Six Strange Fruits

Let dive right in shall we with six strange fruits!

Contestant number 1

Inga edulis - Icecream Bean Tree

Sounds delicious does it not? Icecream bean tree. Well they are something you can grow quite easily in your yard, either in a pot or in the ground. Growing between 4 and 10 metres tall, depending on your location, mine and my mums are about 2 to 3 years old and about 1.5 metres. These easy to grow trees, have bronze coloured new leaves , and green foliage year round.  It's little fluffy cream flowers are followed by pods that are filled with inedible black seeds. But surrounding those seeds is a white pulp, and its takes like vanilla icecream!

Contestant number 2

Puhala Tree

Such a strange fruit! Inside each of those bright orange/red keys or phalanges (the knobbly pieces) is a fibourous flesh and occasionally an edible seed that can be roasted. The flesh is usually chewed or blended for its juices and then discarded as it quite chewy and tough, which is said to be quite sweet. This strange fruit grows anywhere between 5 and 13 metres.

Contestant number 3

Kola Nut

This evergreen tree, bears a quite unusual fruit, inside it contains a nut that is filled with caffeine! The nuts are a tad bitter at first but sweeten the more you chew.

Contestant number 4

Jaboticaba

This one is on my bucket list! How interesting is this? What makes this tree so unusual is that the flowers, and then the fruits grow on the trees trunk! The fruits are similar to that of grapes, with a sweet, aromatic flavour. There are many different varieties, including dwarf species, large leaf species, and ones that bear yellow or red skinned fruits.

Contestant number 5

Pulasan 

Related to the lychee, the pulsaan is sweeter and juicier than its relatives, and separates more freely free its shell. It also has an edible nut similar in taste to an almond.

Contestant number 6

Salak 

This stunningly unusual fruit, actually grows on a small, spikey palm. It is also referred to as the snake fruit due to its scaly appearance. The skin is removed to reveal a luscious looking creamy coloured flesh. This fruit reminds many people of apples, strawberries, pineapple all combined. Sounds yum!

So what do you think? Who took out the funky fruit crown?

Happy gardening everyone.