Market with Tropical fruit

[Mike T]

I am off to my local market in 15 minutes and it always has a good range of tropical fruit.Even just out of winter I expect a good variety of mammey sapotes,pomelos,achachas,rambai, some winter mangoes,atemoya,pit pit,yams,rare sweet potatoes,jicama,durian,mangosteen,possibley rambutans,ambarella,abiu,passionfruit,mango melons,matasia,mobolo,marangs,jacks and many others.Common fruit and veg. still dominate.Do many forum members have access to markets and stores where fresh tropical fruit is sold?

[Jsvand5]

I just came from my local produce store. Got a couple rock hard mangoes from puerto rico. They will never ripen and are unedible but they are good for throwing at door to door solicitors on the weekends. Nope, not jealous of what you have available at all.

[amrkhalido]

LOL ,, i love the rock-hard mango description ,, when i visit the US i never eat mangoes ,, in fact i eat as much mangoes as i can before i go ,, stores tend to bring mangoes for decoration only ,,

And i envy you Mike T ,, i would love to eat mangosteen for ever ,,

Amr

[Sleepdoc]

Yep, for the most part very little to speak of here. ... .. 

Supermarkets are pretty much void of anything quality. 

[TropicalFruitHunters]

Sheehan doesn't have the knive stabbing in chest emoticon up there.  I have to listen to the same thing from my wife who is now in Thailand explaining to me all the fruit she is eating...and I am not.

Was at a local Giant Eagle grocery store today and they had a huge display of mangos at a really decent price.  Sign said product of USA.  Stickers on the fruit said "product of Guatemala"!!  Maybe they meant the sign itself was product of USA??

Mike...don't know how you will enjoy that fruit know we're all out here hating you right now!   

[fruitlovers]

I am off to my local market in 15 minutes and it always has a good range of tropical fruit.Even just out of winter I expect a good variety of mammey sapotes,pomelos,achachas,rambai, some winter mangoes,atemoya,pit pit,yams,rare sweet potatoes,jicama,durian,mangosteen,possibley rambutans,ambarella,abiu,passionfruit,mango melons,matasia,mobolo,marangs,jacks and many others.Common fruit and veg. still dominate.Do many forum members have access to markets and stores where fresh tropical fruit is sold?

At the risk of having Ohio Jay hate me also, i can say we have a pretty good selection here, but it's not all at one place, and there are not tremendous quantities available at every street corner, like in Thailand. But if you go to the farmer's markets and shop at some of the local health food stores you can get most of the fruits that Mike lists. Better ofcourse to drive right to the farms that specialize in the tropical fruits and buy them a lot cheaper and fresher. On top of that growing a lot of these plants myself, in addition to what i occasionally buy to supplement, i have a very good assortment of fruits myself from my orchards. But ofcourse like most tropical fruit hobbyists i'm still always waiting for that unobtainable "holy grail" fruit" the fruit at the end of the rainbow. 
A couple days ago i bought some ae ae (variagated) bananas at our local store. Hadn't seen them for sale in ages. I planned to take some photos of those zebra striped bananas, but here i am 2 days later... didn't get around to it and they're already ripening, and once they turn yellow look like ordinary, but much fatter, bananas. 
Mike, what is pit pit? Is that a fruit that is the pits? 

[lycheeluva]

right now in ny, you can buy atulfo mangoes anywhere, mangosteen, jackfruit and rambutan in china town, and i just found some petty good, if fiborus haden mangoes. Lychees from mexico will be hitting town any day now. followed a couple of weeks later by florida lychees, though the florida lychees will likely be in short supply this year. lord have mercy on my wallet

[Tim]

Mike...don't know how you will enjoy that fruit know we're all out here hating you right now!   

[Mike T]

The market was disappointing today and I don't need to buy fruit.With so much tropical fruit firepower here I'm sure identifying this lot will be a snap.Just to get it rolling the mango is a brooks.
Fruitlovers sorry about the pit pit name you will know it as fiji asparagus or duruka,Saccarum edule, like gourmet asparagus that grows on sugar cane.

[fruitlovers]

Oh wow, is that a nam nam (Cynometra cauliflora)? Are they any good?
Where in Cairns do you shop? Is it the famous Rusty's Market?:
http://www.rustysmarkets.com.au/index-2.html

[Mike T]

Yes it is rusty's and it was lame today compared to normal.It is 10 minutes from home.

[fruitlovers]

How many vendors usually attend at Rusty's market? Were those nam nam fruits in your photo?

[Mike T]

Yes it is nam nam and there are maybe 50 fruit sellers on a Friday.

[fruitlovers]

Yes it is nam nam and there are maybe 50 fruit sellers on a Friday.

How is the nam nam? Any good? Have some plants and they're extremely slow growing.

[Mike T]

Oscar that is an elite nam nam which is larger (3oz fruit) and sweeter than usual.It still tastes like a sourish green apple that is a little dry and dense.It has a jujube thing going on.I am perhaps painting it a little negatively but small,sour types are still enjoyed by many.I know someone who said their neglected tree took 7 years to fruit but now gets festooned with huge crops every year.Maybe 5 years for 'fast-tracked' trees. 

[Soren]

The market was disappointing today and I don't need to buy fruit.With so much tropical fruit firepower here I'm sure identifying this lot will be a snap.Just to get it rolling the mango is a brooks.
Fruitlovers sorry about the pit pit name you will know it as fiji asparagus or duruka,Saccarum edule, like gourmet asparagus that grows on sugar cane.

Mike - thanks for sharing, at the markets in Kampala there are only mango, avocado, citrus, sugarcane and perhaps a Jackfruit. The markets outside town are a lot more interesting; that is where the indigenous species appear for sale.

[Mike T]

Well hi there Soren I hope all is well in Kampala.That lot is pretty thin on as I said it is the low time for fruit and it is all common stuff at the market.I have seen small markets and checked out fruit in several southern and eastern african countries.I was younger and stupid then but now I'm older and stupid I would collect all the 'good native' types.

[Mike T]

OK I had better name them then.Pinks mammoth,maher black sapote (3lb almost),giant red flaicarpa passiionfruit (no variety name),brooks mango,purple water yam,white skinned purple flesh sweet potato,rambai,duku-langsat and nam nam.

[fruitlovers]

OK I had better name them then.Pinks mammoth,maher black sapote (3lb almost),giant red flaicarpa passiionfruit (no variety name),brooks mango,purple water yam,white skinned purple flesh sweet potato,rambai,duku-langsat and nam nam.

FYI that white skinned purple sweet potato is called Okinawan Purple. Very popular here.

[Mike T]

Fruitlovers we call it hawaiin purple and it is not prized like the solomon purple that has red/purple skin and deep purple flesh and an almost citrusy hint.

[fruitlovers]

Fruitlovers we call it hawaiin purple and it is not prized like the solomon purple that has red/purple skin and deep purple flesh and an almost citrusy hint.

Glad you're giving the credit to Hawaii, but they originate in Okinawa. Never seen the Solomon purple you describe, sounds like a good one! I'm very fond of sweet potatoes. Purple sweet potato pudding is one of my faves.

[Soren]

Fruitlovers we call it hawaiin purple and it is not prized like the solomon purple that has red/purple skin and deep purple flesh and an almost citrusy hint.

Glad you're giving the credit to Hawaii, but they originate in Okinawa. Never seen the Solomon purple you describe, sounds like a good one! I'm very fond of sweet potatoes. Purple sweet potato pudding is one of my faves.

We have a white and a yellow here but both are too mealy and tasteless for my taste. Sound great with some other cultivars.

[Mike T]

High guys I love sweet potato as well and the supermarkets sell the orange beauregards and white fleshed purple skins,white flesh white skinned ones.People race to the markets to get creamy yellow fleshed and solomons type as they are moister and tastier than others.The solomon one in the shot is a fruit basket,basket case  being a month old and nearly 'gone'.We get the benefit of melanesian,polynesian and various asian cultures who bring their favourite plants with them.

[Mike T]

The big red flavicarpa from the market was very sweet with musky overtones, a real beauty.The picture is a little over-exposed and the pulp is really orange and fruit are full and heavy (2 per lb).

[Mike T]

The markets were interesting and I got a few freebies.The garcinia xanthochymus is a sweet/sour large fruiting type rather than the standard sour.I have been told a sensational sweet specimen exists with very small leaves and year 'round fruit but it may be a different species as yet must be called xanthchymus because nothing else fits.The mammey is a great tasting smmoth rich specimen from a seedling line.The others are just air yam propagules and another variety of rambai from last week.