Fruits in Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico has over 100 species of fruits, vegetables, and greens and they are part of our Puerto Rican food selection. Many of these fruits have been brought in from other countries in the Caribbean, South America, and Africa.

 Fruits in Puerto Rico grow everywhere and as you go through the roads you can just  pick and eat them. A great selection of fruits can be seen everywhere from mangos, bananas and avocados to cherries and coconuts.

For your convenience, we have a small selection of the most common fruits in the island. Hope you enjoy our visit and enjoy these fruits while staying in Puerto Rico. We list them in alphabetical order.

Acerola (Barbados cherry) is a tropical tiny fruit that grows in bearing shrub or small tree that grows about 10 feet tall. This fleshy small red stone fruit, about the size of a cherry, contain very high amounts of vitamin C and are eaten fresh, very tasty.

Aguacate (avocado) tree may grow to be 30-60 ft with a trunk 12-24 inches in diameter. Some countries may know the aguacate as alligator pear, midshipman's butter, butter pear or vegetable butter. It is a tree native to the Caribbean, Mexico, South and Central America. 

Anon (sugar apple) is a sweet pulpy tropical fruit with thick scaly rind and shiny black seeds that grows from 10 to 20 ft in height with open crown of irregular branches, and some-what zigzag twigs.

Café (Coffee) is an easy to grow small or medium sized shrub that does very well as a house plant. Coffee beans are the seeds of the berries which grow in abundance throughout the year.

Carambola (Star Fruit) tree is small to medium in height 20 to 30 ft and when ripe Carambola will display colors of bright yellow with a light shade of green. Warning: like the grapefruit, the carambola contains oxalic acid which can be harmful to individuals suffering from kidney failure.

Coco (Coconut) or palm tree is a long skinny and inclined trunk and can grow over 50 ft tall. The pulp of the coconut has been said to have medical properties. The coconut water, when chilled, is an amazing refreshing drink. You can find many places around the island that sell chilled coconut water (in the coconut shelf). It is also used to make flan, a delicious and easy to make dessert.

Grosella (Otaheite gooseberry) or also know as gooseberry tree, despite its name, the plant does not resemble the gooseberry, except for the acidity of its fruits. This hard to find tree can grow from 10 to 30 feet tall. Its fruit is really acid and it's better prepared on "Dulce de Grosella", very good sweet dessert.

Guayaba (Guava) has a strong, sweet, musky odor when ripe, may be round, ovoid, or pear-shaped. Guava fruits are a good source of pectin, an enzyme used in making jam as well as promoting digestion. Desserts are sweet and include pastries, flans, caramel custard, guava paste and cheese.

Jobo fruit has a leathery skin and a thin layer of pulp. I several other countries is called yellow mombin or hog plum, Spanish plum or gully plum. The pulp is either eaten fresh, or made into juice, concentrate jellies. It is juicy, acidic, sweet and is filled with a seed outgoing annoying, which usually you don't mind for being so juicy.

Lechoza (Papaya) is a large tree-like plant with the single stem growing from 10 to 30 ft tall, with spirally arranged leaves confined to the top of the trunk.  The fruit is ripe when it feels soft (a bit softer than a ripe avocado) and its skin has attained an amber to orange hue. The fruit's taste is vaguely similar to pineapple and peach. Try our famous "Dulce de Lechoza".

Mamey sapote is a super sweet fruit orange-red, tastes a bit like a combination of pumpkin, sweet potato and cinnamon.  The texture can be smooth and creamy, although sometimes you can find some that are a bit stringy. 

Mango (mangoes) is one of the oldest cultivated trees proven by writings from south Asia over 4,000 years old. Pick mangos fully ripe off the tree and eat immediately for maximum taste and sweetness.

Mango is one of the most extensively exploited fruits for food, juice, flavor, fragrance and color and its tree can grow to over 100 ft tall. There are over 100 varieties of mango but in Puerto Rico there some are known as piña, cubano, largo, niño, manzano, and others.

Pajuil is a large pulpy and juicy that has a fine sweet flavor and is commonly referred to as the "cashew fruit" or the "cashew apple."

Parcha (Passion fruit) is round to oval, yellow or dark purple, soft to firm, juicy interior filled with numerous mucilaginous seeds. Also known as Maracuya in Central and South America, it contains certain alkaloids that help to lower blood pressure, having a sedative and antispasmodic action.

Piña (pineapple) is a sweet fruit that grows to 3 to 4 ft tall with 30 or more trough-shaped and pointed leaves.  Is known to have anti-inflammatory agents when applied topically. The best pinas are found in the north region of Puerto Rico. But in Puerto Rico we just love to have it in Piña Coladas.

Quenepas (said kenepas) is a tropical fruit-bearing tree in the soapberry family, also know as mamon, mamoncillo, spanish limes, or limoncillo in other countries.  This fruit has green skin, pink flesh, and a large pit and the tree can grow to over 100 feet tall.  The best ones are grown in Ponce and are available fresh mostly during August.

Tamarindo is native to tropical Africa and grows wild throughout the island. The fruit is sweet, acidic and tart like citrus. Some people use it as a laxative.

Map Puerto Rico provides most of Fruits in Puerto Rico information as accurate as possible but keep in mind that changes beyond our control may make some of this information inaccurate. If you have questions or want to report problems to us, please contact us. 

For other Puerto Rican food and cooking check out http://www.recipehound.com/Recipes/puertorico.html