tropical fruits in Hawaii

Below are some of the fruits in season that we tried in Hawaii. Just for these tropical fruits alone, I would go back in a heartbeat :-) It must be the unique combination of rich volcanic soil and micro-climates that make fruit trees grow so well out there. I would rate our fruit tasting experience as almost perfect. Not a single one disappointed us.

just one of the hundreds of avocado varieties in Hawaii :-)

From the first Maui avocado (shown above) that our very acommodating host left for us at the apartment, we were quite impressed with the natural sweetness and intense flavors of all the fruits. This avocado variety was buttery and had a very smooth texture that melted in the mouth. We knew that it would be difficult to get back to regular grocery fruits again :-)

We stopped by the Ono Farms roadside stand in Hana town. It gave us a chance to unwind and buy some local Hawaiian fruits. We started our day early so it was a pleasant break from the twisty one-lane roads and bridges of the famous Hana road. Organic starfruit, banana varieties, Maui Gold pineapples, papayas and breadfruit are shown above.

Fruit and vegetable stands like this one (shown above) are a common sight along country roads in the Philippines. This cute one along the Hamakua Coast in the Big Island with its attractive pink sign (shown below) caught our attention.

there are also many banana varieties

So glad we stopped here. The fresh coconut we tasted here was phenomenal. The coconut juice was very refreshing and flavorful. My husband described it well as having almost like a "7-up" taste. I have to agree, it was one of the best I've tried. The intensity of the flavor of the juice and the quality of the meat inside vary depending on the maturity of the coconut. Shown above, an island kitty enjoying some good coconut meat, our young vendor opening up the coconut for us, bright red rambutans hanging like ornaments on the vine and a huge alien-like fruit :-) called rollinia. I'm familiar with soursoup (called guyabano in the Philippines) which is supposed to be related to the rollinia. Too bad we didn't get to taste it but it looked very interesting.

Our first taste of passion fruit or lilikoi (shown above) as they're called in Hawaii was like a flavor explosion. I kept ordering anything with lilikoi after that :-) It was very good in smoothies too.

What's Shakin' snack stop along the Hamakua Coast

Along the Hamakua Coast, we drove by an orchard with a convenient snack place called "What's Shakin" and it was another opportunity to experience island living. Too bad dragonfruits were not in season yet but it was nice to see the neat row of dragonfruit trees (shown above) they have there.

Back at our rental condo, we enjoyed this tropical fruit bowl of young coconut, starfruit, papaya, avocado and rambutan. Maybe someday we will return to the islands for another fruit tasting experience. Based on this gallery alone, we only had a small fraction of it and there are many many more we wish to try :-)