Exploring our foods, our stories, our community by season

Delivered to Your Mailbox Each Season. Subscribe Today.

Delivered to Your Mailbox Each Season.
Subscribe Today.

Taste of the Tropics: Weird Fruits

Robert Moehling of Robert Is Here in South Florida
Robert Moehling of Robert Is Here

Deep in South Florida’s agricultural district in Homestead and the Redland, on the way to the southern entrance of Everglades National Park, you can’t miss the big fruit stand called Robert Is Here. Pull in and treat yourself to a key lime milkshake, local honey, maybe some guanabana, and a chat with Robert Moehling, who is behind the counter nearly every day, talking about tropical fruits.

Robert Is Here started more than 50 years ago when he was a little boy selling his family’s cucumbers. Today, this family business is an institution, its cases heaped with stacks of tropical fruits and produce. They ship out exotic tropical fruits to those who can’t visit in person. Moehling knows pretty much everything about all tropical fruits, so Edible South Florida decided to talk with him about a few unusual – and delicious – tropical fruits you can find in South Florida.

Weird Fruits

Photo 1: Black sapote, also known as chocolate pudding fruit or chocolate persimmon (Diospyros nigra)
Photo 2: Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus)
Photo 3: Sugar apple, also known as sweetsop or custard apple (Annona squamosa)
Photo 4: Dragonfruit, also known as pitaya, white-fleshed (Hylocereus undatus)
Photo 5: Canistel, also known as eggfruit (Pouteria campechiana)

Related Stories & Recipes:

Tastes of the Tropics Podcast
Getting to know the food scene in South Florida.

You May Also Like:

Sign up to stay in touch!

View our Digital Edition

Edible South Florida
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.