba: I had a large Jaboticaba  tree which never stopped fruiting, all year. it was a beautiful tree but I wasn't crazy about the taste. I Gave out a whole lot of fruit. I even made wine ( that was GOOD).  My sister has the tree now...I wont plant another one.   

[fruitlovers]

It  goes both ways. People rave about Jaboticaba: I had a large Jaboticaba  tree which never stopped fruiting, all year. it was a beautiful tree but I wasn't crazy about the taste. I Gave out a whole lot of fruit. I even made wine ( that was GOOD).  My sister has the tree now...I wont plant another one.

Yes, i think you're right, raving too much about a fruit can also end up disappointing people. I know i was very disappointed when i tasted the first mangosteen. I thought to myself "this doesn't taste like the best fruit in the world!" (As if there really is such a thing.)
Oscar

[Pancrazio]

That's my half cent in broken Italian!

Well, that italian wasn't so broken, trust me. 

I thought to myself "this doesn't taste like the best fruit in the world!" (As if there really is such a thing.)

In my humble opinion, such thing exists. The point is that it hasn't to be the same for everyone.
The corollary is: YOUR "best fruit" can still be out there, so you should taste as much as you can to figure where is it.

[fruitlovers]

That's my half cent in broken Italian!

Well, that italian wasn't so broken, trust me. 

I thought to myself "this doesn't taste like the best fruit in the world!" (As if there really is such a thing.)

In my humble opinion, such thing exists. The point is that it hasn't to be the same for everyone.
The corollary is: YOUR "best fruit" can still be out there, so you should taste as much as you can to figure where is it.

I agree with the try a lot of fruits part. But you don't need to have a #1 favorite, although i do! LYCHEE. But it's probably because their season is way too short, and they are difficult to fruit here. If we had them fruiting all year long i doubt it would continue to be my #1 favorite. During mango season i know i can get pretty tired of mangos, for example, although it's certainly not the fault of anything in the fruit itself, just an over abundance sometimes. In other words, rarity increases our perceived values.
Oscar

[lycheeluva]

 I know i was very disappointed when i tasted the first mangosteen. I thought to myself "this doesn't taste like the best fruit in the world!" (As if there really is such a thing.)
Oscar
[/quote]

oscar cant believe u were not blown away by mangosteen

[fruitlovers]

oscar cant believe u were not blown away by mangosteen

First mangosteens i tasted were in Thailand. The mangosteens we have here in Hawaii are much better tasting and quality. I think that is in part because Thailand exports all its first class fruits and leaves only second and third class for domestic consumption. But even the mangosteens here, though i like them, i would never be tempted to call them the best fruit in the world. But i wouldn't say that about any fruit, that it is absolutely the best fruit. I think it's like calling one woman the most beautiful woman in the world. There are so many beauties, and it's all in the eye of the perceiver anyway. But the people that run the pageants really do want us to believe only one is the most beautiful!
Oscar

[FlyingFoxFruits]

oscar cant believe u were not blown away by mangosteen

First mangosteens i tasted were in Thailand. The mangosteens we have here in Hawaii are much better tasting and quality. I think that is in part because Thailand exports all its first class fruits and leaves only second and third class for domestic consumption. But even the mangosteens here, though i like them, i would never be tempted to call them the best fruit in the world. But i wouldn't say that about any fruit, that it is absolutely the best fruit. I think it's like calling one woman the most beautiful woman in the world. There are so many beauties, and it's all in the eye of the perceiver anyway. But the people that run the pageants really do want us to believe only one is the most beautiful!
Oscar

On a serious note,
that was very well put Oscar,

On a note that is of stark contrast,

I guess that's why I think Grace Jones is sexy, and Rosie O'Donnell to!  Both beautiful in their own way!

LOLOLOLOLOL

But metaphorically speaking, some peoples taste of fruits ranges from enjoying Surinam cherries, and durian...so it can be hard to trust someones description of a fruit....it really is an art in itself to properly describe flavors to someone who's never tasted them.

[mangomandan]

As several have noted, it is necessary to try a fruit several times before forming an opinion.  There is so much variation.

For example, though I love the mango tasting at the Fairchild Mango Festival, I've been turned off more than once by my taste of various mangos that I later found to be very good.  A cubic centimeter from near the seed of a Kent mango, stored for hours or days, doesn't always give the most accurate impression.
I'm not criticizing.  The logistics of securing, preparing, and presenting many many gallons of mango samples are beyond my comprehension.

A large bite of carambola on a hot day can be pleasantly refreshing.  A tiny sample might elicit more of a "huh?"