Fruitful Memories

‘Mouthwatering, sweet and juicy’

By Shavaughn Moss

“Sugar apple, guinep, juju plum…” among native offerings worth exploring in The Bahamas!

Name three fruits you are going to enjoy while in The Bahamas—and you can’t say mango, coconut or pineapple. The challenge, if you care to accept, is to try as many native fruits you find while you’re here, and maybe even go off the beaten path in an effort to find them.

In season, you will find vendors peddling fruits streetside for a buck or two. Alternatively, stop at a roadside fruit stand to check out what they are offering.

Fruits are a nutritious staple in people’s diets and, of course, there are the grocery store staples. The specific type of fruit a person eats likely depends on their geographic location. So, as you visit The Bahamas, and make plans about where you will visit, where you will dine, and how many hours you spend on the beach, consider exploring the unique fruits you will find, and enjoy like a native, especially during the summer months.

Cherries

Cherries that grow in the yards of most people are known as Barbados cherries, but people simply call them cherries. They are small, round to oblate-shaped fruit. Some of the bright red to deep, crimson-coloured fruit are said to resemble small apples. They have a thin, glossy skin that covers yellow-orange, soft, juicy pulp. The tart to sweet-tart flesh surrounds several seeds.

Coco Plum

Coco plums (Chrysobalonus icaco) can be red, white, deep purple or cream-coloured. The reasoning behind the colours is that if the tree is near the water, they tend to have light-coloured fruit that are round, whereas the inland variation tends to be oval and red to dark purple.

The fruit, which has a large edible kernel, is soft and sweet when ripe and can be eaten out of hand. They can have a large crop in late spring and another in late autumn.

Coconut

Of course, you must find the time to enjoy a coconut, for the simple reason—a jelly coconut is absolutely delicious! There are vendors with fresh fruit everywhere you travel. They will chop one open for you and allow you to sip the refreshing, healthy water, but don’t throw away your coconut after all the water is gone, because there’s more goodness to be had with the creamy jelly, just waiting to be scooped out.

Guava

Guavas (also guayaba) – there are so many varieties to choose from. For the most part, Bahamians can’t tell you the difference. All they know is that guavas are used in a quintessential Bahamian dessert, the much-loved guava duff. Red guavas are most common. They are plump and round or pear-shaped. Their smooth skin furrows at the base and matures from dark green to light green and yellow. They are firm with an aromatic, edible skin that softens as the fruit ripens. The flesh ranges from pale rose to a deep pink or red and has a fleshy central cavity with dozens of small, edible seeds. They have a sweet, tropical flavour with a hint of acid.

Pink guavas are quite commonplace and are round to slightly ovate. They have a smooth green skin that ripens to a golden yellow with intermittent brown markings. The inner salmon pink flesh is semi-soft and holds small, round yellowish seeds that may be removed but are often eaten whole. Pink guavas have a sweet musky fragrance with tropical notes of papaya, passionfruit, melon and ripe pear. They have a moderate acidity and are very sweet. In fact, they are considered the sweetest of all the guava varieties.

Watermelon guavas are oval to pear-shaped fruits with a moderate size. The semi-rough skin is green, leathery and slightly bumpy. Underneath the thin skin, the red-pink flesh is dense and crisp. The flesh is also known to have a firm, granular and crunchy apple-like consistency, encasing many small, hard and edible yellow seeds. Watermelon guavas have a sweet scent reminiscent of strawberries and a floral, fruity and sweet flavour of melon and berries.

Mexican Cream guavas are another guava variety to be found in The Bahamas. They are small roundish fruits with a pale, yellow skin often with a red blush. Mexican Cream guavas have a creamy white flesh that is thick and aromatic. The small fruits have a small seed cavity that holds a handful of soft, edible seeds. They are sweet, with a classic tropical flavour, and offers aromas of pineapple and passion fruit.

Guinep

Guinep (also known as limonillo or Spanish lime) is a small, green fruit that grows in bunches like grapes. They have a flavour reminiscent of a cross between the lychee nut and lime.

Purchase a bunch, pop the shell to reveal a golden yellow seed covered in fleshy pulp, then devour and discard the seed. Low in calories, they can be sweet or mouth puckeringly tart.

Hog Plum

Hog plums are yellow, sweet and juicy. The scarlet plum (Spanish mombin), which is red, has a similar taste. They offer very little flesh but, in season, you will find Bahamians popping these plums like candy. Discard the seed.

Jujube

Jujube (juju). The most common to be found is the Thai jujube. They are small to medium-sized, depending on the specific variety. The fruits are oval to oblong in appearance and have thin but tough skin with a smooth, taut, and semi-glossy surface. Unripe, they are green. They transition into a yellow to yellow-brown hue when ripe. Underneath the skin, the flesh is white, aqueous, and firm with a crisp, crunchy, and cracking consistency. The flesh also encases a central core filled with a light tan stone containing two brown seeds. The juju releases a faint apple-like aroma and has a clean, refreshing flavour. The flesh is initially sweet, with a subtle blend of Asian pear and green apple nuances, followed by a tangy, slightly tart aftertaste. In their mature state, the juju skin wrinkles and softens, developing a spongy, dry, and chewier consistency with musky undertones.

The Ber (Indian Jujube) can also be found. Ber fruit are small, round to oblong-shaped with thin, glossy skin. They ripen from a light green or yellow to an orange-red colour. The fruit can be consumed both slightly under-ripe and ripe. When under-ripe, the white flesh is dense, crisp and astringent, while fully ripe fruits are spongy with a somewhat mealy texture and muted floral flavour. Each fruit contains a rough, inedible, central stone.

While many people today associate Hawaii with pineapples, the reality is Hawaii originally imported its pineapples from The Bahamas. So, Eleuthera has a long history of being a world-famous pineapple capital.

Pineapples are at their most abundant during May and June. These pineapples disappear quickly, so you must be quick!

Mamey

Mamey sapote features a thick, semi-rough, light to dark brown skin with a textured, scruffy and sandpaper feel. This not-so-pretty exterior hides flesh that ranges in colour from orange to red. Mamey is only edible when fully ripe and gives slightly tough pressure when squeezed. The flesh bears a complex sweet and savoury flavour. At the centre of the flesh are one to four elliptical seeds with a glossy black-brown hue that are toxic and inedible when raw. The fruit can be cut similarly to an avocado and eaten straight, out of hand, discarding the skin and seeds. Mamey (mamey apples) is a nearly round fruit that can grow to the size of a small cantaloupe.

For this fruit, you must peel away the thick skin to reveal a whitish pith that is typically discarded. The aromatic flesh is a golden yellow or orange colour with a smooth consistency. It can either be firm and crisp, or juicier and more tender, depending on the level of ripeness. The taste of a mamey apple is somewhat like passionfruit and apricot with a hint of berry flavour and a little tang. Mamey apples are available in the summer and autumn months.

Mango

The varieties of mangos to be found are endless. They have leathery, smooth skin, and they can vary in shape from long and slender, to kidney-shaped, or even somewhat round. Their skin is multi-coloured with different blends of red, yellow and green, depending on the variety. The succulent, vibrant yellow to orange flesh is aromatic and juicy, with a texture like a peach. The flavour is complex and sweet, with notes of peach, coconut, and vanilla or caramel, and is sometimes balanced with a slight tartness.

The Eleuthera Pineapple

One of The Bahamas’ most celebrated fruits is the pineapple grown in Gregory Town, Eleuthera. Extremely juicy with floral notes and hints of honey, growers on this island claim their pineapples are the sweetest on the planet. They chalk up that sweetness to the rich clay soil in which the fruits are grown.

Sapodilla

Sapodilla (or dilly) is a small, round fruit with a brown exterior. Its brown flesh tastes like a sweeter, caramelized version of a pear.

Seagrape

Seagrape trees are to be found along the beaches. When the grapes transform from green to a beautiful deep purple, the cluster of grapes are ready to be consumed, and can be eaten raw, or cooked into a variety of jams and even made into fruit wine. Beware, each fruit yields very little result. But they are sweet.

Sugar Apple

Sugar apple, also known as custard apple, flower during the winter months and ripen in the summer. Contrary to its name, it looks nothing like any apple you’ve ever seen, with its pebbled dark green skin which may not look appealing but is quite tasty. Opening it up, you will notice the sweet, light fragrance and creamy white flesh surrounding seeds. This fruit is juicy and refreshing when ripe. Beware, they contain hard, poisonous seeds. Consume the flesh and discard the seeds. Packed with vitamins and high in energy, they are a delicious excuse for when you’ve already had your cheat day.

The sugar apple has a thick, scaly rind with a creamy, sweet pulp which comes apart in segments each containing a shiny black seed. The more common sugar apple is green, though there is a dark red variety that is becoming more commonplace.

Tamarind

Tamarind fruit are bean-like-shaped pods with a cinnamon brown to clay-coloured external appearance. Inside the pods, the fruit’s flesh is tender and succulent. If green, it has a highly acidic flavour. Its underdeveloped seeds are soft and white. As the fruit matures, the pod becomes brittle. The flesh begins to dehydrate to paste form and takes on the cinnamon appearance of the pod while also losing its acidic punch and becoming sweeter. The seeds, too, change in both colour and texture, becoming flat, hard and glossy brown.

Fruits in The Bahamas will seem exotic at first glance, but if you’re adventurous and willing to give them a try, you will find fruit bursting with flavour. While some fruits can be found year-round, keep in mind that summer is optimal fruit season. We dare you to eat your way through the fruits of The Bahamas like a native when you find them! UA