What fruit are you?

Thailand is a true paradise for exotic fruit lovers. Thanks to the hot and humid climate, virtually everything grows here. Many fruits, like coconuts, pineapples, and bananas, are well known and loved by us, while others are completely unfamiliar, leading to a natural question: how exactly do you eat them?

In this article, we’ve gathered all the popular fruits that can be found on Thai market stalls and provided detailed descriptions of them.

Mango

One of the most popular fruits in Thailand is juicy, sweet mango, loved by everyone. It almost always looks like a fairly large, elongated fruit, but the colors vary depending on the variety.

Nam Dok Mai – yellow mango. This is the most common variety, with its peak season in April-May.

Khiow Savoy Sampran – green mango. It is eaten both unripe (for example, in salads) and ripe. The fruit is not as sweet as the yellow variety and has a distinctive tartness.

Raet or “apple mango”. This variety is more often found in supermarkets rather than street stalls. Its color is orange-red, and the flesh is juicy and sweet.

Okrong – another very popular variety. Its peak season is from March to July. It is eaten both unripe and green or ripe and yellow. This is the mango often used in the popular Thai dish mango sticky rice (sweet rice with mango).

Red Ivory – a large red fruit, sometimes reaching up to 2 kg in weight. It is sweet and non-fibrous.

Which mango is the tastiest? Read about it here.

How to properly eat a mango is a matter of debate: in Thailand, vendors usually skillfully peel the fruit with a special knife and slice it into pieces.

If you don’t have a special tool, you can cut the fruit in half, make small cross-hatch cuts, and then flip the flesh out, making it easier to separate from the skin.

Pineapple

This is also one of the most popular fruits in Thailand. It has two main varieties.

Classic pineapples – the Tard Sri Thong variety. They are large, have an elongated shape, orange-yellow skin, and their flesh is dense and crunchy, like cabbage, but at the same time very sweet.

Mini-pineapples – weigh only about 400-500 grams, have similarly spiky skin, but it is less orange and more yellow. The flesh is also sweet and crunchy.

Another common variety is called Sri Racha – a large fruit with pale yellow flesh and a sweet and sour taste, which is usually used for canning.

Coconut

Coconut is another incredibly popular fruit in Thailand. In Asian countries, coconuts are classified as young or mature. The juice from young coconuts is used to quench thirst instead of water, as it is an excellent electrolyte. These are the coconuts sold on nearly every street in Thailand. Mature coconuts are used to produce sugar, coconut flakes, and coconut milk.

Banana

In fact, a banana is not a fruit, but a berry, as it grows on a banana tree, which in Thailand is considered a grass. However, we will still talk about this “fruit.”

Several varieties of bananas are grown in Thailand, the most popular, yellow, and sweet ones are called Kluai Hom and Kluai Hom Thong. There are also green, brown, and red bananas in Thailand, some of which are only tasty when cooked (fried or baked).

Mandarins

Thai mandarins differ from the familiar orange fruits. Here, they have a very thin green or green-yellow peel. In Thailand, they are rarely eaten as is; mandarins are usually used to make fresh juice.

Avocado

Avocado made it onto this list not by mistake: it is, indeed, a fruit. That is why it is sold only at fruit markets. More than 50 varieties of avocado are grown in Thailand, with the most popular being Hass and Fuerte. Hass has smooth dark green skin, while Fuerte has lighter, thinner skin and an elongated shape.

A ripe avocado has a very delicate, creamy taste with a slight nutty note and is also a source of healthy fats.

Pitaya, Pitahaya, or Dragon Fruit

In fact, pitahaya is a type of cactus. In Thailand, there are three varieties of this fruit: with yellow skin and translucent flesh, with bright pink skin and matching pink flesh, and with bright pink skin and white flesh. They differ in flavor intensity. Overall, pitahaya has a rather mild, not overly sweet taste, which some may find bland.

Papaya

A fairly large, elongated fruit with bright orange or yellow flesh and numerous black seeds. Opinions about papaya are mixed: some love it as much as mango, while others think the flesh tastes like boiled carrots or soap. Nonetheless, papaya is a very popular fruit in Thailand.

Passion Fruit

Passion fruit comes from evergreen vines of the passionflower family. It is small, round, and purple. The skin is inedible, and inside, there are many jelly-like seeds. Passion fruit has a delicate sweet-tart flavor, reminiscent of kiwi, strawberries, and pomegranate. It is low in calories but rich in micronutrients. The season for this fruit is from January to April.

Durian

The most distinctive feature of durian, which often repels people, is its specific smell. To some, it smells like rotten fish, garlic, decayed onions, dirty socks, and sulfur. However, durian is incredibly delicious: its juicy flesh tastes like custard, cheese, nuts, ripe bananas, and creamy ice cream.

There are over 30 different varieties of durian. In Thailand, two types are commonly sold: “Monthong” and “Chanee.” The first one is more palatable to foreigners. To check the ripeness of the fruit, gently press on the flesh with your finger – it shouldn’t be too soft, as that means the durian is overripe. Ask the vendor to peel it, and eat it immediately for the best experience.

For more about durian, read the article “The Most Controversial Fruit”.

Jackfruit

Jackfruit is considered the largest tree fruit in the world. It looks similar to durian, but it is usually larger, its “spikes” are smaller and less sharp, and the smell is much less pungent. Jackfruit is often called “tropical bread.” Inside, it contains juicy yellow-orange segments about 10 cm long, made of soft fibers surrounding a seed with a hard shell. The fruit is sweet, with a flavor that resembles a mix of pineapple and banana, though sometimes you can catch an “acetone” note.

Guava

Guava grows on small trees from the myrtle family. It is often compared to a “tropical apple”: it has a strong aroma, a sweet-tart taste, and juicy flesh. To peel it, you need to cut off the top, split the fruit in half, remove the seeds, and peel the skin with a knife. Guava can be eaten fresh, as well as used in salads and desserts.

Lychee

Lychee is the fruit of an evergreen tree from the soapberry family, also known as the “Chinese plum.” Lychee looks like a red pine cone and is usually sold in bunches. It has a tough skin that can be peeled off with a knife. Inside, there is juicy white flesh and an inedible seed. The taste is moderately sweet with a hint of tartness. The peak season is from May to July.

Longan

Longan is a fruit similar to lychee and is also the fruit of an evergreen tree from the soapberry family. They are covered with a thin, fragile shell with small brown bumps, and inside, longan has translucent, juicy, watery flesh and a small seed.

Rambutan

Another member of the soapberry family, rambutan has red or yellow skin with soft spikes and sweet flesh, which has a jelly-like texture. To peel rambutan, you need to make a cut along the skin and carefully remove the flesh. Inside is an inedible seed.

Mangosteen

This fruit has a rich red color and skin several millimeters thick. The inside of the mangosteen resembles a garlic clove, but its taste is sweet with a slight tang. To peel it, you need to make a cut along the skin and carefully remove the flesh.

Sapodilla

Not a very popular fruit among tourists, but it shouldn’t be overlooked: this unremarkable fruit, which looks like a potato, has very sweet flesh that resembles persimmon. You should choose a soft fruit and eat it within 2-3 days, as sapodilla does not keep for long.

Maprang

Another fruit that is not very popular with tourists. It looks like a yellow plum, a small mango, or an apricot, but in fact, it is a Marian plum. The flavor is a blend of mango and plum. The fruit is eaten with the skin on, and even the leaves can be eaten — they are often added to salads.

Of course, it’s impossible to talk about all of Thailand’s exotic fruits within this space — there are so many! By the way, you can buy these fruits at night markets, which we’ve detailed in the section Night Markets. You can also try exotic dishes in Phuket’s eateries, the best of which are listed in the Cafes and Restaurants section.