Exotic Oriental Fruits

Taipei has by far the best fruit produce that I have seen anywhere in the world. Fruit quality is genuinely high class and it actually tastes as good as it looks. Many fruits in US look really big and healthy ( may be hormone induced) but it tastes a little pale to me. Definitely not so over here. You can buy them at a local fruit store or stalls at the local day market, vegetable and fruit markets, night markets, fruit trucks on the streets or super markets. Irrespective of where you buy it, be assured that it is GOOD.



Fruit truck that comes every evening near our home



Many of these tropical fruits are locally grown in Taiwan which I am a big fan of. Seasonal fruits such as peach, mangoes, dragon fruit, lichee, longan, passion fruit, pomello, papaya, melons and oranges are particularly amazing. You get good quality imported fruits as well but we sincerely try our best to cut down on carbon footprint and consume as much local produce as possible. Taiwan introduced me to many new fruits that I had not experienced it ever in my life. I will definitely miss them when I leave this place.

Some of the fruits that I experienced for the first time in Taiwan are as follows.

Dragon Fruit

This a yummy sweet summer fruit that looks nothing inside like it looks outside. Also, its tasty and not at all scary as the name suggests. Easy to eat and not messy at all so I super like it! Soft white flesh is sweet and cruncy tiny seeds breaks that smoothness nicely.

Pomello

 This is a big thick skinned citrus fruit. In the peak Autumn season you can find single piece weighing 1-1.5 kgs in the local market. It tastes little bit like grapefruit but it doesnt have that bitter after taste. Great source of vitamin C.

This fruit also has a significance at Moon festival ( mid-autumn festival). Fruit basket containing Pomelo is given to family, friends and co-workers. I was introduced to this fruit by my team mate during my first Moon festival holiday in Taipei.

 Longan

These brown shelled little fruit covers white juicy flesh just like lychee. This fruit is super sweet and very tasty. It is available mostly in summer time in this while in winter you get the dries variety of this fruit which is dark brown in colour and consumed mostly in form of teas or as herb in the soups and desserts. This fruit is known for its properties such as generating body heat and its suppose to be "good for women".

Passion Fruit

Its a thick purple skinned fruit with golden yellow flesh and lots of black crunchy seeds. Its sweet and sour in taste and can get very sweet as the fruit is fully ripe. I love to just cut it in half and eat the flesh with the spoon. But its also very popular to have this fruit in juice or fruit tea form in Taiwan. Its super refreshing to carry an iced and sugared passion fruit drink on a hot summer day.

Durian

This is a huge jack fruit family fruit with a stinky stench. Taipei public transport system forbids you from carrying this fruit on subways and buses for its smell. But its a popular fruit and they say that its sweet with not so bad smell when it is eaten immediately after cutting the fruit open. I have to be honest that I have not dared to eat this fruit as I can't even enter the area of the super market where they display this fruit. I took the picture below and ran away quickly!

This fruit is mainly available in summer time.

Its a Peach!
No I don't come from a world where peaches call for a surprise. But while touring the famous Yangminshan Mountains in Taiwan, I came across this little round pretty looking fruit ( slightly bigger than a good sized lychee) with a little peak at one end, mostly green color with some shades of red splattered. It was hard like apple and had a very slight velvety texture. A middle aged lady came by with a box of this fruit and offered us to taste. It was yumm, it was crunchy with white firm flesh and a little red at the center where the seed was. It turns out that it was very sweet with a hint of peach and plum flavour. I instantly bought a big bag of this tiny marvel for 100 TWD.
It took a lot of asking around to finally figure out that this is actually a type of peach! yeah, it was jaw-dropping good!