Kiwi Papayas Passion Fruit Carambolas Durians Mangosteens Persimmons / Kakis / Sharons Lychees Mangoes Cherimoya Pineapple Banana Kiwi Small oval fruits with a thin brown skin, soft green flesh and black seeds. Kiwis are originally from China and were improved in New Zealand Kiwis contain a protein-splitting enzyme. Other fruit that contains this enzyme are fresh papaya, pineapple and babaco. This substance makes the fruit easy to digest and fried together with meat it makes it more tender. If you put this fruit in dairy products it will make them watery. If the fruit is cooked like all canned and other processed fruit this enzyme is no longer active. Kiwis are a subtropical and not a tropical fruit. Therefore it is best to store them in the fridge. To make them ripe faster you can keep them in a closed plastic bag together with an apple, pear or banana. These fruits excrete ethylene gas which fastens the riping of kiwis and avocadoes. ***** Papayas An orange coloured fleshy fruit. Are often called tree-melons. Can grow to 6 kg. a fruit. Unripe fruits can be eaten as a vegetable but ripe fruits always contain more vitamins and minerals. Eat papayas peeled. Papayas contain a protein-splitting enzyme. Other fruit that contains this enzyme are fresh kiwi, pineapple and babaco. This substance makes the fruit easy to digest and fried together with meat it makes it more tender. If you put this fruit in dairy products it will make them watery. If the fruit is cooked like all canned and other processed fruit this enzyme is no longer active. Treat them like melons. Contain vitamin B, C. and iron. ***** Passion Fruit Edible fruit of certain types of passion-flower. Can be purple or yellow. Has a tranquilizing effect on your body. Eat them before you go to sleep and you will dream sweet dreams. You can store them for a few days in the refrigerator. Passion fruits are mostly sold when they are ripe. Contains much vitamin B, C and much iron. ***** Carambolas (Starfruit) A yellow berry type of fruit that grows on shrub-like trees and has a length of about 12 cm and has five sharp ribs. Contains vitamin C and a lot of vitamin B. The sweet carambola is called blimbing manis in Malaysia. The sour type is called blimbing asem. This is a smaller type of fruit and is not exported. Unripe fruits are green-yellow. Always buy a carambola ripe thus yellow, because once picked it ripens badly. They are grown in Malaysia, Brasil and tropical Africa. Ripe fruits can be saved in the fridge for about a week. Unripe fruits are best saved on the fruit bowl in the living room. ***** Durians The stinking fruit. During the riping process this fruit spreads a bad smell. This is so bad that in south-east Asia the fruit may not be taken into an airplane or hotels. The taste of the durian is very good and special, like vanilla. So special that even durian parties are organised. Do not store the durian, it smells too bad. ***** Mangosteens The mangosteen tree starts giving fruit after 10 to 15 years growing. Tastes delicious, like a combination of strawberries & grapes, yam yam ! Mangosteens are the favourite food of Orang Utans. Is a kind of white mandarin with a thick red peel. Cool shortly before serving, can be kept 1 to 2 days, at 12 degr. C., not in the refrigerator. ***** Persimmons / Kakis / Sharons Large orange-red plum-like edible fruit. A tomato sized fruit in the colors yellow, orange and red. Tastes very sweet, a bit like apricots. The Kaki only can be eaten over-ripe because the tannin has disappeared by then. The kaki has a jelly-like fruitflesh with two to eight not edible pits. The Sharon is an improved kaki that has been named after the valley of the river in Israel where the fruit is cultivated. The sharon doesn't have the poisonous pits and tannin and therefore does not have to be eaten over-ripe. Unripe fruits ripen best at room temperature, ripe fruits can be kept a few days in the refrigerator. ***** Lychees Fruit with a sweetish white pulp and a single seed in a thin brown shell. Lychees originally come from china. The Litchi is sweeter than its hairy brother the rambutan. Longans are a litchi like, but they are very difficult to export because of its sensitivity and therefore they are not known in Europe. They are called "the cherries of Asia" because local people are very fond of them and they are eaten like cherries in Europe. The first fruit-culture book was written in 1056 and was about lychees. Eat them fresh and not out of a can. Contain much vitamin C and iron. ***** Mangoes Pear-shaped fruit with flesh which is yellow when ripe. Also called Manga. Come originally from India and are there still used in all kind of rituals. Is one of the oldest fruits known in history. Bhudda sat under a mangotree when he developed awareness and became enlightened. A mango is "ready for lunch" if it smells good. Never store them in the fridge. Contain much vitamin B, C, and iron. ***** Cherimoya The delicious fruit from the Incas often called the "love fruit" because of its heart-like shape. Cherimoya is the tastiest fruit of the various Anon varieties and is originally from the part of the Andes (the mountain area) between Colombia to Bolivia, at an altitude of 1000 to 2000m. Nowadays the fruit is cultivated world-wide in tropical mountains and in sub-tropical or mediterranean areas. In Floridait is too hot to grow cherimoya, so around those parts its sister,the atemoya is cultivated.The cherimoya is called "the tree of icecream" and the fruits tastelike a blend of pineapple, mango and strawberry flavors.Cherimoyas are ripe within two to three days at room temperature.You should eat ripe fruits immediately.Ripe fruits are black-green and give to slight pressure like an avocado or peach. Cherimoyas are very vulnarable and are exported on a small scale. The cherimoya season is from October to May in California. Ripe fruits are black-green and taste like strawberries with cream. They are very vulnarable and exported on a small scale. It's a heart-like fruit whith a green skin. It's skin feels leather-like and the white flesh contains black pits. Are originally from South America. Contain a lot of dextrosis. Ripe within 2 two to three days at room temperature. Eat ripe fruits immediately. ***** Pineapple Large juicy tropical fruit with sweet yellow flesh and a prickly skin. Are ripe when they smell sweet and their leaves let go easily. Fresh pineapples contain a protein-splitting enzyme. Other fruit that contains this enzyme are fresh kiwi, papaya and babaco. This substance makes the fruit easy to digest and fried together with meat it makes it more tender. If you put this fruit in dairy products it will make them watery. If the fruit is cooked like all canned and other processed fruit this enzyme is no longer active. Cannot be stored in the fridge like most tropical fruit. Indians used pineapple plants as a fence because the leaves of the plant are very sharp. Contain a lot of vitamin A and C. ***** Banana, Pisang. Description storage Long thick-skinned edible fruit that is yellow when ripe.Keep bananas on a fruit dish in the living room at room temperature. If you want the bananas to ripen faster place the bowl in the sun. Like other tropical fruits and tomatoes and bell peppers, never store bananas in the refrigerator. Below 8 degrees Celsius the fruit will decay from the inside. These fruits will not ripen but will turn black in the refrigerator. Plant Banana-plants can grow up to 15 m. but most plants vary from 3 to 9 m. It has very big leafs that can grow to 4 x 1 m. Short history Wild forms of the banana plant come originally from the Indo-Malaysian area and are now cultivated all over the tropical and sub-tropical continents. Use Bananas are delicious eaten with one's fingers after peeling off the skin. Depending on the type of banana unripe bananas are also cooked, fried or deep-fried a lot. Bananas are the basic food in many tropical countries. Types At this moment there are five different types of bananas common on the market. Red bananas: have a green/red peel and pink fruit flesh. They taste the same like yellow bananas. The redder a fruit, the more carotene it contains, so maybe they are healthier than their yellow colleagues Fruit-bananas: are the normal, yellow bananas, 15-30 cm. Apple-bananas: are smaller, 8-10 cm., and ripen faster. They are also yellow The baby-banana (pisang susa): is yellow as well and measures 6-8 cm. It is the sweetest of the banana family Baking bananas: are 30 to 40 cm. large and are green, yellow or red-like. They cannot be eaten raw. They fulfill the role of the potato in the tropical countries. Peculiar characteristics Is the most well known and eaten (tropical) fruit In Eastern Africa you can buy banana beer. This beer is brewed from bananas Tropical fruit is usually picked unripe and has to ripen in the land of arrival. To make this process go faster bananas are treated with ethylene-gas. Normal bananas also ripen through ethylene -gas but exposing it to additional gas accelerates the process Is the (only) fruit that for some people can work fatting because they contain a lot of starch (more starch than sugar). Those people shouldn't eat too many bananas a day Eat at least one banana a day, they are said to contain everything a human needs and they contain all the 8 amino-acids our body cannot produce itself. Bananas are a good source of fiber, potassium and vitamin C Red bananas are often dried and converted to meal which is used in many ways Red bananas contain more vitamin C as yellow bananas (the redder a fruit, the more nutritious elements it contains).