One of my favorite things about travel is experiencing local foods—especially fruit. That’s one of the (many) reasons I love going to southeast Asia; they have so many tasty, exotic fruits like mangosteens, lychee and rambutans.
I was pleasantly surprised the other day when I walked into my local Trader Joe’s store and found them selling packages of rambutans! And the best part was that they weren’t crazily overpriced, just $4.99 for a dozen. I know that same dozen would cost about $1 in southeast Asia but it’s still a fair deal and a nice treat to have. When I gave one to my wife, she said, “OMG, I feel like I’m in Thailand.” Exactly my point. These rambutans were grown in Guatemala (I didn’t know they even had them there but I’ve only been once) and sweet.
What’s your favorite exotic fruit? Do you have a place you can buy them in North America?
Related: What Foods Can I Bring Back from Abroad?
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Was offered one in Hawaii and politely declined. Rambutans are very strange looking fruit and I was honestly afraid to try it. What was I missing?
Everything!
Those fruit are also known as lichee and in Costa Rica they are called mamón chino.
got lychees 2 weeks ago in WALMART! in a bag. they were 4.99 and delicious!
aloha johnny: favorite fruit? gotta be a hawaiian hayden mango grown on the north shore on the island of oahu. sweet, fleshy with a great aroma. a scent you will remember forever. travelling is an awesome experience. and enjoying fruits wherever you are makes it even better. aloha.
mangosteen…. The best in Bali. Hawaii has them but they do not travel well and have only seen them in Albuquerque at Sprouts Market there.