Fruit Category

This is a cross between a lime and a kumquat. It's similar in size and shape to a kumquat, but with a green or yellow-green skin. It has a strong lime flavor.

These tart relatives of the cranberry grow only in cold climates. They're often made into jams, juices, sauces, syrups, or compotes. Scandinavians like to serve sweetened lingonberries with game.

his popular Chinese fruit is about the size of a walnut, with a bumpy red shell encasing white translucent pulp that's similar in texture to a grape. The flavor is sweet, exotic, and very juicy. Don't eat the shell or the seed. Fresh litchis are available from May to July. If you can't find them, canned litchis are a good substitute. Don't confuse fresh litchis with litchi nuts, which are sun-dried litchis that have a much different texture.

These are sun-dried litchis. The outer shells are brown and the meat inside looks like a large raisin. Look for them in Asian markets.

These are like blackberries, only they're dark red when ripe and more acidic. They're especially good in pies and preserves.

Longans are very similar to lychees and rambutans. You can buy them fresh (in the summer), dried or canned.

These are popular in Asia, where they're eaten raw and cooked into sauces that accompany meat. They bruise very easily, which may explain their rarity in American markets

These green olives are brine-cured.

These are salty Italian/Swiss brownish-black olives.

These look like rust-colored fuzzy apples.

This juicy apple is good for eating out of hand.

These are about the size of a large sweet potato. The flesh is salmon-colored, with a sweet, berry-like flavor. They're great for eating out of hand, or for making fruit salads or smoothies. Markets often sell them while they're still hard and underripe, so you need to set them on the counter for a few days until they yield when gently squeezed. Peel them and remove the seeds before serving.

These have a pleasant enough flavor, but their big asset is that they come out of their peels and segment easily, so you can eat them in your good clothes. Varieties include the popular tangerine, the seedy but juicy honey tangerine = Murcott, the satsuma orange, the sweet and tiny clementine orange, and the seedy and orange-flavored temple orange.

It's always a challenge to eat a mango. The pulp clings desperately to both peel and seed, and it can turn into a mushy mess by the time you free it. Despite this, the mango is one of the most popular fruits in the world. It's sweet and juicy, and it has a wonderful, distinctive flavor. Select richly colored, firm mangoes, then let them ripen at home for a few days. Frozen mangoes are good substitutes for fresh.

Some claim that this is the most delicious fruit on the planet, though it's hard to find in the United States. It's about the size of a tomato, and has a leathery, mottled skin.

This habanero relative is often used in salsas. It has black seeds. These are hot.

These green olives are available in most supermarkets. They're often pitted and stuffed with pimento or garlic. They're often put into martinis.

Marang is similar to jackfruit and durian. It has a strong but sweet taste. Marang is native to Borneo and Mindanao.

These sugar-soaked and dyed cherries come in two colors: red (almond flavored) or green (mint flavored). Cooks usually use them to garnish desserts and drinks.

After Washington, D.C., mayor Marion Barry was arrested for possessing cocaine in 1989, marion berry jam enjoyed brief popularity as a novelty item.

These soft apples are great for snacking or for making applesauce, but don't bake them or put them in pies.

These large sweet medjool dates are very popular. If picked early they are called rutab dates. They originated in Tafilalt, Morocco but are enjoyed around the world.

With their small size and shiny black skins, these look like elongated plums. You can eat them, skin and all

This is a small, black-skinned avocado that's the size and shape of a fig. Since the peel is edible, they can be eaten like a peach. There's a smaller variety, the Mexicola cocktail avocado, that's oblong and virtually seedless. They'd make a great addition to a vegetable platter.

This is sweeter than an ordinary lemon, and highly prized by gourmet chefs.

Mincemeat is made with dried fruit, nuts, citrus peel, spices, and sometimes brandy, rum, or some other liquor. It used to be made with meat as well, and ready-made jars of it sometimes contain beef suet. It's often used for holiday pies.

This is sometimes served with lamb, veal, or game.

Mirasol peppers have a distinctive fruity flavor. These are moderately hot. When dried, these are called Guajillo chiles.

These are the common black ones that are ubiquitous in supermarkets, pizza parlors, and salad bars. They don't have as much character as European black olives.

You'll probably have to go to Florida to find this bizarre tropical fruit. It looks like a banana covered with green scales, which buckle and separate as the fruit ripens. Beneath the scales are kernels of pulp, which you scrape off like corn from a cob. The kernels have a pleasant tropical flavor and creamy texture. Wait until the scales separate before eating the kernels--unripe monsteras can irritate your mouth.

These dark purple elongated sweet seedless grapes are unusually shaped and well regarded.

This is a smoked and dried red jalapeno pepper. It's very hot.

Like the larger mora chili, this is a smoked and dried red jalapeno. It's very hot.

These are shriveled black olives that are somewhat bitter. They're best used for cooking rather than snacking.

The family of moyas includes atemoya, cherimoya, soursop, and sweetsop, all of which can be used interchangeably. All these fruits have scaly peels and hard black seeds, which you need to remove before eating.

This very popular chili looks like the ancho, but it's darker and sweeter. It's fairly mild and has an earthy flavor.

These are so fragile that almost no markets carry them.

Muscadine grapes are native to the American Southeast. The flesh is sweet but the skin is tart. It is easy to remove the skin.

Made from muscadine grapes, this is a redder, tarter version of grape jelly.

These are large and very sweet.

This is a very juicy, crisp, all-purpose apple.

These are green, brine-cured Greek olives. They're somewhat salty.

Nectarines resemble peaches, but they're sweeter and more nutritious. They're best if they're allowed to ripen on the tree. Unfortunately, tree-ripened nectarines bruise easily, so most growers scrimp on flavor and pick and market them while they're still slightly underripe. After buying nectarines, you're supposed to let them ripen for a couple of days at room temperature before eating them. This makes them softer and juicier, but not sweeter. Avoid buying nectarines that are too hard or that have green spots--a sign they were picked way too soon--or those that are bruised. The superior freestone varieties arrive in June and July; the cling varieties that come later aren't as good.

These large chilies are similar in size to Anaheims, but they're hotter. New Mexico green chilies peak in the late summer, while the hotter New Mexico red chilies appear in the fall. These are moderately hot.

These chilies have an earthy flavor and resemble the California chili, except they're hotter and more flavorful. They are moderately hot.