Taste the Tropics

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Taste the Tropics

By Mary Ogle
| January 6, 2019

Welcome to Homestead and the Redland!

Farmers in South Dade grow more than the fruits and vegetables that make this region the nation’s winter breadbasket. There’s a cornucopia of tropical fruits here – mangos and avocados, carambola, lychee and longan, mamey sapote, banana and plantains, coconut, jackfruit, sugar apple, sapodilla and passionfruit, even cacao! Join us on a delicious journey through our unique fruit scene as we taste the tropics.

Cacao

Velvety chocolate bars, rich hot cocoa and sweet bonbons all start with cacao, the dried and fermented beans of Theobroma

Canistel

In the same family as mamey sapote, canistel is also called eggfruit because of its bright yellow color. About the

Dragon fruit

Dragon fruit, also known as pitaya, is the fruit of several vining cactus species in the Hylocereus genus. Dramatic-looking, with

Jackfruit

Often bigger than watermelons, this colossal fruit belongs to the mulberry family – and can grow to more than 100

Longan

After lychee season is over, its cousin, the longan (Dimocarpus longan), appears in South Florida. Like golden-brown clusters of grapes,

Lychee

For only a few special weeks at the end of May and June, the treasured red, golf-ball sized fruits known

Mamey sapote

Just about every Cuban café serves batidos – shakes – made with tropical fruits, including papaya, guanabana, banana and mango,

Mango

“When Captain Haden developed the Haden mango near Miami, he did a greater kindness to the state than the Plant

Papaya

Papaya (Carica papaya) may look like it grows on a tree, but it’s actually an herb. Similar to melons, papaya

Passionfruit

Passionfruit (Passiflora edulis), also known as maracuya or parchita, grows as a vine with spectacular flowers and round fruits filled

Sapodilla

Combine the juicy, slightly gritty texture of pear with a rich brown sugar flavor and you have sapodilla (Manilkara zapota).

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Taste the Tropics

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