Return to Wadadli - Tropical Fruit Review

I am writing a whole post about fruit, BUT are you familiar with many of these fruits? In New York, if I want to find some of my favorites from the Caribbean, I try to go to small markets catering to Caribbean folks. Unfortunately, I don't live near any of them, so I enjoy going to Antigua and eating local stuff there.

We got a really great fruit plate from the Sugar Club, Sugar Ridge's main restaurant. By the way, I thought that the food at the Sugar Club was very good for resort food. You should get the daily fruit plate they offer with breakfast as it includes many local favorites.

I'm sure you are familiar with watermelon, mangoes and pineapple, but what about those little green balls? They are called guineps (or quinepas in Spanish).

When you crack open the guinep, you see that it's essentially one large seed covered with a soft fleshy orange fruit. It's a nice mix of citrusy sweet and tart flavors. I used to devour these as a kid. I can sometimes find them in the summer in New York, if I go to the right markets or to the corner fruit sellers.

Also on our fruit plate was guava. I wish I could describe what guava tastes like (when it's good, it has the same tangy mix of sour and sweet with a fleshy texture as a guinep), but I do know that it's super healthy and a great source of fiber, Vitamin A and Vitamin C. Eat your fruit!!

My family's yard is actually its own little fruit orchard. My uncle likes to eat local fruit fresh off the tree, and I don't blame him. I wish I could walk outside and pick fruit off of trees.

One of the more local fruits he has on hand is the sugar apple also known as the sweetsop. I have to admit that I've never tasted this one (or at least I don't remember tasting one when I was younger). It's VERY sweet and a great source of iron.

Here's what it looks like when it's opened.

(source)

My uncle and cousins have a fair amount of the usual tropical fruit subjects in their yard.

A papaya tree

Some sugar cane, although it wasn't in the best of shape. It wasn't the season for it when we visited anyway. If you ever have a chance to eat fresh sugar cane, I highly recommend it. It's like sugar juice. :)

They've got a coconut tree, too. I go back and forth about how I feel about the fresh coconut, but I do love the juice or coconut water as it's called.

I didn't get any pics of my cousin scampering up this tree to get us fresh coconut.

Husband J had never had one fresh off the the tree before.

Yes, we both enjoyed it.

After we drank all of the juice, which was way more than a serving of Zico or VitaCoco that you can get in the supermarket, we ate the coconut jelly (Is it called something else? This is what I am used to calling it).

The final tree I'll show you is the cassie tree. I guess you could say that this is in the cactus family. I don't know why Antiguans call it cassie, but they do.

My Uncle cuts off the prickly parts so that he can eat it later.

He usually boils it, adds seasonings and has it for breakfast.

I can't believe I just wrote a whole post on tropical fruit, but I hope you've learned a little something new.

Have you tried any of these fruits? What's your favorite tropical fruit?