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

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.