Exotic Asian Fruits to Try

Asia is a vast continent, and it’s home to many cultures, each with unique types of food. Although you might think of Southeast Asia’s warm, tropical weather, the continent also has high mountains, snowy regions and everything in between. This means there’s a wide variety of fruits, many of which are entirely uncommon in the west.

Fruit is nature’s dessert, and there’s a type of pleasure when biting into fresh fruit that’s just hard to describe. Now, when that fruit is utterly new to you, then it’s also an adventure. Fruit is noble like that. Here are some exotic Asian fruits to try.

Jackfruit

This large, fibrous fruit is native to Malaysia’s rainforests. It’s actually the largest fruit grown in trees — it can weigh up to 55 kilos! It’s often called vegetable meat because when shredded, you can cook with it as if it was pulled pork.

Lychee

Lychees are rugged, medium-sized fruits with a brightly red hard shell. The inside, though, is pearly white and soft with a jelly-like texture. Deliciously sweet and fragrant, lychees are one of the most fashionable fruits in China.

Dragon fruit

Hands down the most beautiful fruit on the planet, dragon fruits have a pink peel and a white flesh dotted with lots of tiny black seeds. Popular in Southeast Asia and India, this beauty has astounding levels of vitamin C.

Rambutan

Native to Malaysia and Indonesia, this spiny red fruit is not dissimilar to lychees. The flesh is white and slippery, but also pleasantly creamy. Be careful; there’s a large pit inside each fruit.

Durian

Amongst the weirdest fruits on the planet and one of the most prized, durian grows from Thailand to Malaysia, and it’s known for its creamy, custard-like flesh but stinky smell. Durian is delicious, but it smells like dirty socks!