Fruits of the Caribbeans

Moving from South-east Asia where the fruits and vegetables are plenty, Caribbean fruits were different. There were fruits which I had never heard or seen earlier but that is true with moving from one region to another. It teaches you diversity and gives a nice experience to taste varied food.

a road side stall of fruits in St Kitts

Guineps:
Guineps or Ackee as they are known in Barbados have a thick green skin. It needs to be bitten to reveal the soft orange fruit inside. They are called Guineps in Jamaica because Ackee is another fruit there.

 Market is flooded with this fruit during the month of July-August

The orange soft fruit is a mixture of sweet and sour with a single seed inside. It is said to be good for diabetics.

Golden apple:

Known as wi and also aamda in Fiji, the fruit is sour and resembles a raw mango.  The seed is hard covered by hard filaments in contrast to mango which has soft filaments around the pith. It is made into pickles and with sweeteners is made into a refreshing drink.

 golden apple preserve

Ackee fruit:
This is the Ackee fruit. It is very important to be careful while consuming this fruit.

 ackee tree

The fruit when ripe, bursts open to reveal three black seeds surrounded by creamy soft flesh. The unripe fruit is toxic and if ingested, it can lead to severe kidney problems and vomiting.

Not particularly tasty on its own, the light yellow fleshy meat is eaten with salt fish which is very popular in the Caribbeans. It is Jamaica's national fruit.

salt fish

Plums or June plums:

Commonly known as governor plums, they have orange-yellow sweet and sour flesh with a single seed inside. The fruit is slightly sour and are called hog plums in Barbados and Jujube in Jamaica. They are rich in vitamin C and are said to be good for coughs, colds and arthritis.

Noni fruit:

Not a tasty fruit at all, it has medicinal properties and is consumed for that reason. It is bitter and does not have a pleasant flavor. It is usually consumed in juice form. It has a bad odor and is sometimes used to ward off mosquitoes.

Avocado:

Avocados are not indigenous to the Caribbeans, but I have never come across such huge avocados elsewhere.

 

 

 

 

 

Bajan cherry:

Resembling cherries, they do not at all taste like the usual cherries.

 

 

The cherries are made into a sweet and sour drink

Local fruits in the Caribbean market:

Most of the fruits are sold on roadside by vendors. From honey to jams to oil, spices you get them all.

mangoes hanging from tree

bounty of mangoes

Caribbean apricot (Mammea americana) :
The Caribbean apricot or mamaae apple as they are commonly known are round brown colored fruit.

mammaae apple, Caribbean apricot

The tree has thick leaves and the fruit maturation takes almost a year.

The fruit has thick brown skin which needs to be peeled off or removed to reveal a orange colored fruit inside.

the fruit cut open

a segment of fruit and the stony pith

The fruit tastes sour to sweet and gives a flavor of apricots, hence the name Caribbean apricot.

The large rough seed is not edible.

The fruit is cut into strips and dried.

Passion fruit:

passion fruit flower

flower and fruit on side

One of the fruits which was not a native to the region, it has become exceedingly popular as it thrives very well in the climate. The ripe fruit is shriveled from inside but has a sweet orange delicious flesh with black seeds. It is strained and added to yogurts and ice creams. I personally like to eat the seeds as well.

Sugar apple:

As the name suggests, the fruit resembling cherimoya from outside except that the outside skin is not that smooth is sweet and has a wonderful flavor. The ripe fruit breaks open on slight pressure revealing white segments with black seeds inside. One needs to suck in the flesh, chew slightly to separate the flesh and spit the seeds out. Very close to custard apple or Sharifa, grown in India and the South-east Asia.

Jamun:
Not a native to Caribbeans, the fruit comes to the market in the months of July in northern India. The fruit is green but becomes purple when ripe staining clothes and hands as well. The taste is sweet and sour making your tongue purple. It has some astringent properties which makes it impossible to eat more at the same time.

tree laden with fruits

Coconut palm:

man climbing up the palm to cut coconuts

I was fascinated watching the man climb up and pluck the coconuts in our campus.

the bunch of coconuts needs to tied so that it does not fall down and hurt someone

Not an unfamiliar fruit throughout the world, coconut has rightly been named as the "tree of heaven". Every part of this tree is used in some way or the other. Apart from the fruit which is eaten, used in cooking, pressed for taking oils, water used as a thirst quencher being close to liquid inside our red blood corpuscles so it can be drank as a replacement for intravenous drips.

The fronds are used for making roofs, brooms and also for burning. The wood for making roofs, spatulas, bowls, plates, jewelery.

thirst quencher

Banana and plantains:

Guava:

Soursop:

Again extensively found in South Asian countries, soursop has a hint of sweet and sour taste.

We used to like eating its pulp. It has very small black seeds, similar to sugar apple.

Soursop is enjoyed as juice, punches.

Cherimoya:
Belonging to the family of sour sop and sugar apple, cherimoya has a soft outer skin. The flesh inside is soft and has a very typical flavor of its own with a hint of pineapple.
Remove the thin skin and bite into the juicy fruit. Chew slowly and there are seeds which need to be spit out.

Naranj or sour orange:
A cross between orange and lemon having the flavor of orange but taste of lemon.

naranj tree

fruit

fruit from inside with big seeds

The juice is made into drinks in the Caribbeans.

Star fruit:
This fruit does not need any introduction. It is very sour when unripe but as it matures, it turns yellow and is slightly sweet.

Cocoa pods:

Caribbean countries are not vast producers of cocoa. Some countries though make their own blend of chocolates

Many countries in the Caribbeans have started making their own chocolates. Grenada has a good variety of chocolates.

Sugarcane:
Mostly all countries in the Caribbeans had large areas of sugarcane cultivation. There are acres of sugarcane production thriving in the region. The local sugar is unrefined and is brown in color.

extracting cane juice in St.Vincent

a glass of cold cane juice 

Phyllanthus emblica:
Found extensively in South Asian countries as well as in South India, this sour fruit is pickled in brine.

Rose apple:

Sargassum:

No, this is not edible but forms a very important part of Caribbean ecosystem. Every year, tons of this brown algae collect on the beaches of Caribbean Islands with the tide.

Sargassum on St. Kitts beach

  sargassum, St. Lucia using as fertilizer

Sargassum is a brown algae which drifts to the shore right from Florida to the Caribbeans. Piles and piles get collected on the shore which overtime decay and emit foul smell releasing sulphur which spoil electronics, damage things in the houses nearby. The gas also created asthmatic problems in many people.
The Worthing beach in Barbados was closed in 2018 due to heavy accumulation of algae. Most hotels in Antigue were forced to shut down for some time.

The only way to get rid off this problem is to manually remove the algae everyday.
Most islands are thinking of converting this algae into fertilizer.