Best Fruit Poll.

Very hard to only pick one tbh

Very annoyed at Joanna Newsom for not alphabetising Peach, Plum, Pear

oh strayapaws

Picking 🍒 to win by a landslide

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E1XvxjrVcAAq-Kt?format=jpg&name=900x900

The two best fruits (durian and mangosteen) are both not here.

cherry is probably my choice but there are a lot of disappointing cherries out there

on the other hand chilli is probably the correct answer but it feels like a cheat

Tomato, most versatile

Really considered not putting tomato on but figured it'd be a whole thing if I didn't

Having tomato and chilli on here is cheeky! And you didnt include capsicums in that case :P

I am not a person who makes multiple accounts to vote in polls. Unimaginable behavior to me until I reflect on how watermelon, the king of fruits, the food given to us by God for the purposes of knowing total sensory pleasure, is going to lose. I love all fruits and would make a case for the following if the king of fruits weren't in the room being the king, the eternal king, the unvanquishable king, watermelon, I will love you forever, I seek to spread the good news of your reign wherever I go, perfect by yourself and incredible in salads, so much more than most people know, watermelon, watermelon forever, ok I got distracted, here's my contenders list:

mango
strawberry
apple
peach
blueberry
grape

of these apple has everything else beat for diversity both of variety and uses; strawberries and blueberries are miracled; I ordered the pakistani mangoes from this article last year (went in on an order with a friend) and to be very real, they were the most delicious fruit I've ever tasted in my life, but they also don't keep, whereas I can leave a watermelon on the vine for a good while until I'm ready to eat it; peaches are similar, many people have had good peaches but the actual short-season Georgia ones, you will never ever forget even having smelled one, they are heavenly. still have I mentioned I like watermelons.

I'm also very fond of dates but to me they are kind of their own whole class of food.

voted for the fruit i'd most like to consume right now
blueberry

Dates feel like protein more than fruit would be a fair argument imo

if you get really into them the different flavors of medjool and deglet noor and other less seen ones can be really cool. (I have two with breakfast every morning, I buy big boxes from the middle eastern market up the street.)

workhorse fruits, humble children of the soil: apple, chili pepper, lemon, lime, pear, tomato; avocado belongs here too despite its current surplus of signification

definitively fruity fruits I am always happy to see: blackberry, blueberry, grape, peach, plum, raspberry, strawberry (a top-tier strawberry is truly amazing tho), watermelon

alright, but not going out of my way: cranberry, kiwi, orange, pineapple (on another level when grilled tbh), starfruit

fruits I like but am indefensibly lazy about dealing with, can be sublime if someone else does the work: nectarine, mandarin, pomegranate

genuinely not into: apricot, grapefruit

can be great but disappoint too often: banana, honeymelon, mango (could be the correct answer if I lived elsewhere), rockmelon (both melons are here b/c my parents forced me to eat middling fruit salads growing up)

big fan but these feel distinct and not-as-fruit-like: coconut, date

I kind of forget the differences between these because I am north american: guava, papaya, passionfruit

haven't eaten enough to have an opinion: lychee, mulberry (never), pawpaw (never)

the correct answer: cherry

I didn't want any overlap, but "makes a transcendent pie and/or jam" is another useful category imho

also on second thought I wonder if plum should be in the "disappoints too often" category

Guava, papaya, and passionfruit grow here in North America, though.

Also, mango has a nasty manky taste to me.

xp ah that's true! at any rate, personal life experience & cultural background means I haven't eaten them much

mangos tasted like gasoline to me until I ate some in India

Anything but banana and watermelon.

poll is a lot harder without tomato. runner up would be apple I guess, because of baked goods with apple in them

yeah the Indian & Pakistani mangoes are one of the most pronounced "you haven't really tasted one until you've tasted these" things. chaunsa and anwar ratol are the types to try

I think a good banana wins this, but rob is right: too often disappointing. Something between: apple, orange or cherry. Not voting tomato or date on principle.

is anybody besides me a little angry all the time that we only get to eat the cavendish

camaraderie otm

https://www.friedas.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Friedas_Mangosteen.jpg

Voting lychee but I enjoy it most as an ingredient or flavor e.g., in ice cream

voting for the one I can't live without, which is lime

I'm not that big on fruit (unless you count wine). I mean fruit's OK, but it doesn't play a large part in my diet compared to vegetables, grains, legumes, dairy or meat. I voted for the dark horse in this race: tomato.

Top favorites: Mirabelle plums, Sauerish apples that have been out in the cold, Strawberries

Exotic: Persimmon, Papaya, Mangoes, avocado, dates

In pies / dessert: Apricot, Blueberry, Cherries, Currants, Rhubarb

Seasonal: Melon, Clementines

One last word for homemade lemonade

wait, my actual write in answer is cold tangerines

o I see mandarin, I guess that counts

Does sleeve live at sea y/n

sadly not

this list is totally incomplete without durian

wow i'm kinda shocked that my honest answer is banana. i used to hate bananas until i started getting the organic ones. now i eat multiple bananas every day and never get sick of them.

a banana in a smoothie is essential imho. it's a killer flavor in all kinds of contexts. it's extremely easy and pleasing to eat. sold almost everywhere. can't stress enough how crucial it is to get organic ones though. whatever treatment they apply to the regular ones turns them completely evil.

I swear we've already had a fruit poll but I can't find it so maybe it doesn't exist after all.

Unanswerable. I've pondered the mysteries of at least 20 of these in regard to drink making, including the ones I'm allergic to. My personal favorites are prob coconut and passionfruit, but lime and watermelon are what I've worked with most. JCLC, come to my town sometime and I will make you several watermelon drinks, boozy or NA as you prefer.

There’s honestly too much to love here. My favourite sub-category of fruits is “fruits you have to fiddle with a little bit”; Lychees get a big shout out in that regard. Great fruit for fidget-enthusiasts

Other great category is “fruits that transport you back to your childhood”. Big shout out to the council mulberry tree out the back of my childhood home. You made spring a real event

nectarine for nostalgia reasons. my Nan used to grow them - i recently found a variety that tasted just like hers & it sent me to the moon with joy it was so good

plus they used to be my favorite stewed fruit hands down

xxp
FRUITS OF SUMMER

Strawberries the most overrated fruit. It’s not that they’re bad, but compared to all the other berries? They’ve got nothing going for them besides the previously mentioned ‘fidget factor’

i think one mitigating factor for many of these is like supermarket vs. fresh from the garden. afaict supermarket strawberries are barely edible. fresh from the garden they're fuckin unreal imo. tomatoes the same though it's easier to get decent tomatoes from the supermarket than it used to be.

nah, a sublime strawb is as good as fruit gets imho

xpost

This is true. I do remember strawberries tasting far better than they currently do. Even the best strawberry doesn’t top that charts, but I’ll take back my “worst of the berries” claim

I always want Star fruit to be better than it is. It’s a beautiful looking fruit.

not much of a fan of grapes in general, but i have always LOVED Concord Grapes

i have tasted dragonfruit but have no recollection of taste

I'd pick passionfruit (with chocolate) as a favorite flavor combo if this was the thread for that

grapes are probably the most reliably good-tasting fruit to get (along with apples) when you're in a grocery store in a small town with no human-food farms and a single shit food distribution network for everything and everyone.

Mulberries are incredible but since they travel very badly they’re almost never in shops. There’s a tree nearby in one of the Inns of Court that gave me about 500g, enough to make one big jar of jam, plus a few fresh berries for me, straight from the tree. Magnificent.

Also WTF in this case means Where’s The Figs?

they just seem fructose-y to me with no real discernable flavor profile

xp

Love fruit

Voted PEACH as a good peach on a sunny day is a very simple & accessible path to sublime vibes, it seems like the fruitiest of all fruits to me, actually perfect

although timing is everything, peaches are only good for a short time of year and then each individual fruit has an ideal ripeness time, takes practice to judge this journey from supermarket to fruit bowl to consumption, you have to work at it

only other I seriously considered was KIWIFRUIT, there have been gold kiwifruit round here recently that are absolutely mindblowing

Was gonna say… absolutely nothing in this world compares to a ripe peach (from one of the southern US states).

Also the secret ingredient in a delicious sangría.

xp Starfruit are so bland.

starfruit and dragon fruit are both all style no substance (though both can work in a fruit salad if used sparingly)

“Strawberries overrated” this is true of store bought berries but tiny wild ones are amazing

Voted peach over nectarine bc haven't had a terrific cherry in a couple years

i am coming out of my self-imposed exile for this post: i must give all praise to the paw-paw, truly the one good falling fruit and one of the most amazing things a person can ever taste— like a banana custard inside a green-brown shell. they’re so incredible that we have secret spots where we harvest them. if you are ever on in the mid-Atlantic during their brief season, seek them out.

see you all again in a week, go paw paw

I think in some ways the Meyer lemon is my favorite fruit. It is a cross between a citron and a tangerine. It is slightly sweeter than a lemon, has a thinner skin, rounder shape, and a slightly spicy orangey flavor.

According to wikipedia: “The Meyer lemon is commonly grown in China in garden pots as an ornamental tree. It became popular as a food item in the United States after being rediscovered by chefs such as Alice Waters at Chez Panisse during the rise of California cuisine starting in the 1970s.”

It is seen in gardens throughout California, and thrives even in foggy San Francisco. I have several friends with Meyer lemon trees in their yards.

Meyer lemons are really great in cooking, especially in braised dishes and with any kind of fish. My main interest in them began when I started cooking Moroccan tagines.

Since then I’ve been obsessed with Meyer lemons preserved in salt and lemon juice. The process of making jars of them is ridiculously easy, they last forever, and the salted lemons take on an even spicier character over time. My favorite recipe using them is Zuni’s pasta with preserved tuna, preserved lemons and pine nuts.

This year I tried making Meyer lemon marmalade, which is also great

since it feels like we're just choosing fruits to eat though, I'm going with raspberries. My father grew them on our property in upstate NY when I was a kid. We had them in some form or other for dessert pretty much every day in the summer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VEeaU-KLKs

In my early childhood we had figs and mulberries (red & white both) growing in the yard! glaring omissions both. fresh figs and mulberries are spiritual nourishment for me, an anchor to my past and a source of strength.

members of my extended family planted cuttings of that fig tree in london and long island, they grow despite the colder climate!

I didn't leave out mulberries! Sorry tho fig lovers

so you didn't! my bad.

i think "choosing fruits to eat" is a nice way of thinking about this, though I'm most inclined towards JCLC's view that watermelon is king, and "amazing in salads" is a big part of that... with, yeah, hon mention for short season peaches. wild strawberries a contender, if the the ones you normally get from the supermarket are a deal breaker. and where's the love for concord grapes?

going with the "technical fruits" like tomatoes and chilies = lame imo

I have a lot of love for concord grapes, we have two vines that are at least 30 years old and we steam juice them every year, it's the season right now and we just finished.

but lime, lime makes everything better. watermelon? throw some lime and salt on that. browning apple slices? just a bit of lime. it's the glue of the fruit world, bringing tastes together since time immemorial. plus, margaritas.

for absolute ripe perfection, nectarines just edge out peaches imho, but I've already voted

lime juice as an ingredient is essential, true. i even use whole dried limes in my favorite herb stew. "choosing fruits to eat" where they fall short

fair

voted mango because when i saw the poll i was eating dried mango. it's so good you can even have it dried

^^great criteria for good fruits

Big fan of dried bananas

bananas that are just beginning to get ripe, that have a partially green peel and are firm are the best bananas imo. once they start getting brown spots I'm not interested

Strawberries locally grown and picked are incredible, as are home-grown tomatoes and same-day fresh picked corn. That's like a holy trinity of amazing farm produce.

i grow my own strawberries and they cannot even compare to the driscoll's garbage in US stores.

dried mango is so fucking good. sorry for swearing.

I think I like oranges and watermelons best, taste-wise - but find myself eating bananas most because they aren’t messy and come in their own little jackets.

Also where’s the dragonfruit?!

honestly i love all of you and i'm trying to give up aggro for lent but "durian" is some extremist "i prefered their first album" bullshit and pack it in with that

i mean there's a lot of other ridiculous fronting on here but let's start there

Lemon for me. Don’t eat them straight up anymore after they were ruining my teeth. But still use lemon in all sorts of salads, dips, seafood, etc.

Wait, what?!

Oh and a good lemon sorbet is heaven

https://media1.tenor.com/m/7J3pMZn4Gc4AAAAd/mcdom89-simpsons.gif

honestly i love all of you and i'm trying to give up aggro for lent but "durian" is some extremist "i prefered their first album" bullshit and pack it in with that

― Yuwen Hu's army (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 29 September 2024 04:58 (six hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Genuinely one of my favourite fruits, fuck off.

accused of being a poseur for liking a particular fruit, wtf

Once bought an entire durian, the guy cut it up and put in plastic boxes for me, half-filled the little fridge in my flat, then my school gave me a new flatmate the very next day, he also turned out not to be a fan of durian at all.

I'll have you know that I liked your favorite fruit before they were cool

Raspberry gets my vote, it’s the fruit I eat every day when I can

Tomatoes do not function as fruit from a culinary perspective, but are my favourites and most-used on this list. If tomatoes are here, by the by, where are our peppers?

Apples are my favourite of the tree fruits, followed by peaches— a good peach beats a good apple, but good peaches are rare; I’ve even more disappointing peaches than excellent ones

Most underrated fruit, for me, is the “European” cantaloupe— not the American version that ruins fruit salads everywhere, but the gorgeous flamed fruit that you get in Austrian markets

excuse me American cantaloupe is goated and agua de melon is one of the most delicious drinks ever made

durian is crazy good, finally tried it last year lol.
American cantaloupe and honeydew... my lord, honeydew <3

melons .. so many of them and they're all so good

with melons though, lots of trash at the supermarkets. much better fresh and locally grown. it's one of the fruits that grows here particularly well, along with most orchard fruits.

fruit salad is kind of gross and gory and unpleasantly overstimulating imo

raspberry. also raspberry + lemon for best 2 fruit combination

Banana and blueberry go much better in/on pancakes!

The grocery store near me has what they call "personal watermelons" in the summer. They're the size of a soccer ball you'd buy for a small child before they're old enough to really play the game, and they're fucking amazing. So yeah, watermelon.

sometimes i can't even believe that i'm lucky enough to eat fruit whenever i want. its so good!

xxxxp no, it (fruit salad) is good

Good fruit salad is good, bad fruit salad (like chunks of apples, bananas and melon mixed in a bowl with resultant juice) is bad.

yes, the resultant juice is what ails me

Looking through this list and tempted to make it my mission to try all of them

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_culinary_fruits

This is one I used to be given as medicine in china, a tangerine-sized dry gourd, you put it in hot water and the tea (for the want of a better word) is sweet and slightly medicinal-tasting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siraitia_grosvenorii

Fruit salad is amazing, especially with some cottage cheese.

@ Joan Crawford I’m mystified by your goating of American cantaloupe, some fruit salad vendors hawk their product by advertising its absence

Thought while reading the list, were has all the carob gone? As a gen x child of hippies, I ate a lot of carob instead of chocolate, don't think I've seen any this century.

Apple. It has to be apples. Read your bible ffs.

mystified by your goating of American cantaloupe

one of my favorite flavors all my life -- as I say, in agua de melon it's the greatest thing, for me no other agua is on that level.

homemade fruit salad is one of those joys I always forget to make. with a little shredded coconut? divine!

ive voted orange the fruit not the order

aye lad as you do

Grapefruit is powerful. To children it is violence.

Grapefruit was my favorite citrus as a kid! It had the requisite outre-ness and just seemed out there, like olives, anchovies, dandelion salads and smoked meats

I still love grapefruit but don't consume it much now. It interferes slightly with the statin I'm taking, but that's not the reason.

I just don't eat proper breakfasts or lunches any more, where when I was a kid if you were hosting company it would be served halved, with a knife run down next to the skins in each section to make it easier for guests to spoon out (I know that's a very 1970s Sunset Magazine conception of it)

Muscadine

Nectarine/pineapple as fave eating experience and sweet thing, but tomatoes fit into every meal and almost all parts of my diet

My favorite flavor as a kid was currant, but I guess that tracks

Can't think about grapefruit for breakfast (and yeah, I've had it — I was alive in the 1970s) without thinking of this famous Hunter Thompson bit:

I like to eat breakfast alone, and almost never before noon; anybody with a terminally jangled lifestyle needs at least one psychic anchor every twenty-four hours, and mine is breakfast.

In Hong Kong, Dallas, or at home—and regardless of whether or not I have been to bed—breakfast is a personal ritual that can only be properly observed alone, and in a spirit of genuine excess. The food factor should always be massive: four Bloody Marys, two grapefruits, a pot of coffee, Rangoon crêpes, a half-pound of either sausage, bacon, or corned-beef hash with diced chilies, a Spanish omelette or eggs Benedict, a quart of milk, a chopped lemon for random seasoning, and something like a slice of key lime pie, two margaritas and six lines of the best cocaine for dessert…Right, and there should also be two or three newspapers, all mail and messages, a telephone, a notebook for planning the next twenty-four hours, and at least one source of good music…all of which should be dealt with outside, in the warmth of a hot sun, and preferably stone naked.

xp it was current back then but now its passéfruit

Someone upthread said they didnt know what mulberry is - its more or less blackberry, except a bit less tart. My grandparents had a mulberry tree in their yard we werent allowed to climb because we'd always end up stained all over with mulberry juice.

But soz I think I'm going to have to vote tomato for sheer usefulness. That or lemon. Honestly i'm not much of a fruit eater. I hate rockmelon/honeydew/watermelon for the same reason I hate cucumber - theres something in that flavour profile that curls my toes.

On the rare occasion I bother with fruit it'll be kiwi/strawbs/raspberries when in season, usually at xmastime accompanied by chocs and pavlova.

Brian o driscoll cogent here re tomatoes tbh

xp red and white mulberries have a mild taste that's closer to figs than to blackberries.
black mulberries are more comparable to blackberries but blackberries are bolder overall (and yes, more tart)

much love for crisp little currants that burst between your teeth all puckery sour and sweet! ain't had any since i was a small thieving child swiping them from a neighbor's yard. come to think if it, wtf, i'm an adult, i can probably source my own currants now, what am i even doing with my life?

voted cherries of course: many are bad but you can still fairly often find transcendently magnificent specimens of a season. gorgeous black cherries, their firm flesh yielding spurts of sweet crimson nectar, oooooh. and the bright tart ones are incomparable in pie/crepes/pistachio cardamom cakes.

respect to figs as well, since (1) they eat wasps and (2) they're a yummy little bag of crunchy seeds (and digested wasp)

I've never had a mulberry, but blackberries are awesome.

My family had a currant bush when I was growing up. Currants are incredible, they are both sweet and tart, they are very firm berries and are perfectly astringent

As far as savory entries go, olives are also a fruit! They are a huge part of my life - in olive oil, as an appetizer, as an ingredient in many dishes, on pizza, in martinis, in salads, etc. etc.

lol I absolutely grew up with the grapefruit halves and the little grapefruit spoons. I still like grapefruit but typically find it too much hassle. (if I do have grapefruit now, I like it broiled with caramelized sugar on top, that's pretty good. but a treat, obviously.)

I feel like my ultimate answer is going to be apple. I mostly specifically like a few varieties, granny smiths and honeycrisps, anything on the crisper/tarter side. But there's nothing on this list I don't like — the melon family took me a while, but I came around. Fresh ripe pineapple is amazing, same with mango. Some of these I mostly encounter as cocktail ingredients, where they're crucial. But for go-to versatility and utility, I think the apple is kinda hard to beat. Delicious raw, baked, juiced, stewed, sauced. Indispensable.

I ended up going with tomato. Amazing on its own (summer cherry tomatoes in a bowl is the best snack food ever), in a sauce (duh), gazpacho, on a sando with mayo and soft white bread if you're in the south or any other sandwich ever, in a salad (caprese omg), and as an added bonus it's the default item to throw to terrible stage performers in cartoons

I have 2 paw paw trees. They’re too young to fruit but are they any good? I didn’t get them specifically for the fruit but the description sounded like something I’d want to put in a fruit smoothie.

They are so good. Obvious truism already expressed itt: they're gonna taste like the stars coming straight from your tree vs. the grocery store (generally speaking). I've got a couple trees at my place and springs are made significantly better by them

Also I do no gardening at all besides mow the lawn but they just grow year after year, seemingly more each time, so yeah, nice and easy fruit in your hand

Went with grape as it’s one of the easiest on my acid reflux.

hey Dan, if the S. family bush was in 80's new jersey then maybe i have thieved from you! sorry :/ my larcenous days are well behind me now, i promise. i spent this past summer next to a yard filled with raspberry bushes all ripening to rot and i stole exactly zero berries. some might even call me a hero of self restraint.

this thread has me seriously fiending for good fruit rn. all i've got in is green apples and a wodge of freezerberries -- mediocre!!! would love the fruit fairy to gift me some cape gooseberries as i sleep. like big gold currants, tart and sticky-skinned and full of seeds. how i do love a seedy fruit.

melons, though. i haven't yet learned to love melons. maybe i just haven't met the right melon yet? watermelons are okay, othermelons often seem mucousy to me, with mild flavor that cannot begin to justify their slimy texture.

The slime is part of the charm

Like with Jeremy Irons

Few better experiences in life than eating a cold, ripe nectarine straight from the fridge on a hot summer day. Over the sink of course, as the juices drip down your chin...

Thought while reading the list, were has all the carob gone? As a gen x child of hippies, I ate a lot of carob instead of chocolate, don't think I've seen any this century.

― John Backflip (Camaraderie at Arms Length)

I love carob - I never saw it marketed as a health food when I was a kid so to me it was just another type of chocolate. I particularly carob-dipped dried apricots, and I have a carob & rice crispie fudge recipe that’s really good. Whenever I go back to New Zealand, I gorge on a longstanding brand of carob covered apricot muesli bars.

Best fruit in this poll: passion fruit
Best fruit tied with passsionfruit: mangosteen

I used to love stone fruits and berries but they’re not as good in the US, particularly raspberries and blackberries, they have no real flavor.

Oh shit I forgot about tamarillos/tree tomatoes. I haven’t had them in 35 years (I’ve never seen them anywhere except for the vines we had growing in our yard) but they’re amazing, especially with a little sugar sprinkled on them.

i'd never heard of tamarillos! what a beautiful fruit 😍

https://plantinstructions.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/tamarillos.jpg

Don't like most fruit and almost never eat it. Not my thing. Tomatoes.

it's really annoying that during the summer months, just having a few bananas in your kitchen is enough to create a viable ecosystem for a massive swarm of fruit flies. voted tomatoes.

I’ve had tomatoes on the ledge for a week or two and when I cut into one today: sprouted seeds :-///

I've never tried mangosteen, never even see one as far as I know

they don't keep well, if they start to go yellow inside then forget it.

is mandarin a stand-in for tangerine in the poll? They're not the same in my mind

The farmer's market late summer peach i had this morning was the best piece of fruit i've had all year. Just sweet drippy and sublime

Went with mango because it's the cadillac of fruits.. but I have a serious soft spot for grapes, as they grow wild throughout California (both native and wine grape escapees) and it's a real joy to be wandering along the railroad tracks somewhere and discover a vine with ripe, dark bunches and be spitting seeds as you continue your walk

Anyway I have a bunch of grapes tattooed on my shoulder blade but no mango tattoo

is mandarin a stand-in for tangerine in the poll? They're not the same in my mind

I would've immediately said strawberry until recently -- I haven't been able to pick a good carton in a while, and some of my cooling ardor is also probably because of trying to use them in baking.

But I've really gotten into mangos, and picking them has gotten easier for me. I used to be diligent about looking for the sap trails on their stems, but I think a lack of them doesn't mean they're necessarily unsweet.

<3 apricots, dried and fresh (although I usually eat them as pluots), and I've really enjoyed it in jams.

Passion fruit are really aromatic, but they have this weird umami, almost meaty taste sometimes (at least the ones that I've picked out).

Muscadine

― Heez, Sunday, September 29, 2024 5:45 PM (yesterday)

I think this would win if every fruitloving ilxor had tasted them, but alas.

tough choice between mango and pineapple for me, went with the latter because it has the sharp edge in addition to the sweetness

pineapples are kick-ass to be sure, and really good on shish-kabobs

pineapples also look really cool

blew my mind to see them growing in a field, had assumed they grew on trees.

I bought some TJ's dried pineapple recently and ate way too many rings too quickly and my stomach was killing me, pure acid

I bought a bag of green grapes yesterday that are huge and absolutely some of the best grapes I've ever had in my life. Crunch just one with your teeth and your knees will buckle.

i am addicted to sugar, so i usually just gravitate to the sweetest thing around. pineapple it is.

I’ve been growing a pineapple plant but I accidentally beheaded it a couple weeks ago :/

Mango has a soapy-ness to me that I don’t really like but it’s possible I’ve just never had good mango.

re: mangoes, I have to say I alluded to this upthread, but after I read this wonderful article I shared it and the author got in touch, and although he didn't end up putting the mangoes in my hand I did learn the process from him and so earlier this year a friend and I went halves on an order. it was expensive but I had to know. even the smell alone was otherworldly as we drove home from the cargo bay. the actual taste of them -- simply a lifetime peak eating experience, unbelievable. I ended up driving around town giving some to friends, they make you want to share their ecstasy, these mangoes. however in voting I have to take into account what I'm actually going to eat regularly as fruit rather than taste just a few times in my life.

We usually have a period (August, it's already over) where gigantic mangoes can be had at the local grocery for $10/10, so I usually buy boatloads during that time. I've gotten much better at slicing them up, I would say a big-ass mango constitutes a full meal and a good one at that

Pakistani mango season reaches London, and all the Asian shops pile the boxes high.

a native Hawaiian showed me a rad trick: slice the mango thinly, then marinate in soy sauce in the fridge for a half-hour or so, it's pretty darn good

i love hearing about fruit mystical experiences. i can't think of another food that inspires quite the same...

ooh yeah that's like the watermelon/salt/chili powder thing

xp!

When I was a kid we used to love going into the woods and picking wild elderberries, eating them by the handfuls. I don't know how many people here have tried them. They are only a little sweet, but have a deep earthy flavor. They grow throughout the northeast in semi-shaded areas.

After we picked them my mom would make elderberry pancakes for us.

Hey cat, I didn't live in New Jersey but in Western NY! We were happy to share everything with our neighbors. My father grew so much stuff that we ended up giving lots of everything away

https://www.ediblewildfood.com/images/thimbleberry-pictures/rubus-parviflorus-berries.jpg

Thimbleberry was a cool find when I was a kid in the forests of Northern California... you never saw very many so it was always a treat to discover a fat red ripe one

https://www.juneauempire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/31742971_web1_berry-picking-Vivian-.jpg

Ditto for the lowly salmonberry! Like a giant fat blackberry but bright orange, they grow all over the coastal northwest rain forests

The cool thing about fresh mangoes: you can eat them with the skin. Try it if you get the chance.
One shop here sells some mini-mangoes from Colombia. They're stupidly expensive, pale yellow, thin-skinned, you could grab 2-3 in your hand, and they're frankly amazing.
Some of the best mangoes I ever had were sold to me by a grandmother in a village in Andalusia. Otherworldly as others have said. I voted mango.

I've forgotten how good raspberries are, since they're on the pricier side. They're so light but creamy, with a punch of flavor.

in the order if which i would eat them if they were all in front of me and a perfect 10/10 version of each specemin:

1 - Grapefruit - pink, i eat about two a day, sometimes three in the summer when my grapefruit tree is producing like crazy. i feel so good after eating one, always calms my stomach.
2 - Mango - a good mango, fun to eat and sweeter than candy (others otm about dried mango too)
3 - Honeydew - might be the hardest fruit to find a 10/10 version of, but when you get one it's hard to beat
4 - Cherry - mt rainer or the super deep red ones are the best, super fun to eat too
5 - Peach - i could go nectarine as well but peach barely gets the nod due to it being easier to eat (the fruit doesnt stick to the seed)

I like that framing, I would go with peach/pear/blueberry/strawb/apple with those criteria

in conclusion, pears (perfect, ripe pears) are being neglected here

Everyone sleeping on plums in the stone fruit face-off. Nectarines have the above ^^ problem. Peaches have got the fuzz. Plums, have got the most beautiful colour of all the fruits inside and out, slightly smaller so you can pack a few of them away in one sitting, explode in your mouth without the juices dripping all over your nice white shirt.

plums > nectarines > peaches. Based on the Peach stanning itt, I'll chalk my peach opinion up to a supbar Australian variant.

Worth stating: Peaches, even the apparently subpar ones available to me, are still great; as are all fruits large and small.

I know it’s been stated that including chili peppers in this was a lateral move that distorts the poll but I immediately voted for them as soon as I saw that option because not only do I use them and their ground-up bits in my day to day cooking, they can also be delicious eaten as if they were a fruit, with all of the wonderful fiber benefits AND a kick

Blackberries and raspberries are wonderful in their own right because if you find anything that looks like them out in the wild, they’re guaranteed safe to eat (there are no poisonous berries that look like them, I learned this from a survival manual I made my parents buy me at a national park gift shop a hundred years ago)

I love peaches, but maybe I said this already, the peaches I now see in grocery stores are not very juicy, and the fruit doesn't stick to the pit, it's dry, and it is not begging you to tear it off from the pit while spilling juice like I remember

as far as poinonous berries go, don't mistake deadly nightshade for elderberries! Those are similar-looking but bigger berries

My favorite horse Frosty, cared for by our next door neighbor, who I fell off of in 7th grade causing me to break my arm and who I loved, ended up eating deadly nightshade berries across the fence, and he died

RIP Frosty

. . ."the fruit doesn't stick to the pit". . .

those are the serious eating peaches! the lesser eating peach is called "cling" for a reason. it is more a canning variety

dang, sorry for your Frostly loss Dan S.

i could go nectarine as well but peach barely gets the nod due to it being easier to eat (the fruit doesnt stick to the seed)

The method I've used to cut up stone fruits has been pretty reliable, provided that the fruit is just the right ripeness. Cut in half along the butt crack around the pit, then grab onto both halves and twist in opposite directions. Whichever half has the stone, cut in half again, and twist again; repeat again until you have eighths. (If it's overripe, the skin will most twist off the flesh.)

Stop the count, I’m too sad about Frosty.

The method I've used to cut up stone fruits has been pretty reliable, provided that the fruit is just the right ripeness. Cut in half along the butt crack around the pit, then grab onto both halves and twist in opposite directions. Whichever half has the stone, cut in half again, and twist again; repeat again until you have eighths. (If it's overripe, the skin will most twist off the flesh.)

― Muol Deng (Leee), Tuesday, October 1, 2024 7:18 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

yes this is great and its always a one of those small moments of anxiety just before where you have no idea whats gonna happen and when it goes your way its elation and when it doesnt... massive disappointment

Apples probably the true winner of this poll but for me, pineapple is what I'm always gonna go for first when presented with an assortment of cut fruit.

Nectarines beat peaches because no hairy skin

Nectarines beat peaches because no hairy skin

I'll say it again

Wtf, no persimmon option? No physalis???

Switched to a breakfast wherein I stir blueberries and raspberries into cinnamon'd and nutmeg'd porridge, and it's heavenly, so I'd vote those...

...but the best fruit is the blackberries you pick yourself

Wait hang on, not only is the LORD OWNED FIG not an option but nobody has mentioned it yet. Delete ILX

I thought we had all fallen, but it sounds like imago is still in that garden

Plenty of fig mentions, but no fig option in the poll.

Voting Cherries.

For me fruit must come with its juice. For the most part.

Kind of spoilt as a child by having access to incredible Mangoes, Papaya and avocados which are such nothing when they make it to Europe. I can't stand looking at what's available here. Fuck this avocado on toast bollocks.

Europe is shitty for fruit unless its put into something or is made into juice. Besides maybe pears, which has a nice juice. Apples have to be in a pie or an apple Danish. Truly awful on this its own.

I mostly eat banana. Its the UK - shit life.

But Cherries are fantastic, the one discovery. Problem is I don't have access to a good market stall so supermarket ones are variable, all coming in awful plastic packaging.

Fuck this avocado on toast bollocks.

stoked 4 ur daily mail column

xps fig offs peach

Fuck this avocado on toast bollocks.

stoked 4 ur daily mail column

― imago, Wednesday, 2 October 2024 bookmarkflaglink

Didn't say this was the cause of all your problems. Just that your tastes suck.

grapes are the most important fruit

I try not to have fruit in the house that might poison my idiot whippet, so no grapes or currants.

Seasonal Kent cherries are fabulous and very expensive, so Borough Market in July is your best bet, J.

Grapes and strawberries vary too widely - sometimes they go bad overnight or start out flavorless.

Apples are the winner IMO - consistently good within the type you prefer, rarely end up a wasted purchase because they sucked. I was digging some kind of honeycrisp hybrid this summer, a nice sharp bite but better texture.

Second best are some kinds of grape/cherry tomatoes, they’re called Flavor Bombs or something and I could eat ten pounds at once given the chance.

Yellow and gold cherry tomatoes are the best!

Thanks Suzy, I forget Borough market.

Tomatoes might win if we are including savory uses. I eat massive caprese salads for dinner ever year during the season.

For fruit as sweet treat, nothing beats ice cream I make from strawberries I picked from our CSA.

Peaches are so good, a real contender at their peak, but their peak is limited and hard to find ime.

I'm not voting, because I dispute the premise: part of what makes fruit great is that it has a season and looking forward to the next one is part of the joy.

In my twenties I developed an allergy to the pit/surrounding areas of stone fruits so I have to cut them up before eating. Really miss just being able to take a bite out of a whole stone fruit. I don’t enjoy the whole sensual juice dribbling thing people foam at the mouth about tho

not really invested in this poll since my favorite fruits aren't on this BUT

popping in to say that if you live in pawpaw territory, in September do a search on fb marketplace or craigslist or whatever and see if anybody is selling pawpaws locally

or see if there's a pawpaw festival near you (again, unfortunately fb is the best place to look)

they only fruit in september so the window is small... and you might be able to still catch some!

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/db/Asimina_triloba_range_map_1.png/2560px-Asimina_triloba_range_map_1.png

a divine fruit, imo

if we're talking regional specialty fruits then I am all about the thimbleberry

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubus_parviflorus

grapes are the most important fruit

hard agreement

if we're talking regional specialty fruits then I am all about the thimbleberry

I posted a photo upthread!

I go through at least two pineapples weekly, so they're the clear winner.

I'm also big on grapes, honeydew melon, mandarin oranges, cranberries (particularly in the form of Craisins).

A large number of fruits that I used to enjoy just make me fart now. Or maybe they always made me fart and I only recently put two and two together. But goodbye to most stone fruits, watermelon, apples, blackberries.

Blueberries are good, but I'm always afraid I'll get a moldy one, so I rarely buy them.

My wife and I got really into Outshine Creamy Coconut Fruit Bars this summer, which led us to want to try actual coconuts. I ordered special tools from Amazon to pry them open. It turned out to still be a pain in the ass to open them. Also, they are very highly caloric for even a small serving of raw coconut. And not taking all that into account, it's mostly just sorta dry. I still enjoy a few toasted coconut flakes as a dessert topper though.

What are people's go-to fruits during the winter?

clementines

the "feel good" factor from citrus still takes me aback from time to time

Europe is shitty for fruit unless its put into something or is made into juice.

this is so false! ever been to the farmer's market in any Bavarian town? ever hear of a Bergman movie, wild something, can't quite place it? berries in Europe have an intensity only rivaled in the PNW

Cherries in SW France are practically appellation controllé.

I love blackberry jam 0 I like the way it looks in a can

What are people's go-to fruits during the winter?

yeah, Xmas tangerines are a thing... what are the ones with the easy-peel skin? awesome

mmm, winter citrus...I'm going to make mandarin marmalade this year

Tangerines and persimmon/Sharon fruit.

A very ripe persimmon that’s almost too wobbly to peel is wonderful. Persimmons that are not ripe enough give me fuzzy mouth, though.

it seems like there's (at least) two kinds of persimmons - one can be tasty, the other is garbage but attractive on the tree

Nectarines. I love most of the fruits in that list but good nectarines are on another level.
Raspberries possibly the best flavour but can be dry when fresh.

I feel like plums should be amazing but I've never had one that isn't disappointing on some level.
Shout out to lemon for being one of the best flavours of things, and also pears which can be perfect in desserts.
I would love to be 6 again and taste guava juice in South Africa for the first time. Just one of those flavours I don't want to 'wear out' the Proustian rush.

I have that with papaya eaten in Florida as a kid (see also: the fresh fruit offer at Disney World hotel breakfast buffets).

I had a truly incredible pluot last night

the only plum i've ever had that i loved were these tiny golden plums from a tree in a yard where i lived once. beautiful flowers in the spring too.

a few decades ago I had some fried plantains at a Caribbean restaurant and was like, wow, this is truly amazing and deliciously nutritious food and not at all yucky slop like most fruit is. Never had fried plantains since, this is something I need to try again.

oh yes they are perfect for breakfast with eggs, fried in coconut oil

not at all yucky slop like most fruit is

'yucky slop'?? where are you getting your fruit?

I posted a photo upthread!

Shit! Missed it. I was lucky to grow up in an area full of wild berries—thimbles, wild strawberries, the teensy tiny bright blueberries that bears go nuts for, etc.

Feijoa (the people's fruit)
Tamarillo (thanks for repping, just1n3 <3)
Boysenberry

Used to eat a lot of cape gooseberries and banana passionfruit as a kid but it's a little harder (former isn't commercially grown here and I haven't had a proper garden in ages, latter is now classified as an invasive species)

Need to hunt around for pepinos, naranjillos and cherimoya a bit more.

Intrigued by JCLC's importing-Pakistani-mangoes-to-the-US story - never seen them in NZ; are they available in the UK/Europe?

They are - whether Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim or Sikh, all the big South Asian neighbourhoods in London (and any other areas known for huge SA communities) get loads of them and there’s an associated seasonal frenzy where families buy them by the boxful.

Fried plantains are ubiquitous in NYC and I find them delicious but unfortunately difficult to digest, to the point they’re an automatic no. Other people apparently don’t have this problem.

Looks like getting mangoes past NZ biosecurity etc is a pain:

https://thespinoff.co.nz/kai/04-01-2024/when-it-comes-to-mangoes-new-zealanders-arent-getting-the-good-stuff-2

My friends’ parents used to bring crates of mangoes back from visits to Pakistan, they were amazing. Presumably bio security was less of a thing in the late 80s.

Xps the best strawberries I’ve had in recently memory were in Finland. Cheap, too.

Xp to etc: I can never eat feijoas or kiwi fruit again because we gorged on them as kids.

milo, I agree with you about honeycrisp apples, those are the ones I always go for if I'm not in the mood for baking with or eating Granny Smiths

kinder, I loved plums as a kid, they were just sweet and juicy enough to be satisfying without being over the top, but for years now when I buy them in grocery stores they mostly seem dry and tasteless, same goes for apricots. My best friend loves apricots above all, but they aren't good any more, I think they are best when baked in galettes or tarts

the only good plum is one plucked straight from the tree... Santa Rosa is the best varietal imho

California is avocado heaven. I had trouble getting used to them since I never had them as a kid - like with cilantro I originally thought they tasted soapy - but now I eat them in salsa, as guacamole, as avocado on toast (which requires other ingredients like hard boiled eggs, roasted tomatoes, onions, herbs, bacon, salmon, or goat cheese to be really great), cut up into a salad (which is my usual way to eat them now), or halved with soy sauce sprinkled over them, or just digging into them with a spoon

I had a truly incredible pluot last night

10-12 years ago our Whole Foods got the most incredible pluots - multiple colors, varieties, and flavors - the green ones were especially zesty. They have been slowly disappearing in the years since the Amazon acquisition.

halved with soy sauce sprinkled over them

now we're talking

'yucky slop'?? where are you getting your fruit?

― Andy the Grasshopper, Wednesday, October 2, 2024 2:40 PM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Real England

fuzzy mouth

this is such a real challenge when it comes to so many great fruits :/

this is an incredibly informative thread.

this is so false! ever been to the farmer's market in any Bavarian town? ever hear of a Bergman movie, wild something, can't quite place it? berries in Europe have an intensity only rivaled in the PNW

― J Edgar Noothgrush (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Wednesday, 2 October 2024 bookmarkflaglink

Do people have berries on their own? I like 'em but I can only have bluebberies with porridge. Strawberries do go with cream.

Papaya can go on its own. This is a kind of fruit rockism but I value fruits that can just be tasted on their own. That are enough.

Scottish raspberries are absolutely amazing. Not all fruits need blazing sunshine.

I was just in Italy and the average fruit served for breakfast in a hotel was definitely superior to the average fruit I buy in a supermarket in the US.

I go through at least two pineapples weekly, so they're the clear winner.

Also, in reference to this, I had been cutting up pineapples solely with a knife for years, which was a little tiresome and frustrating and limited my pineapple intake. But earlier this year, I discovered the most glorious kitchen tool - the pineapple corer! Now, pineapples are ready for consumption in a matter of seconds and nothing can stop me.

https://cdnimg.webstaurantstore.com/images/products/large/622312/2271314.jpg

that is very cool

do you have a good deal if i purchase in the next 30 minutes

jeez, get a diamond edge knife sharpener instead!

I've already got core hole bits for my pistol drill, but don't need that shit in the kitchen

Sadly a tad allergic to pineapple :-(

oh so you don't like pizza then

Sadly a tad allergic to pineapple :-(

My boss said his teenage daughter at a pineapple core and got crazy hives... I guess the core is somewhat toxic?

Lol Calzino.

Never looked into it. Just get a weird reaction in my skin.

Digging the new Trader Joe's Soft Dried Apricots... grown in Uzbekistan!

i quite like dried apricots.. i get "dried turkish apricots" from sprouts from time to time.

lol eating two pineapples a week is insanity

not if you want to be very welcoming to everybody

The pear I ate earlier today was really good, gonna vote for that. The fruit I actually eat the most of is banana, it's cheap, portable and non-messy.

I once ate an entire pineapple by myself because it was so good and the stomach pain will never be forgotten. I still love pineapple but try to limit my access — they make me crazy and I eat too much.

im trying not to spoil any of this but with the plotlines and the hitrate so far im very surprised how many of the cast i see credited with 40+ episodes tbh

pineapple has the powerful digestive enzyme bromelain, which can cause nausea and diarrhea when eaten in excess

bromelain more like bro m layin down

:) I do love pineapple

uh

my post was for the yellowstone thread ffs

will and grace

there's a joke here somewhere

i also ate at least one if not two pounds of grapes by myself
do NOT recommend

it felt like my body was trying to dissolve itself

I grew up with muskmelons. My father spread plastic over the soil in our garden surrounding them like he did with our pumpkins so when they fruited they would be protected and their roots/stems would hold the heat in and thrive in our autumn upstate NY weather.

They were so juicy and awesome. From what I’ve read they are almost synonymous with cantaloupe but I've never had a cantaloupe from a grocery store that approximated them

That sounds so good.

I have some gross fruit stories from working in a produce department as a kid. It's amazing I still eat the stuff.

lol eating two pineapples a week is insanity

― budo jeru, Thursday, October 3, 2024 3:15 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I once ate an entire pineapple by myself because it was so good and the stomach pain will never be forgotten. I still love pineapple but try to limit my access — they make me crazy and I eat too much.

― Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Thursday, October 3, 2024 6:40 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

pineapple has the powerful digestive enzyme bromelain, which can cause nausea and diarrhea when eaten in excess

― Dan S, Thursday, October 3, 2024 6:50 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Ok, it's worth noting that the pineapple corer does end up wasting a certain amount of the fruit, so I may be eating slightly less than two entire pineapples. Next week, I'll try to remember to weigh everything out and determine how many servings of pineapple this works out to. I assure you, it is not bowel disrupting levels of pineapple.

If Google is right that a cut up pineapple yields 170 grams of fresh fruit and we are supposed to eat 5 servings of 80 grams of fruit-vegetable per day (about the weight of one apple), then two pineapples per weeks does not sound unreasonable, if slightly obsessive.

(If poorly worded, I meant to say that a pineapple is equal to just two apples, nobody cries out if you said you eat 4 apples per week)

170 grams is definitely too low for the pineapple yield. Looking back at my calorie counting app, I've eaten 7 100-gram servings this week, and I think there's still a little bit left in the fridge.

You're right, I didn't think those numbers correctly. More searches suggest 450-750 grams (16-27 ounces). Don't mind me.

Speaking of cantaloupe adjacent fruit, I had a sugar rush melon from the farmers market a few weeks ago and it was insanely delicious. Head and shoulders above a regular cantaloupe. They seem to be exceedingly niche, however

just1n3 otm wrt to passionfruit (lilikoi/maracujá) & mangosteen being the king and queen of all fruit.

I'm not that big on fruit (unless you count wine)

^^ perfect line for a 70s song

Just reading this ballot list makes me happy to be alive.

Hollywood Squares: You're the most popular fruit of all time - what are you?
Paul Lynde: Humbled.

lmao

the answer was actually banana

So much nuance in this poll. Shoulda posted this as a good ol' fashioned, tabulated, ilxors top 77 fruits of 2024

Tried The Koyo Berry (a supposedly very fancy strawberry) today. $10 for 10 🥴

They’re fine but for the price, Driscoll’s Sweetest Batch are way better.

I'm not that big on fruit (unless you count wine)

^^ perfect line for a 70s song

Just reading this ballot list makes me happy to be alive.

― bratwurst autumn (Eazy), Friday, October 4, 2024 12:40 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

that wasn't a steely dan lyric?

As far as October goes, pumpkins start from a flower and so are botanically a fruit as well!

My favorite pumpkin recipe is my friend Chris’s Roasted Pumpkin Fondue, which is easy to make for guests and is a showstopper. You cut open the top, carve the seeds and pulp out of the pumpkin, layer bread and cheese and spices into it, and roast it. You present the whole roasted pumpkin at the table and serve the fondue along with the interior flesh of the pumpkin which you can scrape out. It is spectacular and delicious, and is really easy to make.

https://www.domesticdaddy.net/2014/10/13/halloween-for-adults-roasted-pumpkin-fondue/

Many years ago my father was obsessed with growing the largest pumpkin and used giberrellic acid to nurture his, but his biggest pumpkin only grew to 400 pounds, and when he entered the contest which was held in Half Moon Bay, the largest pumpkin was 700 pounds.

Since then I’ve read that they’ve grown pumpkins as large as 2700 pounds!

top shelf peaches are just the best imo, they are just perfection at their best. but many are heartbreakingly terrible and inedible.

strawberries have a similar super-zone to peaches in which, whoa! they're amazing. and their lows are not as terrible as peaches can be. strawberries are less likely to break your heart.

the most reliable tasty fruit (though never what i would consider remarkable or memorable) is granny smith apples, just very crisp sweet and tart.

Granny Smiths are also great for apple pies bc they have so much flavor and they hold their shape when baked.

Sho do I....

Granny Smiths? Really? I mean fine if that’s what you like, but I think they have skins like leather and no subtlety of flavour. They’re better than a golden delicious but… do you have many varieties of apple available where you live?

Full disclaimer, I live on the Kent side of London so our apple game is pretty strong round these parts. I didn’t vote apple because they’re so everyday for me, and a good mango is really special.

fig

It's been a long time since I last set down my thoughts on fruit. My original notes from 2005 begin with "we will need new faces". The last page has a plea for world peace, and a demand that the BBC release Metal Mickey on DVD.

Mango, the answer is mango. Mangoes are versatile, they are tasty, they do not outstay their welcome. They are exotic without being chavvy. The colour is pleasant. I learn from the internet that mangoes were introduced to the UK in 1931. Apparently by flying boat from Egypt. I have no idea what happened after that point - whether they were affected by rationing or not - but when I was a kid in the 1980s they were still unusual, so they still feel different. I am not yet bored with mango. If you offer me a mango I will not reject it.

And I don't care if the internet knows this. I like mango! I don't care if Google bombards me with adverts for mangoes and mango products. It would be like being bombarded by Sherilyn Fenn. That's not a punishment. Did you know that Metal Mickey actually had his own record label? Mickeypops:
https://www.discogs.com/label/234144-Mickeypops-Records

Among his releases was "Sillycon Chip", backed with "Sillycon Chip (Dubb Vahzun)", which sadly isn't available on the internet. Is it a lost masterpiece of vocoder-led early-80s proto-hip hop? Who knows. The single has the lyrics, which include a rapping section that goes:

"now the sillycon chip is a work of art / it lets me sing and lights my heart / it makes me boogie all day long / when I sing my sillycon song"

As a kid I would have picked artificial strawberry flavour. Not strawberry. I remember not liking strawberries at all - they weren't as tasty as the real thing. Which raises all kinds of postmodern questions about authenticity. Oranges? I have horrible childhood memories of trying to open an orange, and wondering if it was going to be worth the effort. Apples feel empty. Cherries have a poor weight-to-fruit-payload ratio. But on the positive side they again remind me of Sherilyn Fenn, which sends me to a happy place.

Pears? Also empty. Pineapples? Too harsh. Raspberries? Too soft. Tomato and chilli peppers are the contrarian, edgy choice. I am above that. Grapefruit is inferior orange. Banana is too dense.

Imagine if I was to be hit by a truck this afternoon. My last recorded words would be "grapefruit is inferior orange" and "banana is too dense". How many holy wars will be inspired by those words? How many people must die, all because I thought of fruit?

"Granny Smiths? Really? I mean fine if that’s what you like, but I think they have skins like leather and no subtlety of flavour. They’re better than a golden delicious but… do you have many varieties of apple available where you live?"

there are over 200 varieties of apple where i live and i still heart granny smith.

https://newenglandapples.org/apples/

fun fact: granny smith apples originated in australia.

Just watched Taste Of Cherry and am in full agreement on the transcendent, curative powers of fruit. What a gift.

Mangos are wonderful. The fact that they’re delicious even in suboptimal conditions, and heavenly in optimal conditions. For a while I was following Manjula’s recipe for breakfast dhal, a slightly sweet yellow moong porridge with a dollop of yogurt and sliced mango on the top. Perfect breakfast

Granny Smiths were my childhood favourite, replaced as an adult by Northern Spy. I learned in home ec that Northern Spys were appropriate only for baking and for pies but the teacher was incorrect. My favourite tart treat

Cosmic Crisp is my new current favorite apple, sweet with a bit of tartness and I've yet to find one that hasn't been blissfully crunchy.

^^^ best supermarket variety by a mile if you can't get locally grown

scott otm re: granny smith. kickass apple and many good applications

Counter (this could be European varieties and my palate): I've had more disappointing verging on inedible bitter Granny Smiths than any other apple variety.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxUD57NFLcU

I had a Lemonade Apple (well, several of them) last week because I hadn't seen them before. Good and not at all like Golden Delicious despite a similar form.

I'm still hopelessly devoted to the various University of Minnesota cultivars on the whole, Honeycrisp, SweeTango, et al. Even had the new First Kiss variety for it's debut at the state fair this summer.

So, when you hold
the hemisphere
of a cut lemon
above your plate,
you spill
a universe of gold,
a yellow goblet
of miracles,
a fragrant nipple
of the earth's breast,
a ray of light that was made fruit,
the minute fire of a planet.
-Neruda

Granny Smiths? Really? I mean fine if that’s what you like, but I think they have skins like leather and no subtlety of flavour. They’re better than a golden delicious but… do you have many varieties of apple available where you live?

Well, I did spend much of my early adulthood in Alaska, where the only apples that survive the trip north without turning mealy are Granny Smiths and Braeburns.

When I am in an apple area and it is apple season, I will eat whatever they tell me at the farmer's market will be both tart and crisp. But outside of peak apple season I always love a Granny Smith - the only really tart apple to be consistently available in stores in the US, and the hands down best for baking imo, as a lot of very tart varieties go mushy when baked. Fine if that's what you're going for, but I love how you can slice Granny Smiths very thin and layer them in a pie and the pie will be juicy and bubbly and those layers will still be there when you cut into it.

Speaking of Alaska, it is deeply unfair to blueberries that most of the people voting in this poll have probably never tasted wild Alaskan interior blueberries, which are so different from commercial blueberries that they may as well be a different fruit altogether.

Is it a lost masterpiece of vocoder-led early-80s proto-hip hop?

https://soundcloud.com/edward-hasker/metal-mickey-sillycon-chipp

has anyone ever done a world fruit tour? that would be a good gimmick for a tv show. an episode on pakistani mangoes, an episode on wild alaskan blueberries, etc.

i bought and ate a very good organic honeycrisp apple tonight, inspired by this thread. i haven't been eating enough fruit lately other than bananas.

xp oh that neruda quote is lovely

An episode on Marshallese processed breadfruit would be amazing. I've eaten it once when I was a child and remember it as pure heaven. Breadfruit has a lovely subtle flavor but is very fibrous, so they soak it and pound it and scrape it and ferment it and it ends up with a texture a bit like marzipan.

TIL that Northern Spy is a type of apple. I was only familiar with the record label.

I never had Cosmic Crisp apples until I moved to Montana, and they fucking rule. They're exactly what I want in an apple — crunch, juice, and just enough sweetness. Put one in the freezer for ten minutes before eating it, it'll improve your whole day.

Stayman Winesap, Crimson Winesap, Sungolds, Goldrush— all of these are somewhat obscure but absolutely insanely good apple varieties i eat whenever i can

University of Minnesota apples: https://mnhardy.umn.edu/apples/varieties

I had a Lemonade Apple (well, several of them) last week because I hadn't seen them before. Good and not at all like Golden Delicious despite a similar form.

Yes! They're a lot juicier despite their firmness, also recommended.

A good red D'Anjou pear is hard to find, but there is no fruit more elegant or underrated imo

a great pear can indeed be a thing of beauty. it's like eating something from the renaissance.

its a little like finding that great peach. a pear and a peach can't be too hard or too soft. they have to be juuuuust right.

ILF New Answers

"has anyone ever done a world fruit tour? that would be a good gimmick for a tv show."

such a great idea. i would totally watch that.

speaking of apples, yes, we do have a cider donut map where i live.

https://scontent-bos5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/462039211_1074564741335378_5978010804338943110_n.jpg?_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=127cfc&_nc_ohc=w29J2GxIXeoQ7kNvgEaE0sP&_nc_ht=scontent-bos5-1.xx&_nc_gid=AI9P72qiSUNxrPgZtSTnlHA&oh=00_AYCqNlLIbcM5CRI6ohq9PN58TJgz2Hoo6jZCxHjf2iC-7Q&oe=6709F2D1

mmmmm it is indeed cider doughnut season

Googled this and disappointed to find out that it doesn't mean "drinking cider and eating donuts"

well you could do that, sure, in fact it's recommended

if you've never had apple cider doughnuts, they are delicious

^^^

wild passionfruit vine going off behind the liquor store down the street... they're pretty darn good, seeds & all

Ok, it's worth noting that the pineapple corer does end up wasting a certain amount of the fruit, so I may be eating slightly less than two entire pineapples. Next week, I'll try to remember to weigh everything out and determine how many servings of pineapple this works out to. I assure you, it is not bowel disrupting levels of pineapple.

― peace, man, Friday, October 4, 2024 8:01 AM (four days ago) bookmarkflaglink

If Google is right that a cut up pineapple yields 170 grams of fresh fruit and we are supposed to eat 5 servings of 80 grams of fruit-vegetable per day (about the weight of one apple), then two pineapples per weeks does not sound unreasonable, if slightly obsessive.

― Nabozo, Friday, October 4, 2024 8:19 AM (four days ago) bookmarkflaglink

(If poorly worded, I meant to say that a pineapple is equal to just two apples, nobody cries out if you said you eat 4 apples per week)

― Nabozo, Friday, October 4, 2024 8:22 AM (four days ago) bookmarkflaglink

170 grams is definitely too low for the pineapple yield. Looking back at my calorie counting app, I've eaten 7 100-gram servings this week, and I think there's still a little bit left in the fridge.

― peace, man, Friday, October 4, 2024 9:25 AM (four days ago) bookmarkflaglink

I prepped my pineapples last night and it came out to about 800 grams. If you go by an 80-gram serving, that's ten servings. You're supposed to have 4-5 servings of fresh fruit per day. And to be clear, I do eat other fruits and vegetables during the week! I'm not solely housing pineapples.

fig

― secretary of state for fractal pluripotencies (||||||||), Sunday, 6 October 2024 bookmarkflaglink

the media thinks its funny when a man eats too many figs and rubs his stuomach and says "Oh ive had too many figs". They want us dead

— "Wabe" (@dril) September 30, 2024

I have been obsessed with tangerines for about the past two months, easy peelers from Aldi. Not on list so voted completely different, went with something that's just as 'mouth watering'

THAT'S A CLUE THAT IS

Agree with Lily Dale about crisp juicy tart apples. I don't touch the sweet ones.

easy peelers from Aldi

Are these like "Cuties"? Easy to peel but I fear they're probably some awful genetic mono-crop

Andy, do you know there are only 4 true citrus in their genus taxonomy, everything else is a product of genetic engineering:

https://i.imgur.com/IaeRnKM.jpeg

I get that, I'm just wondering if some of those Cuties and the like are owned by Monsanto or something, and they all are genetically identical

if genetic monocrops taste like cuties i'm in favor of more of them.

tangelo not in the poll, but a good tangelo can be one of the great citrus fruits

apparently cuties are grown by sun pacific in the san joaqin valley and are non-gmo certified fwiw

i feel like there is some real tension with this poll. i hope it doesn't tear our family apart...

which is why i had you guys pick for me. too much pressure. i am happy with your choice though.

Lime will pear us apart... again

do you guys ever make your own applesauce? i used to. i should soon. i would add some cinnamon...some honey...water...i liked it chunky. mmm...that smell...

i can't even remember what i did. it really has been awhile. lemon juice? probably.

Andy, do you know there are only 4 true citrus in their genus taxonomy, everything else is a product of genetic engineering:

🖼

i just had one of these. they are wee melons. like toys! someone gave them to maria at the community garden. tastes like a slightly sweet cucumber. would be good in a salad. or pickled.

https://www.facebook.com/e0d6c2f0-a41e-4375-a5e7-945a5a84897f

https://scontent-bos5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/462472201_10162252140117137_7601389534896670069_n.jpg?stp=cp6_dst-jpg&_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=127cfc&_nc_ohc=bHWFnlA8tDAQ7kNvgHUnAuX&_nc_ht=scontent-bos5-1.xx&_nc_gid=AgzJzLKe05d2euuayEAmI9F&oh=00_AYBkmcjEp7RXKuXfGcCacvz1dTwpsGZ1F96POgf3_pvbsg&oe=670B7EB5

huh, they look like jawbreakers

Super cool.

And to be clear, I do eat other fruits and vegetables during the week!

This citrus talk reminded me: sumos! The best citrus.

slightly regretting my lime vote now, passionfruit is my fave flavor here I think

yeah the citrus family tree is fascinating stuff, including the mysterious unknown origin of grapefruit!

This citrus talk reminded me: sumos! The best citrus.

Yeah, sumos at Xmas are a gift

yeah the citrus family tree is fascinating stuff

Not to mention the Trifoliate Orange, which science hasn't even figured out whether its genus is Citrus or its own genus, Poncirus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trifoliate_orange

A buddy brought me about 15 lbs. of these a few years ago from a secret thicket in the next county over, really weird little buggers. So full of seeds there's no room for juice.

interesting... super thick rind

I see pomelos for sale in Chinatown and wonder what the hell they're good for.. the rind is like an inch thick, and there not much going on inside.. they look cool, I guess, just because they're huge

https://www.thebar.com/en-gb/recipes/pomelo

Pomelos are an adventure in texture and flavour. The juice pods are large enough that they can be extracted one by one and crushed with the tongue against the roof of the mouth, little New Year’s fireworks

Yeah, sumos at Xmas are a gift

― Andy the Grasshopper, Tuesday, 8 October 2024 23:28 (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

ok bob cratchit

huh?

honestly it's such a simple and pleasant gift, no possibility that it will go unused, and makes me feel connected to christmases of yore like few other things. reaction of "haha poor" is kind baffling to me

i know you were just being silly but just wanted to stick my neck out in support of giving other citrus at christmastime!!! so classic

*giving others

My parents always put oranges in our stockings and they continue to do so for their grandkids. Its a complementary flavor to any chocolate that happens to be in there as well.

my parents also put oranges in stockings but it was for... less cheerful reasons.

😢

do not underestimate the power of the aporicot!

They have these white flesh nectarines in Sainsbury’s over here (UK) but seemingly only for a few months of the year and they are hands down the nicest fruit I’ve ever tasted.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

SO EXCITING

https://static.vecteezy.com/system/resources/previews/026/568/328/non_2x/cute-excited-pears-character-funny-electrifying-pears-cartoon-emoticon-in-flat-style-fruit-emoji-illustration-vector.jpg

https://us.images.westend61.de/0000716531pw/portrait-of-excited-young-woman-holding-fruits-in-her-arm-in-front-of-white-background-GDF000979.jpg

https://static.toiimg.com/thumb/msid-64749151,width-1070,height-580,resizemode-75/64749151,pt-32,y_pad-40/64749151.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/Our-SweetsCrawl-Tours/FruitCrawl-Oakland/i-3vwdFft/0/L/IMG_4797-L.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/Our-SweetsCrawl-Tours/FruitCrawl-Oakland/i-z59L3HN/0/L/DSC_0145-L.jpg

https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b9fee8996d455cf3b48f2d1/1539986542716-B7TXRKZJR47Q7WLU4JA2/california-tropical-jaboticaba-1.jpeg

Get ur predictions in people:

0 votes: kiwifruit, starfruit, cranberry, honeymelon

i just shared the most amazing pear with my husband, holy shit it was almost religious how good it was

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

If apricot spread was an option, I might have felt compelled to throw it a vote

mangos and Cardiacs: things that are objectively good but slightly overrated on ilx

LOL

C’mon let the mango through

banana too high

that's like 150 people who voted! ghost voters. there definitely aren't 100+ people posting on the reg.

tomato voters can take a hike. tomato is a technicality fruit.

blackberry, lemon, and grape were robbed.

Surprised lemon got the up on lime. Otm about tomato

No mulberry love for all the mulberry talk

I am proud to be the only lime voter

dates were robbed as well

mango voters should try a fresh passionfruit sometime

oh yeah well you should try a fresh taste of my . . . garden tomatoes in a light vinaigrette

j/k i don't have any garden tomatoes, much to my chagrin

maria had some good ones. and cherry tomatoes too. i love garden tomatoes cuz flavor but also funky shapes and colors that big supermarket doesn't want you to know about!

tomato voters, show your faces... justify this travesty

I was team mango, so I'm fine with #1

I feel like the tomato and avocado voters must not like fruit very much or don’t have access to fresh fruit. It’s okay. I don’t think you are horrible. Maybe you were operating with a scarcity mentality, like you could only have one of these, and not any of the others. I think banana is another choice along those lines … frozen banana can substitute for ice cream tbh.

But imo the best are:
Watermelon
Strawberry
Orange
Mango
Peach

Also credible:
Lemon
Lime
Mandarin / tangerine

Overrated:
Apple
Grape

Shocked at the low votes for avocado, did they get a bad rep as hipster food. Granted, the imported ones are mostly bland; but the ones from the region where they are produced are heavenly.

Some people are more savoury than sweet. I picked pineapple because it was the best available option in a poll where figs did not appear. I have a fig tree on my balcony but it’s only given me two ripe ones because London, so green fig jam is on the horizon 🙃

tosh. Vine cherry toms are great, but when I crave fruit I ain't running to the tom shelves.

I think suzy is otm re the savory/sweet thing.

(my "tosh" was directed to the poll results, not suzy!!)

We need a follow-up Real New Fruit Poll AKA Country On The Click featuring all the best fruits. Like durian.

I shun the humble orange because I don't enjoy having sticky hands

two pawpaw votes! hell yes to this humble falling fruit that so few have even heard of

Congratulations ILX on making the right choice

Even the 0 votes are tasty

Shocked at the low votes for avocado

I eat these all the time but i don't really think of them as "fruit".

Some people are more savoury than sweet.

I didn't vote bc I have never craved fruit in my life except for refrigerated watermelon on a hot day. Mostly it's too sweet/tart/intense for me, my infant sensibilities can only handle mashed potatoes and animal products. /midwesterner

I support your decision to speak your truth here.

I want to thank my ilx brethren and sistren for allowing me this safe space and for not fruit-shaming me now that I've shared my experiences of sensory trauma.

The very thought of a strawberry makes me need a nice comforting plate of roast beef to re-regulate my nervous system.

I acknowledge my California privilege of living where many of these delicious fruits are grown. I apologize to in orbit for triggering.

As a kid, my backyard had at least 5 of these.

Also fwiw we also had potatoes? Is that calming?

Perfect! I'm working with a somatic practitioner to release my trauma through the movement therapy of lifting a forkful of cheese-smothered fries and putting them in my mouth.

Mindfulness really helps

Do I dare to eat a peach and all that

Potatoes are supposed to be soporific because: nightshade family. It’s not only carb coma territory.

choosing fruit or potato is not a hellish sophie's choice i would ever want to choose! but i might actually go potato...god help me.

i mean most of my peoples came from the sodden sod of england and ireland potato is kinda considered a fruit in those places, no? in any case, i definitely have spud dna.

My dad’s family is from the same area as Devo… speaking of spuds. However, I would definitely vote fruit over potatoes… maybe mom’s Mediterranean side wins here.

I think banana is another choice along those lines … frozen banana can substitute for ice cream tbh.

We just got back from Dominican Republic, banana/plantain can substitute for so many things...

My dad’s family is from the same area as Devo
as am I, and I have a taste for fruit that rivals anyone i have ever met. i am "ate a whole pineapple by myself in the span of an hour or two" person.

also hi 5 mango, ilu

Dynamic range of the winners is interesting.
Unless it was rotting, I don't think I've ever had a bad mango.
Tomatoes though is a roulette spin every time.
Then pineapple is back to floor and ceiling being pretty close.

I wonder how the results would be if you had to judge the fruit by their worst "normal" offering.

i never buy mangoes.

i enjoy pineapple in a can. the rings. with natural juice. because then you get a can of great juice! is that the pineapple's "worst normal offering?" i mean its definitely handy when you don't want a whole pineapple.

its also almost no difference taste-wise from the real thing.

Subtract out the misplaced tomatoes and the 8-and-up list is a very respectable selection. Citrus as a group is getting robbed here, though. Surprised oranges didn't make the top tier.

Even though I ended up voting for them, I've had bad mangos -- some combination of underripe or bland.

I kind of wish I'd given more love to raspberries!

Bananas are incredibly versatile in baking -- you can use it to replace raw sugar and even butter.

I buy mango pulp in a can for lassis, 10/10 would recommend.

Mango
Tomato
Pineapple
Peach

oh hey that's my favorite Tropicana juice

I don't think I voted, too hard

xp lol

in orbit you grew up around some of the best apple orchards anywhere! tho I can see your fruit reticence reflected in many of my midwestern family members (the mad berry-pickers aside)

I do love apples, it's true, and I'll bake the hell out of an Ida Red (I have 5 the size of softballs in my fridge right now) and I'm proud of our fruit--but I hardly ever think about sweet foods. It's okay! More for La Lechera.

Oh man apples, talk about dynamic range!
I have a joke about Red Delicious apples: It's definitely one out of those two things.
I like many kinds of apples, but Red Delicious, "how do you like them apples?"
I don't!

red delicious is the saddest of apples

I got a couple late-season peaches a week or two back and it was a huge mistake... mealy, mushy, flavorless
Better off with canned

whoever named the grapefruit when there was already a fruit named grape.......incompetent legend. i wish we could hang out

— erin chack (@ErinChack) October 25, 2024

Currently enjoying grapefruit jam with my porridge in the mornings.

It's called grapefruit because it hangs on the tree in bunches like grapes.

I bought a cherimoya for the first and it's hardly ripening at all (I guess that what happens when it's in the low 60s) -- does the paper bag trick work?

It's called grapefruit because it hangs on the tree in bunches like grapes

I walk by a grapefruit tree everyday and the fruit hangs no differently than an orange, lime or lemon tree, certainly not in 'bunches'

it totally hangs in bunches

Chinese shop near my work had durian, paid £20 for two pieces, no regrets, best fruit.

fwoooooot!!

mango in a curry is a blessing

what's that fruit they have in NZ that doesn't really export well but has a scent that makes you feel like you're living inside a poem by Coelridge or Rumi -- the feijoa -- given how rare they are outside of their range (I guess they're also in South America) they wouldn't stand a chance on this thread but their scent is so purely divine that I have sense-memories of just being in the room where I ate one

The combination of feijoas not storing/traveling well but being super-abundant and a common hedgerow plant means a lot of these kinds of scenes in NZ:

https://images.nzgeo.com/2020/06/164_Feijoas_07-866x1300.jpg

(via https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/the-peoples-fruit/ )

Brb booking flight to NZ

they sometimes sell feijoas at the sacramento farmers market!

mr veg loves them (developed a taste for them holidaying in nz)

i’m not as much of a fan, they taste like stamp glue to me lol

I live in New Zealand and have a huge feijoa tree in the front yard. It produces around 5000 fruit per year, although some are tiny.

Not actually a huge fan, the seeds get stuck in my teeth, but giving them away around the neighbourhood is a nice way to meet neighbours.

huge feijoa fan here, i also got mine at the Sacramento Farmers Market when i lived in the valley

new contender just dropped, where has this been all my life?!?! I am in love.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calamansi

Oh, I have to small trees in my (London, UK) garden! They are good in gins.

*two

my sister sent me a jar of apricot/calamansis jam that is just unbelievably delicious, I want MOAR

No persimmon in this poll, no credibility

I’ve yet to have a persimmon experience that exceeded meh