One of the best things about being in a tropical country is their fruit. How can I resist having mango, mangosteen, and papaya everyday? It is more desirable because I couldn’t get them in my home country; where there are four significant seasons. And of course, they are sweet and juicy, sour and tasty. Under the tropical sunshine, they become as sweet as they can be.
While I was traveling in Laos, I had many of these fruits in many different forms; juice, shake, salad, but have it as they are is the best way.
I want to introduce some of the tropical fruits you can find in Laos, and how to eat them.
Banana
I found Southeast Asian Bananas are more meaty than the one I had before. I like the ones from Southeast Asia region – fat and short, that I called Monkey Bananas.
They are native to tropical South and Southeast Asia, and are likely to have been first domesticated in Papua New Guinea. Today, they are cultivated throughout the tropics. They are grown in at least 107 countries, primarily for their fruit, and to a lesser extent to make fiber, banana wine and as ornamental plants.
Dragon Fruit
Native to Mexico, Central America and South America. Currently they are cultivated in East Asia and Southeast Asia countries. Also can be found in Hawaii, Israel, northern Australia and Southern China.
The texture of dragon fruit is sometimes likened to that of the kiwifruits due to the presene of black, crunchy seeds. The flesh is mildly sweet and has very low calaries.
Papaya
Originally from southern Mexico, Central America and northern South America. However it cultivated in most tropical countries. Two kind of papayas are commonly grown; the one with sweet and red flesh and the one with yellow flesh. It feels soft when it’s ripe, as soft as avocado.
Mango
Mangoes have been first cultivated in South Asia for thousands of years and reached Southeast and East Asia between the fifth and fourth centries BC. Now is in most of frost-free tropical climates; more than a third of the world’s mangoes are cultivated in India alone, with the second being China. Other cultivators include North, South and Central America, the Caribbean, Africa, Australia, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Southeast Asia.
Mangosteen
Is is believed to have originated in the Sunda Island and the Moluccas of Indonesia. The fruit is sweet and tangy, juicy, and fibrous with an inedible, deep reddish purple-coloured rind when ripe.
It has a history of use in folk medicine, mostly in Southeast Asia. In is reputed to have possible anti-inflammatory properties, and may have been used to treat skin infections or wounds, dysentery or urinary infections.
So mouthwatering! I love tropical fruits because they just have a unique taste of tangy sweet. Plus their textures are interesting.
All the fruit you share here Juno is good to our body..I like also eating them..
The papaya looks really fresh and delicious! I haven’t seen a dragonfruit before. It looks pretty and unusual. 😀
I love tropical fruit, espcially when it is so fresh. These all look so tasty!
Wow !!!!
So much testy fruits. I wanna test one now. Thanks a lot for sharing such mouthwatering fruits.
Love this how-to guide for eating healthy tropical fruits! I’ve never had mangosteen or dragon fruit but I would love to try them.
Glad you like it! Mangosteens are great… You’d like it!
Thanks for the tips. But I have a question about the mango. The mangoes I get have sort of a dense center, almost like a pit, that isn’t able to be cut through. It looks like the mango in your photo is cut right down the middle. True?
Hi Leah, thanks for your comment and the question. Here’s the answer: http://www.flickr.com/photos/runawayjuno/6785231406/
There’s a pit in the middle, so we cut them front and back. But younger ones, the ones didn’t ripe yet doesn’t have pits sometimes. 🙂
Ahhhh….good to know. Thanks for the visual. That’s how I cut them too.
After eating bananas from Central America I couldn’t believe the difference in the texture and taste. I’m not sure what I’m going to do when I get home because now I have high expectations for fruits.
Totally understand what you mean. I like these little ones because they are so meaty and sweet! I’ll miss them when I’m out of this tropical zone…
Love to taste that fruits! Papaya and mango are my favorite. Dragon fruit is unfamiliar with me but I think it is delicious.
And that is exactly the reason I miss Asia so badly; getting good fresh fruits right now here in Europe is almost impossible. And I really really would like a dragon fruit right now, it is my favourite fruit, it’s sooo good!
Mmm… Now I’m out of the tropical region too, already miss them. But I’ll head to Vietnam in two months, so I’ll have them again! Oh I can’t wait!
Actually you don’t need a knife to cut open a mangosteen. All you need to do is to place two hands together and intertwine all your fingers ( left with the right) as though you are making a dome shape with your hands. Next, simply put a mangosteen in between the dome (intertwine hands) and press both your hands together, squash the mangosteen and the skin will open up. It’ll get a bit messy when the purpleish-red juice oozes out when you squash the fruit together and be careful not to stain your clothes with the juices.
And as for the dragon fruit, I love it too! I don’t remember seeing dragon fruit anywhere in Malaysia back then in the 90s(I’m a Malaysian). So I suspect it’s like a new breed of fruit or something.Hehe.Anyway, the best way to have a dragon fruit is to blend the dragon fruit with either orange juice or apple juice with some ice and you’ll have an ice blended grapefruit juice.Simply a perfect drink for a hot day.
Its really great to collect this several delicious and nutritious foods…. Have a kind of shake this summer, do you think?
Tropical fruits from Laos, Wow! I’ so excited to try it and discover how it help in my diet living…
This coming summer vacation we are plan to went and spent our total vacation at Laos and I am so excited to taste those tropical fruits…
Hope you’ll have some great ones! Now I’m out of tropical zone. Miss them already!
As a Malaysian, the fruit I eat most based on your list is papaya. But my favourite fruit is definitely mangosteen. Too bad i can’t eat too many of them often since it gives me fever..you should try the hairy rambutans too!
Aw, I’m sorry to hear that they give you fever! I like rambutans too 🙂 But didn’t see it in Laos!
I have tried each of those fruits you mentioned in this article (though from separate trips to Southeast Asian Countries) and I can attest to the heavenly taste of each.
Certainly they are heavenly. Oh, I miss them! I’m in China now.
I was not a fan of mangosteen until I discovered the health benefits it offers. The market in our province is just full of it which make is really convenient for me. It has been so long since I tried the dragon fruit and seeing the photo of it awakened the craving. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on these amazing fruits.
Love eating fruit specially this one mango..I am craving looking at their photo..
I have ate most of them but never ate Dragon fruit and mangosteen. Great tips to eat them, thanks for sharing
wow that dragon fruit looks good! I’m jealous!
Hey, What a fat bananas~!
I wanna bite that dragon fruit, it looks really sweet!
Dragon fruit is really something! Shame we can’t get it in Korea. Maybe in Jeju?
Never heard about mangosteen before but it looks like something I would like to try! And yea the little fatty bannanas are just too funny 😀
Where the durian and jackfruit at 🙂
What an interesting fruit! The texture on the out of them almost reminds me of feathers. Feathers or not, this fruit sounds delish
Banana is my most favorite tropical fruit apart from mango. Love to eat them anytime. Banana is also quite nutritious giving you more calcium. Well I have never tried mangosteen or even never seen it. Looks quite juicy.
What a fun post! I never knew how to eat dragonfruit – I always ate like a kiwi, cut in half and scoop out with a spoon. Now I know!