Weird things survive both in nature and fiction all the time, such as the survival of weird toys, weird people, weird habits, bizarre animal, complex eccentric accidents that shouldn’t have happened etc.
When you get the opportunity to visit any tropical or unusual location around the planet, you should also see the sights what the region holds to its body, there are many places in the world that are habitat to some bizarre fruits.
Today we are going to share you some strange and unusual fruits which are around the earth.
Custard Apple
The custard-apple, also called bullock’s heart or bull’s heart, is the fruit of the tree Annona reticulata. This tree is a small deciduous or semi-evergreen tree sometimes reaching 10 metres (33 ft) tall and a native of the tropical New World that prefers low elevations, and a warm, humid climate. It is cultivated in many tropical countries, and also occurs as feral populations in many parts of the world including Southeast Asia, Taiwan, India, Australia, and Africa.
The fruits are variable in shape, oblong, or irregular. The size ranges from 7 centimetres (2.8 in) to 12 centimetres (4.7 in). When ripe, the fruit is brown or yellowish, with red highlights and a varying degree of reticulation, depending on variety. The flavor is sweet and pleasant, akin to the taste of ‘traditional’ custard.
Tamarillo
Solanum betaceum is a small tree or shrub in the flowering plant family Solanaceae. It is best known as the species that bears the tamarillo, an egg-shaped edible fruit. Other names include tree tomato and tomate de árbol. It is well-known as the popular sibling of the normal tomato we use every day, its paler and burnt in color, with distinctively shaped seeds in the middle when you slice it in half. This fruit grows in Ecuador, Peru and Colombia and tastes similar to the Passion fruit. It is used in making juices and in certain areas of Bolivia it is used in cooking, especially to prepare the sauce. In the industry it is used as a strong preservative because the fruit contains a high amount of pectin.
Buddha’s hand
Buddha’s hand, Citrus medica var. sarcodactylis (also known as bushukan (Japanese) or fingered citron), is a fragrant citron variety whose fruit is segmented into finger-like sections. The origin of Buddha’s hand plant is traced back to Northeastern India or China.
Citrus medica var. sarcodactylisis a shrub or small tree with long, irregular branches covered in thorns. Its large, oblong leaves are pale green and grow about four to six inches. Its white flowers are tinted purplish from the outside and grow in fragrant clusters.
Buddha’s hand has a thick peel and only a small amount of acidic flesh (if any) and is juiceless and sometimes seedless.
Buddha’s hand fruit is very fragrant and is used predominantly by the Chinese and Japanese for perfuming rooms and personal items, such as clothing.
The fruit may be given as a religious offering in Buddhist temples. According to tradition, Buddha prefers the “fingers” of the fruit to be in a position where they resemble a closed rather than open hand, as closed hands symbolize to Buddha the act of prayer.
Ackee
The ackee, also known as the Zakari el trufi, y chocorras el albatros, akee apple or akee (Blighia sapida) is a member of the Sapindaceae (soapberry family), native to tropical West Africa in Cameroon, Gabon, São Tomé and Príncipe, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
It is related to the lychee and the longan, and is an evergreen tree that grows about 10 metres tall, with a short trunk and a dense crown. The leaves are pinnate,[3] leathery, compound, 15–30 centimetres long, with 6–10 elliptical obovate-oblong leaflets. Each leaflet is 8–12 centimetres long and 5–8 centimetres broad.
The flowers are unise*ual and fragrant. They have five petals, are greenish-white and bloom during warm months. The fruit is pear-shaped. When it ripens, it turns from green to a bright red to yellow-orange, and splits open to reveal three large, shiny black seeds, surrounded by soft, creamy or spongy, white to yellow flesh—arilli. The fruit typically weighs 100–200 grams.
The scientific name honours Captain William Bligh who took the fruit from Jamaica to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, England in 1793 and introduced it to science. The common name is derived from the West African Akye fufo. The term ackee originated from the Akan language.
The fruit was imported to Jamaica from West Africa (probably on a slave ship) before 1778. Since then it has become a major feature of various Caribbean cuisines, and is also cultivated in tropical and subtropical areas elsewhere around the world.
Dragon Fruit
A pitaya is the fruit of several cactus species, most importantly of the genus Hylocereus (sweet pitayas). These fruits are commonly known as dragon fruit. Other vernacular names are strawberry pear or nanettikafruit. In the United States it is also referred to as “pinkberry” due to the pink hue.
The vine-like epiphytic pitaya-producing cacti of the genus Hylocereus are native to Mexico, Central America, and South America. Currently, they are also cultivated in East Asian and Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia (especially in western Java), Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Malaysia,and more recently Bangladesh.They are also found in Okinawa, Hawaii, Israel, Palestine, northern Australia and southern China.
Hylocereus blooms only at night; the large white fragrant flowers of the typical cactusflower shape are among those called “moonflower” or “Queen of the Night”. Sweet pitayas have a creamy pulp and a delicate aroma. It is also grown as an Ornamental plant, used in gardens as a flowering vine, and a house plant indoors.
The flower can be eaten raw or used in making tea. You can find one around the country on a special kind of cactus plant.
From: oddstuffmagazine.com
From: oddstuffmagazine.com