A list of unpleasant characteristics of fruit?

[fliptop]

It seems some fruits have an unpleasant component to them that isn't always mentioned in descriptions of them. For example, while I still haven't had the chance to try White Sapote, I've read many positive descriptions of the taste. Then I came across a thread that mentioned a bitterness to some fruits. Hmmmm. So would it be possible to compile a list of unpleasant characteristics of certain fruit, so people would be aware of what to possibly expect?

In my experience:

Jackfruit can have a muskiness to it that is off-putting to some (not to me, though).

Canistel can have a muskiness, as well as a latex component, that can be off-putting to me.

Guavas can have a muskiness, and their seeds can be annoying.

"Alphonso-type" Indian Mangos have an off-putting resin component to me (the West Indian types have a similar, but less pronounced, resin component that I do actually like, oddly enough).

Suriname Cherries have a kerosene component that's off-putting to a lot of people.

What other fruit have an off-putting component?

[Polypterus]

Latex from store bought jackfruit, I've had to throw away cutting boards because of it. I love the taste, it's just not worth the trouble.

[johnb51]

The worst experience of all: astringency in persimmons that aren't soft (except for the non-astringent type)!  The wateriness of avocados that are picked too early.

[fliptop]

Polypterus: do you use oil when cleaning Jackfruit? I always have a bowl of coconut oil on the table when I clean Jackfruit, and constantly dip my hands and wipe down the knife blade as I clean. I also just work on newspaper that I throw away when done.

johnb51: yes! Astringent persimmons, horrible! Worse than watery avocados, which are bad too.

Here's another fruit I want to but haven't tried:

Pawpaw--my girlfriend says they can have a funk to them

[roblack]

Noni fruit takes the cheesecake. I can't even try it; smells so bad. Going to try cooking with the leaves, but the fruit are compost fodder.

Overripe m. casturi is too much. Super funky, in a not so groovy way.

Overripe or even ripe papaya can be off-putting. Green is the way to go.

[K-Rimes]

There's this eugenia myrcianthes here in Santa Barbara that has an overwhelming taste of bunk garlic when ripe. It is awful.

[ben mango]

Not a fan of ripe / soft breadfruit

[Polypterus]

Polypterus: do you use oil when cleaning Jackfruit? I always have a bowl of coconut oil on the table when I clean Jackfruit, and constantly dip my hands and wipe down the knife blade as I clean. I also just work on newspaper that I throw away when done.

johnb51: yes! Astringent persimmons, horrible! Worse than watery avocados, which are bad too.

Here's another fruit I want to but haven't tried:

Pawpaw--my girlfriend says they can have a funk to them

I didn't use oil, as I didn't know the proper technique for cutting into it at the time. I just grabbed a knife and went for it. Looking back at it now, it still seems like a lot of work even with oil, I'd prefer something I can just pick up and eat.

[Adam8aTexas]

That weird taste you get in feijoa that ruins the taste experience. 

[K-Rimes]

That weird taste you get in feijoa that ruins the taste experience. 

You mean the fresh rubber flavor? I went through a few sets of tires at the drift track and when I came home and ate some feijoa it was like I was on repeat of the smells of the day and it totally ruined them.

[EddieF]

Someone picked a papaya as we were talking & handed it to me.  My 1st & only papaya i've tried to this day.
I have no idea if it was ripe or ready, cut it open & stunk like old fuel oil!
Sealed it in ziplock & hoped garbage man wouldn't think it was flammable lol.
I work on cars, used stinky marine grease for props & this smelled worse.
Told my pops about it, he said there must've been an old rotted heating oil tank nearby.

Is this normal?  I'll stick with growing mangos, bananas & some citrus.

[BQ McFry]

Some fruit will have a propensity to draw fruit flies more than others. Then even the tiniest bits of it with eggs in the garbage pail of your house, leads to flies.

[Gone tropo]

Soursop the texture i dont find nice, the juice however is great.

[W.]

Latex from store bought jackfruit, I've had to throw away cutting boards because of it. I love the taste, it's just not worth the trouble.

I go outside and cut jackfruit on my plant tables. They are made of reclaimed wood, and I am not concerned whether they get latex all over them. I would never cut jackfruit on any of my good cutting boards.

I will add that the size of jackfruit is a negative. I am never going to eat all of a twenty-pound jackfruit before it goes bad, and the only grocery store in my area that carries it only sells whole jackfruits.

[W.]

The worst experience of all: astringency in persimmons that aren't soft (except for the non-astringent type)!  The wateriness of avocados that are picked too early.

Non-astringent persimmons are just flavorless matter in my opinion, but I agree with you that an astringent persimmon that has not been fully ripened is not really edible. I leave nothing to chance and let mine turn almost to mush.

[W.]

Guava seeds are quite annoying.

I like the flavor of mamoncillo, but the flesh-to-seed ratio is terrible. What flesh there is just sticks to this large seed.

I dislike how a pomegranate that looks perfectly good on the outside can be an inedible mess on the inside. Getting all the arils out is also tedious.

[johnb51]

Non-astringent persimmons are just flavorless matter in my opinion.

Really?  I've never found them flavorless, but they're nothing like a soft persimmon.  Some people (my wife included) don't even like soft persimmons because they're turned off by the jelly-like texture.

[W.]

Non-astringent persimmons are just flavorless matter in my opinion.

Really?  I've never found them flavorless, but they're nothing like a soft persimmon.  Some people (my wife included) don't even like soft persimmons because they're turned off by the jelly-like texture.

I guess because I had astringent Hachiya and American persimmons first, the flavor of supermarket Fuyu persimmons does not excite me. I find them bland.

[Julie]

I agree with the comments about jackfruit and avocado. Crunchy jackfruit is tons of work to clean and eat. I planted a seed of a soft variety which you can pull apart. One soft variety I tried had fiber that could cut your throat..Avocado grown in Florida honestly most of them I don’t really like. When you have tons of them with no way to save them you’re just going to end up wasting them.

[spaugh]

Non-astringent persimmons are just flavorless matter in my opinion.

Really?  I've never found them flavorless, but they're nothing like a soft persimmon.  Some people (my wife included) don't even like soft persimmons because they're turned off by the jelly-like texture.

I prefer fuyus.  There arent flavorless, that sounds like just a bad batch.  The ones off our tree here are total sugarbombs.

[fliptop]

Interesting about feijoa--haven't tried one yet and now I have a sense of what I might encounter. Thanks, Adam8aTexas and K-Rimes!

roblack, I have noni plants growing in containers. I might brave trying the fruit if I ever get any. . . .

Fuyu persimmons are my favorite persimmons and if I could grow them here I would.

We still haven't tried Caimito--is there a downside to them??

[shilohtech]

Not a fan of ripe / soft breadfruit

I liked the flavor of this, but the next morning felt like I got food poisoning and was very ill with lots of vomiting.
Now I don't like the smell and don't want to try it raw/ripe again.

I must have eaten part of it that was rotten or part of it that wasn't ripe enough. Either way, not a great experience.

[K-Rimes]

Interesting about feijoa--haven't tried one yet and now I have a sense of what I might encounter. Thanks, Adam8aTexas and K-Rimes!

roblack, I have noni plants growing in containers. I might brave trying the fruit if I ever get any. . . .

Fuyu persimmons are my favorite persimmons and if I could grow them here I would.

We still haven't tried Caimito--is there a downside to them??

RE: feijoa it's only when they are overripe that they get that rubber note. I always pick them off the ground whence they've fallen and if you're in the early part of the season you will not find this, but if you pick them off the ground late season they can get kinda gross: mealy, rubber flavor, and just downright bad.

Luckily the season is long!

[pop_kun]

When eating pitangatuba, there is a thin greenish skin (even when yellow and fully ripe) that comes off and can stick to your teeth. Kinda gross.

The grossest though is the variation in taste. I have one that fruits like crazy but the taste is super wack. Sour grassy farty barf. My other fruiting one I got from B2B tastes light years better (still funky but nice)

[pineislander]

I have shown Velvet apple/ Mabolo (Diospyros discolor) to people and had to talk them through the smell, it is "cheesy" to me but once you get past the smell and texture it is sweet.