I thought I would share some of my wife and my adventures from our trip to Kauai a few weeks ago.  We were there for a week and hit up several farmers markets.  We did find a few fig trees at one of the nurseries.  If I remember correctly, the varieties were kadota and texas everbearing.  I only saw one actual fig tree planted in someone's yard, and that was a bayfront home in Hanalei Bay.  It was gated, so no way I could check it out up close.





There were many other unique fruits we got to try:



First was a roselle fruit from the hibiscus plant:





It was tasty with a bit of sweetness and bitterness at the same time.  A lot of people use it for teas.

One of my favorite fruits was Jack Fruit.  It had small "pods" of flesh chewy fruit in it that tasted like juicy fruit bubble gum.  I'm not sure you could eat an entire jack fruit, but it was a really nice change:







We got a bread fruit at the farmer's market as well.  We ran out of time and it didn't ripen enough to eat raw.  We were told at this stage people either slice it and cook it like a pancake or chop it and treat it light a potato.  I did taste some and I could see that fried it would probably be delicious!





We found a cocoa pod and figured we would give it a go.  The beans were really bitter and tasted nothing like chocolate (they needed to be fermented and roasted).  The skin surrounding them were actually delicious and sweet.







There was of course plenty of coconut to go around:



My absolute favorite fruit of the trip were longons, also called dragon eyes.  They were like a grape mixed with the taste of wine, with a large pit, inside an eggshell.  They were delicious.







Theresa's favorite fruit was the lilikoi, or what we know on the mainland as passion fruit.  It looked like a yellow racket ball with a gooey seedy interior.  It had an extremely strong flavor and a beautiful scent.  The seeds were a little bitter, but somehow added to the overall experience.  We ate a lot of these during the trip.





We tried multiple types of bananas; apple, ice cream, and others.  The apple bananas were my favorite.  They were small, sweet, and had a bit of tartness to them.









One interesting find was ice cream beans.  It was a strange looking large bean pod with furry white beans inside.  You sorta suck on them for a while, then spit the beans out.  They were actually delicious and tasted somewhat creamy.





Soursop was a weird looking fruit with the taste of an overripe pineapple.  Theresa hated it.  I thought it was ok, but couldn't eat much of it.





We had a couple of different types of papaya, which I loved.  Theresa didn't care for them.  They made great smoothies and were excellent for breakfast.





Rambutans were a dangerous looking fruit that was actually sweet inside.  They are very much like longons, but without as rich a flavor (more sweet) and the flesh doesn't peel off the pit as easily.





Egg fruit is named after its egg shape.  It is bright yellow with a chalky flesh that I found grew on me after a while and became a bit addictive.  Theresa hated it.



There were several varieties of tangerines, tangelos, pomelos, grapefruit, and oranges.  All were delicious, although I've gotten spoiled with seedless citrus!



The tangerines were my favorite.  We found a few wild trees as well.  The ripe ones you could actually shake and hear that they had "detached" the fruit for the skin.  They were super easy to peel, extremely fragrant, and very sweet.



Starfruit are always a great fruit to have in Hawaii.  They are sweet and delicate and you can eat a lot of them.



There were a few fruits on our dream list that we didn't get to try as they were out of season; dragon fruit, lychee (we did have some frozen ones and they were amazing), and sapodilla.

We did get to see a dragon fruit bush at the nursery at least :)

There were others, but these are the ones I have photo proof of!  While not our first trip to Hawaii, it was our first trip to Kauai and it was INCREDIBLE.  My fig babies back home did suffer significantly due to lack of water and care.  Our trip ended up being extended by a few days due to the snowstorms back home.  I'm hoping most of those figs come back after dropping all of their dried out leaves, but we will see.  All in all, if you are looking for somewhere amazing to visit, Kauai is it!  I could go on for days on the trip itself, but figured I would keep it to the fruits we ate.


Nick

thanks for sharing. it looks like you had an awesome experience.  i don't know if you've seen the movie "fruit hunters' before, if not i think you would like it. you should check it out.  there is also a lot more different varieties of fruit on the island from what i understand. lucky you guys.  it was nice to see the pictures and read your observations and information.

Aloha Nick, always great to get delayed coming HOME on a trip like that rather than going out. You are correct, the fruits and flora on th islands are amazing. Maui bound in two weeks and a little worried about leaving my rooted cuttings as well.

My sister lives on Kauai. I sent her a fig tree. The leaves always look rusty like the ones in your photos. I told her to keep it out of the rain. I wonder if that's the norm for fig trees there.

We're going back to the Big Island at the end of March.  I am most looking forward to Hawaiian avocados again.  Don't get me wrong, I love many of the other fruit as well (not papayas), but the avocados are outstanding. 

Your pictures are amazing, thank you for taking the time to share them. Glad you had a great trip.

really nice photos, what a variety of fruits, thanks for sharing all the information

Great post - Thanks! 

Nice post.   I recently purchased 3 star fruit trees  and 3 avacado trees  on the "closeout" table at Lowes for $5.00 each   all were about 5 feet high and looked perfect.  Starfruit already blooming.   I have a loquot that is about 10 feet tall in my back yard that is full of fruit this year.   I also have four bananas that gave me several bunchs of small yummy fruit.   I am rooting some dragon fruit cuttings and sprouting jack fruit seeds.  I have two small seedlings from the custard fruit that i am repotting today.    I have trouble with the racoons eating the ripe fruit,    I will set up a "Harvey feeding station over the back fence with some bananas and "go juice".  Thanks Harvey.  If you have an oriental market near you they have all the fruits that you mentioned.     Before my husband retired, he traveled all over the US, Hawaii, Puerto Rico  and I often would go with him.   Hawaii   Maui  Kaui   were my favorite places to go.   That is where I got my love of orchids.  

Sounds like a great trip and we're just hearing the tip of the iceberg.  I don't think there would be any harm in posting the rest of it in this thread.   :)

I am not sure if the trees there had rust on their leaves due to being watered along with all of the other fruit trees. The one we saw in someone's yard on the rainy side of the island did not have the same rust/sunburn.

Nice pictures, I love Jackfruit as well. Jackfruit has a wide range in quality of fruit as well. Longan is one of my favorites as well, and it will fruit in a container (I fruited about 10 to 20 full sized ones in a 15 gal container before).

No Durian taste testing? :P

Great thread and pictures.  A couple of notes:  if you don't like sour sop you probably don't like paw paws as they are in the same family.  I would think that the climate there, high humidity and lots of rain, would make growing figs difficult (rust).  Did you sample any mangoes? 

I am spoiled, and have lived in only zone 10a for my life. You can pull it off in containers, the Longan will be able to survive temps down to 32 degrees without die back. You would need a south facing indoor window or LED lights to keep it happy during the winter. If your able to keep things outside until November (or use LED lights), then I think you got a shot on getting fruit.

I would suggest a mostly coir mix (maybe 80% coir 20% perlite). Try a 15 gal fabric or similar container. I harvested fruits around the first week of November, this was the first year it fruited (gave me about 5 to 7 fruits). The next year was about 15-20 fruits but they got stolen by critters. I then chopped it back because I was moving and transplanted it into the ground.

If your interested in growing subtropical/tropical fruits in containers, there are a lot of guys who do it and are in cold sub 32F areas of the world. You can find out more information on http://www.tropicalfruitforum.com .

Some pics of the 'Kohala' Longan

11/5/11

 
10/9/11
 
10/21/14, was pugged (pruned back hard) and planted into the ground.

Awesome, we went to Kauai a few years ago for our honeymoon.  By far the best island in the chain.

Nullzero those look great! Sadly if you do not get fruit until November, I probably don't stand a chance here in PA.

We went to Kauai a few years back. Stopped at every roadside fruit stand we passed, and bought everything we couldn't recognize. That was a wonderful trip.

Theresa is ready to go back, our piggy bank however doesn't seem as excited :)

Great photos. Thanks for sharing. I went to an international market last weekend. I have 2 1/2 Jak fruits in my kitchen right now. House smells amazing. I opened one today(Thats why there's a 1/2 of one left). It was very good. Reminded me of bananna candy or something. It was a little over ripe though and a bit chewyer than I thought it would be. Very good anyway though.
I also had a dragonfruit for the first time the other day. It was delicious. sort of melon or kiwi like in texture, soft but firn and a subtle sweetness to it. My understanding is the yellow ones are even sweeter and are the best. I'm thankful the market for these is over an hr away. I would go broke if they were closer they are that good IMO.

I also have durian and magos sitting here. Going to be a heavy fruit week for me I think.