Costa Rican Fruits

[kyonides]

Get to Know Some Interesting Costa Rican Fruits

Since Costa Rica isn't the only tropical country on Earth, some people living in other regions might have also eaten these fruits in their homelands as well. Even so it might be good for you to know what Costa Rica offers the locals and any tourists when you visit us down here.

Cas

I drink cas juice every so often

Granadilla or Maracuyá (passion fruit)

Jocote

You just bite it!

Mamón chino

aka rambután elsewhere - You open it and eat its contents

Marañón

Pejibaye

You grill it and optionally add mayonnaise on top of it

Pitaya or Pitahaya

Guanábana (soursop)

A good ingredient for a shake and people suffering from high blood pressure!

Carambola (star fruit)

A good for blood pressure and sugar levels

Guaba

Guayaba

Güísaro

Manzana de agua

Pitanga

Tacaco

Zapote

Banano (banana)

Melón

Papaya
Good way to end up running straight to the bathroom

Sandía (watermelon)

Mango

Fresa (strawberry)
Costa Rica is a good place to produce them! You'll love their sweet flavor for sure!

And a brand new fruit from Talamanca, Costa Rica!

[Kain Nobel]

I'm writing all of these on my grocery list because, aside from the obvious (bananas, mangos and strawberries), there is a lot I haven't tried yet.

Without searching these on the internet, I can only guess what some of these taste like. Mamón chino seems like it would be sweet but spicy. While I'd initially guess Guanábana tastes like coconuts, something tells me it tastes like something completely different - perhaps closer to a lime mixed with kiwi. I've heard Carambola (star fruit) is commonly used as a meat substitute but I'm not sure how that works. I'm guessing a "manzana de agua" is similar to a regular apple but juicier.

Some of these items are commonplace in the continental United States, but a few are rare or I've never seen them in the grocery store before. The best place I know to try and buy strange tropical fruit is a place called Sprouts Farmers Market. Their produce section is usually the center stage of the entire grocer and I always seem to find staff that understand their product well.

When looking into Peruvian cuisine, I was in shock and awe at the vast variety of everything the street vendors peddle. I would've never guessed there were 3000+ types of potatoes, all vastly different from one another with unique "do's and don'ts" for recipes. Boil these in water, fry those ones in oil, these ones need to be broiled in an oven, those ones are sweet, these ones are naturally salty and don't need butter, the spuds right here aren't that great but they make an excellent ingredient for DIY bread, etc.

Fascinating and delicious.

[kyonides]

I forgot to add caimito and pineapple. Of course you may also get imported fruits like kiwi, apples, pears, grapes, raisins, blueberries (arándanos) and so on.

Guanábana is sweet if prepared as a drink, never ate the fruit itself but it's kind of soft. Don't eat the skin as usual.

Mamón chino is dangerous for kids because they usually think they can swallow it up but there's a seed they need to remove first...

Papaya is either bitter or a bit sweet. It depends on how you cut it before you can eat it or mix it with anything else. After you let it bleed for a while or several hours you can enjoy it's sweetness. It's a typical ingredient of the ponche de frutas or fruit punch. You may include watermelon, melon, pineapple and kola syrup.

Just imagine tasting an iced lime or iced kola with ice cream or milk powder or even condensed milk and some sorbet/hollow waffer while feeling the breeze on your skin down in Puntarenas or Guanacaste or Limón. Actually in Puntarenas they call these iced drinks or slush a churchill because a local that lived there decades ago looked like Sir Winston Churchill. O_O¡

As a advice I gotta tell you that you should never buy any bolillo fish in Puntarenas, you'd actually be eating a friend of mine...