Best Chinese Fruit Types
Lychee is a tropical fruit that's native to the Chinese provinces of Fujian and Guangdong. The fruit is oval to round, red in color, and has a brittle and inedible outer covering that encloses a translucent white flesh on the inside and one large seed.
The flavor of the pulp is musky and aromatic when fresh, and when dried, it's acidic and sweet. Lychees are most commonly enjoyed fresh, but they can also be dried, canned, used in ice creams, or processed into wine, juice, and jelly. The fruit is a good source of minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants.
Guanxi Mi You is a pomelo of the Citrus grandis variety, produced in the paddy fields, hills and plains of the 16 towns and villages in Pinghe County in China, where the high amount of sunshine and sunny days contribute to the accumulation of vitamins, acids and sugar in the fruit, accentuating the fruit's unique sweet-and-sour taste.
On the exterior, pomelo has an inverted oval shape and delicate, thin and smooth skin that is bright orange in colour. On the interior, the flesh is tender and crisp in texture, very juice and the taste is deliciously sweet and slightly reminiscent of vinegar.
Loquat is a large evergreen shrub or a small tree that’s native to southeastern China, but the tree was also introduced to Japan in early medieval ages. The fruits are round, oval, or pear-shaped, with flesh that is subacid to sweet in flavor and very aromatic.
When ripe, loquats are enjoyed fresh or used in fruit salads. They can be pickled, stewed for desserts, preserved with spices, and made into chutneys and sauces. Due to its high pectin content, loquat is often made into jellies or jams. The fruits are also sometimes fermented in order to produce fruit wine.
Longan is a tropical fruit (lat. Dimocarpus longan), a part of the soapberry family, which also includes lychee and rambutan.
Longans are small, round, and have a thin, brown shell that is easy to remove. Inside, they have translucent white flesh that is sweet and juicy, with a texture similar to that of a grape but slightly firmer. At the center of the fruit is a large, black seed, which gives it the nickname "dragon's eye" — which is what "longan" means in Chinese.
Meyer lemons are a type of citrus fruit native to China, a cross between a citron (an "original" lemon) and a mandarin/pomelo hybrid. They were introduced to the United States in the early 20th century by a man named Frank Nicholas Meyer, after whom they are named.
Compared to the common lemon (citrus limon), Meyer lemons are smaller and more round, with a deep yellow to orange skin and dark yellow pulp. They have thinner, smoother skin and are less acidic, which makes them sweeter than their more tart counterparts.
Elephant apple is the fruit of an evergreen tree that’s native from India and Sri Lanka to Southeast Asia, and then to Vietnam and southwestern China. The fruit is globose in shape and it’s formed as an aggregate of 15 carpels that overlap.
Each carpel contains five seeds that are embedded in a gelatinous pulp. When fully ripe, the fruits have a sour to sweet-sour flavor. The pulp is often used to make beverages, vinegar, and jams. When not fully ripe, the fruits are pickled or used in soups and curries, while the flower’s petals are often used as garnishes for fruit and vegetable salads.
Shaanxi ping guo are apples grown in the Loess Plateau, Weibei region in China, where the fertile soil, heaps of sunshine and high altitudes favourably influence the growing and accentuate the apples' characteristics. The apples come in five varieties - Fuji, Qinguan, Yuanshuai, Gala and Jinguan.
The red and yellowish-green varieties are brightly coloured with crisp, tasty flesh and a well-balanced ratio of sweetness and acidity. They have a long shelf life and thick skin that makes them tolerant for transportation and storage. The strong flavour is due to its high sugar content and intense fragrance.
Pinggu Da Tao are peaches of the "Prunus Prunoideae Rosaceae" variety, grown in the hills of the Yanshan Mountains, Pinggu District of Beijing in China. The area has an abundance of heat and sunshine, with sandy and loamy soils that favourably influence the cultivation of peaches.
In China, the peach tree is considered to be the "tree of life", and the area presents itself as the largest peach orchard in the world. Pinggu Da Tao peaches have ten different varieties and are all characterised by their big size, juiciness, high sugar content, great balance of sweetness and acidity, bright colour and big, bold flavour.
Elephant ear fig is the fruit of an evergreen tree with large leaves that’s native to northern India and cultivated in tropical regions of south Asia and Southeast Asia. When ripe, the fruits are round and flattened in shape, with a reddish brown to copper red color with pale green dots.
The flesh is soft in texture, while the flavor is sweet. The fruits are enjoyed fresh or dried, and they’re often made into beverages or jams. In India, elephant ear figs are often used in savory dishes such as salads and curries. The fruit is named elephant ear fig because the tree on which it grows has disproportionately large leaves that are reminiscent of elephant ears.
Black Diamond apples are grown in Nyingchi, Tibet as a rare variety of Hua Niu apples (Chinese Red Delicious). Although they're called black, the skin of these apples is actually a dark hue of purple because they receive lots of ultraviolet light during the day and the temperature changes dramatically at night.
On the inside, the pulp is bright and white just like most other apples. Due to the fact that the production is limited, the apples are quite pricey and belong to the high-end segment of the market. The flavor of Black Diamond apples is said to be much sweeter than the flavor of other apples as they're full of glucose.
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