Costa Rican Fruits

[Kain Nobel]

I'm writing all of these on my grocery list because, aside from the obvious (bananas, mangos and strawberries), there is a lot I haven't tried yet.

Without searching these on the internet, I can only guess what some of these taste like. Mamón chino seems like it would be sweet but spicy. While I'd initially guess Guanábana tastes like coconuts, something tells me it tastes like something completely different - perhaps closer to a lime mixed with kiwi. I've heard Carambola (star fruit) is commonly used as a meat substitute but I'm not sure how that works. I'm guessing a "manzana de agua" is similar to a regular apple but juicier.

Some of these items are commonplace in the continental United States, but a few are rare or I've never seen them in the grocery store before. The best place I know to try and buy strange tropical fruit is a place called Sprouts Farmers Market. Their produce section is usually the center stage of the entire grocer and I always seem to find staff that understand their product well.

When looking into Peruvian cuisine, I was in shock and awe at the vast variety of everything the street vendors peddle. I would've never guessed there were 3000+ types of potatoes, all vastly different from one another with unique "do's and don'ts" for recipes. Boil these in water, fry those ones in oil, these ones need to be broiled in an oven, those ones are sweet, these ones are naturally salty and don't need butter, the spuds right here aren't that great but they make an excellent ingredient for DIY bread, etc.

Fascinating and delicious.