The top 12 Thai fruits to try

Which of these 12 Thai fruits will be brand new fruity adventures for you? Well, would you eat a snake fruit? What about 2 kinds of apples you’ve probably never heard of? How about a fruit that’s so heavy – and pointy – you’d struggle to lift it?

Whether found waiting for you in a fruit bowl, fresh from nearby fruit trees, purchased from a smiling market vendor discovered in a Thai fruit salad during a beach breakfast – here are 12 Thai fruits you’ve got to try – plus easy ways to try them at home.

1. Dragon fruit

A fruity ugly duckling story. Dragon fruit (called pitaya in other parts of the world) is the gorgeous product of the ugliest plant you’ve ever seen. Think of Medusa as a cactus and you’re on the right track. While white fruit is most common, you'll also find purple dragon fruit and – rarer still – yellow dragon fruit.

I’ve been growing dragon fruit from seed for about thirteen years and it’s nowhere near fruiting. Unless you’re in a tropical climate, you’ll get a huge head-start starting with a dragon fruit cactus. Thailand’s dragon fruit season lasts into autumn.‍

How to try dragon fruit?

• infuse dragon fruit water
• make dragon fruit smoothies
• try red dragon fruit chips
• add a dragon fruit coffee cup
• try yellow dragon fruit
• add a dragon fruit pillow
• blend frozen dragon fruit
• use dragon fruit gift wrap
• brew some dragonfruit tea

Plus! grow your own dragon fruit and make dragon fruit kombucha

2. Jackfruit

A Thai fruit that weighs as much as a German shepherd. Only in the tropics! Enjoy the fruit alone or with ice cream; the massive seeds have a variety of uses in Thai cooking. Thailand’s jackfruit season lasts into spring. Jackfruit can grow up to three feet long and might weigh up to 80 pounds.

Let’s double-check something crucial. Are you sure you can tell a durian from a jackfruit? Study up – it's a mistake you'll only make once!‍

How to try jackfruit?

• try jackfruit chews
• snack on jackfruit chips
• make a jackfruit smoothie
• get cooking with jackfruit
• add some jackfruit art
• fuel with a jackfruit sports drink
• try vegan 'jackfruit bbq'
• stock up on canned jackfruit
• add a bright jackfruit pillow

3. Mangosteen

Mangosteen fruits resemble a little present. Cut through the thick red skin to find a bite-sized treat waiting within. Thailand has a second mangosteen season, in autumn. Freeze-dried mangosteen is a decent substitute if you can’t find it fresh near you.‍

How to try mangosteen?

• Add mangosteen powder to your smoothies
• Try mangosteen juice (100% juice)
• Brew some mangosteen tea
• Mix cocktails with mangosteen juice
• Hang a mangosteen print in your kitchen
• Snack on freeze-dried mangosteen
• Make it a matching pair of mangosteen prints
• Try 'space food' whole mangosteens
• Plus! Mix up some mangosteen coffee‍

4. Durian

Expensive, malodorous and possibly a weapon – the durian has seemingly little to recommend it. Be brave – the king of fruits has loyal followers for a reason (just don’t try carrying it home in a taxi). Dare to try it? If you’re a wimp, durian candy and dehydrated durian are a good place to start. Though I can’t stomach the raw fruit, durian chips are unbelievably good (forget kale chips). Coming from an avowed durian-avoider – that’s some strong praise!‍

How to try durian?

• Use durian powder to make a durian smoothie
• Kickstart with durian coffee
• Snack on freeze-dried durian
• Add durian paste to your baking
• Declare your durian devotion
• Start safely – with durian candy ‍
• Make a durian-shaped cake (or Jello)
• Switch to a durian face mask
• Tuck into durian and cashew bites

5. Tamarind

Sticky stick stick! Tamarind is tart and tangy when fresh, cloyingly sweet when dried. Bash the shell into pieces and chew pieces of the fruit. Beware of hard seeds hidden within. (Tamarind is the magic main ingredient in Pad Thai sauce. You're two points ahead in the food round now ... can you handle the pressure?)‍

How to try tamarind?

• Make your own pad Thai with tamarind paste
• Add tamarind powder to your favourite marinade
• Snack on sweet and sour dried tamarind
• Mix a tamarind-flavoured cocktail
• Try a tamarind candy pop (no added sugar)
• Inhale a whole bag of Thai tamarind chilli candy
• Get cooking with a supply of fresh tamarind

6. Rambutan

Perhaps the most visually striking of Thai fruits – rambutans are also one of the cheapest. A delicious fruit to be inhaled in mammoth quantities. Dig in! Rambutan is cheap and abundant when in season and makes an ideal breakfast.‍

How to try rambutans?

• Snack on freeze-dried rambutan
• Add a tropical fruit print
• Order a bounty of fresh rambutans

7. Custard apple

Rip custard apples in two with your hands and eat the insides with a spoon. They’re amazingly good! Want to amp up the gluttony? Look for (or make your own) custard apple ice cream. *Also called sugar apples.

How to try custard apples?

• Try fresh custard apple
• Make custard apple ice cream or pudding
• Plant some custard apple seeds
• Add custard apple puree to your smoothie
• Try custard apple oil aromatherapy

8. Rose apple

A crunchy, bitter fruit with a texture like a very moist apple. Thais often top rose apples with spiced sugar.

How to try rose apple?

• Snack on rose apple chips

9. Pomelo

The biggest citrus is really an improved grapefruit; a pomelo is at once both sweeter and easier to eat. For convenience, buy one that’s already been cut up (stand back and watch Thai supermarket employees wield immense cleavers).

How to try pomelo?

• Try dried pomelo peels for something sweet
• Freshen up your space with pomelo room spray
• Light a pomelo beeswax candle
• Add a pomelo botanical print

10. Sapodilla

Remove the peel and eat a sapodilla as you would a pear. This fruit makes a forgiving target for Thai fruit carving practice, or, try to grow it yourself from seed.

‍How to try sapodilla?

• Blend sapodilla powder into your smoothies
• Slice up some fresh sapodilla
• Grow your own on a sapodilla tree

11. Salak fruit

I’ve saved the weirdest for all but last. While opening a snake fruit’s scaly skin requires some creativity, the neat white cloves of this fruit are a brand new experience. Weirdly tangy in a way that surprises when you reach for another. Persistent peeling should be encouraged. Thailand’s salak fruit season runs from late spring into summer. *Also called snake fruit (because of the skin).

12. Thai bananas

Thailand has over 100 varieties of bananas (or maybe it has 20, or 28, or 50 … depending on who you ask). Whatever the number, it’s likely you’ve spent your whole life eating just one kind – the ubiquitous Dole Cavendish – and Thailand’s bananas, straight from the tree, are set to blow your mind. Buy Thai finger bananas fresh from a roadside stand, you’ll see!

‍How to try Thai bananas?

• Try solar-dried Thai bananas
• Add a bright banana flower print
• Snack on Thai sweet chilli banana chips
• Choose a framed or unframed banana plant print
• Throw in a banana leaf pillow
• Add a bunch of bananas print
• Try Sriracha banana chips
• Plus! Make some spicy Thai banana chips

Honourable mention: nam dok mai mangoes

I intended this list of Thai fruit to introduce you to types of fruit (or Thai varieties) that might be new to Western taste buds. Mangoes? Everyone's had mango. So I left it off the list ... until I started to get outraged emails: "you can't list Thai fruit without mango!?!?!?".So, whether you'd rather eat mango or grow your own mangoes ... behold the nam dok mai variety and plan to make a serious study of its splendour. Most Western supermarkets carry Ataulfo mangoes, often from Mexico. Nam dok mai is Thailand's best-known variety – spot the stack of them at the Koh Samui fruit stand, below.

‍How to try mangoes?

• Mango + blender = smoothie? Margarita.
• Snack on dried mango
• Mix mango powder into your baking
• Try spicy pickled mango
• Pack a ready-made mango smoothie
• Treat yourself to a mango iced tea
• Enjoy a mango yoghurt for breakfast
• Inhale a bag of freeze-dried sticky rice and mango
• Simmer something in Thai mango sauce
• Plus! Make mango-flavoured bubble tea

Recap: The top 12 Thai fruits

• dragon fruit
• jackfruit
• mangosteen
• durian
• tamarind
• rambutan
• custard apple
• rose apple
• pomelo
• sapodilla
• salak fruit
• Thai banana
• nam dok mai mango

More ways to enjoy Thai fruit and tropical living

• Discover the Right Way to Cut up Pineapple (and Keep All 10 Fingers)
• Discover How to Make A Thai-Style Fresh Pineapple Shake
• Get This 2-Ingredient Coconut Shake Recipe