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 Fruit Gift Baskets |
| Specialty Fruits - (Back To Fruit Info)
Usage: Use in dips or sliced for a healthy chocolate-like dessert. Selection: Also called Chocolate pudding persimmon, good-quality black sapote will have soft and slightly wrinkled skin. The skin will turn from bright-green to olive as it ripens. Avoid: Avoid product that is so soft the skin has split or has black scars or bruises.
Usage: Use as you would any orange. Selection: Also called pigmented orange, good-quality blood oranges should be firm and heavy for their size. Select thin-skinned oranges with smooth, finely-textured skin. The flavor of this orange has raspberry and strawberry overtones, and is less acidic than other oranges. Avoid: Avoid product with soft spots, dull and faded coloring or rough, grooved or wrinkled skin.
Usage: Use like white potatoes - slice, deep-fry or boil. Selection: Good-quality breadfruit will be hard, evenly colored and heavy for its size. The coloring will be green and the skin develops brown speckles when ripe. Soak raw cut flesh in cold water before using. Avoid: Avoid product that is soft or that has black or moldy soft spots.
Usage: Eat fresh, baked, or add to fruit salads or desserts. Selection: Also called a Chunky banana, this banana looks like a regular banana but is shorter and more square. The flavor of the burro banana is a tangy lemon-banana mixture. When ripe, the skin of the burro banana is yellow with black spots. The flesh is creamy white or yellow and the fruit will be soft with some firmness toward the center when ripe. Avoid: Avoid bananas with soft spots, black or moldy stems. Gray-yellow or dull yellow bananas are an indicator of improper temperature handling and will probably not develop full flavor.
Usage: Eaten fresh, in salads & juiced. Tart variety is used in jams. Selection: Also called star fruit, good-quality carambola is fairly firm, and the skin will be yellow with no green tinges. Slight browning along the edges is normal. There are two varieties - sweet and tart. Avoid: Avoid product that is soft, blemished or has excessive browning along the edges.
Usage: Eaten raw. Selection: Also called custard apple, cherimoya has a custard-like texture that combines the tastes of pineapple, papaya and banana. Most product sold will be in the pale-green stage because is picked very green. Pick ripe cherimoya as you would an avocado; brown-green coloring and fruit that yields to gentle pressure. Ripen green product at room temperature for up to one week. Keep it out of direct sunlight and turn the fruit often. Do not put cherimoya in the refrigerator until it is ripe. Avoid: Avoid product that is overly soft, or has bruised patches.
Usage: Jellies, preserves, sherbets, fruit drinks or for breakfast. Selection: Guava is native to the Caribbean. The skin is green or yellow and can be either pear-shaped or round. Guava flesh can be white, red or salmon-colored. Good quality guava should be picked as you would an avocado - it should be stored at room temperature until it gives to gentle pressure. Scar and scuff marks are natural and do not affect the quality. Avoid: Avoid product that is overly soft or has soft spots that are visibly discolored.
Usage: Eaten raw. Selection: Also known as African horned melon, kiwano has been known for over 3,000 years, but has only been sold commercially for five years. Good-quality kiwano will be golden-orange when ripe. Kiwano has an excellent shelf life and can be stored for up to six months at room temperature. Avoid: Avoid product that is overly soft or has tender, discolored areas.
Usage:Eaten raw or with other fruits like pineapples, bananas & mangoes. Selection: Also called litchi nuts or leechee, good-quality lychee nuts will be firm, rough-skinned and have deep-red to brown colored skin. Peel the skin to reveal a fruit that resembles a peeled grape. The fruit covers a smooth brown seed. Avoid: Avoid product that is soft, split or black.
Selection: Good-quality passion fruit has very old-looking skin. The underlying shell remains hard, but the skin will be brown, shriveled and may even have spots of mold on it. This will not hurt the quality of the product. Avoid: Avoid product that is soft. Mold is okay - it can be wiped off.
Usage: Sliced and used in salads or desserts. Selection:Also called Kaki, good-quality persimmon will have very soft and slightly wrinkled skin. The skin will be brilliant-orange and the flesh burnt-orange in color. Avoid:Avoid product that is so soft the skin has split or has black scars or bruises.
Usage: Cooked or fried when green - used in dessert dishes when ripe. Selection: Also called Platano, good-quality plantains look like over-ripe bananas with dark spots and scars, but they should be fairly firm. The best plantain for frying is still green-skinned. Avoid: Avoid product that has completely black skin and is soft or has spots of mold.
Usage: Juiced and eaten raw. Selection: Also called Chinese apple, good-quality pomegranates will be large, firm and smooth-skinned. The coloring will be an even deep-red and there will be few skin blemishes. Avoid: Avoid product with dry, rock-hard or wrinkled skin. Numerous brown or scarred areas on the skin or soft spots indicate old product. Small fruit will mean smaller, less juicy seeds with more waste.
Usage: Eaten fresh, in marmalades, jelly, ice cream & dessert sauces. Selection: Also called cactus pear and tuna fruit, good-quality prickly pear is egg-shaped and has yellow to magenta coloring depending on the variety. Ripen prickly pears at room temperature. The small seeds are edible, but the rind is not. Be careful of spines that were not removed. Avoid: Avoid product that is overly soft or that has dark soft spots.
Usage: Jams, jellies, marmalades and syrups. Selection: Also called golden apple, there are two varieties of quince; Perfumed and pineapple. The perfumed quince is shaped like a mini football and the pineapple quince is more round or pear-shaped. Both will turn from green to yellow when ripe. Avoid: Avoid product that is too soft or has spots of mold. Bruised product will have blotchy areas on the skin. Since quince is cooked and used in jams, slight bruises will not negatively affect the quality.
Usage: Used for baking. Selection: Good-quality red bananas are slightly soft and the skin will be purple or maroon-red. Slight scars do not affect quality. Avoid: Avoid product that is extremely soft, completely black or spotted with mold around the stem.
Usage: Peel the outer bark and eat out of hand or cut into fine strips. Selection: Good-quality sugar cane will be firm, and the brown bark will be smooth and unblemished. Sugar cane can be stored in the refrigerator for up to six months. Avoid: Avoid product that is soft or has spots of mold on the bark. Mold on the ends can be cut off.
Usage: Can be stewed, baked or frozen. Selection: Also called tree tomato, good-quality tamarillo will be smooth-skinned, free of blemishes and can be either red, gold or amber in color. Ripen at room temperature until slightly soft . Tamarillo should be cooked and not eaten raw. The red variety is very tart, while the gold and amber varieties are mildly tart. Be sure to peel before using and do not use a wood cutting board - the juice stains. Avoid: Avoid product that is too soft or is leaking juice, is blemished or has spots of mold. |
BLACK SAPOTE
BLOOD ORANGES
BREAD FRUIT
BURRO BANANAS
CARAMBOLA
CHERIMOYA
GUAVA
KIWANO
LYCHEE
PASSION FRUIT
PERSIMMONS
PLAINTAIN BANANAS
POMEGRANATE
PRICKLY PEAR
QUINCE
RED BANANAS
SUGAR CANE
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