Hi there, my name is Jordan and I love rare and exotic fruits. Ever since I found out about exotic and rare fruit hunting on YouTube, I've been inspired to taste all these unique and often unknown fruits.

To the topic:

Does anyone happen to know where I could source some fresh rare/exotic fruits in New Zealand, such as Mangosteen, Lychee, Yellow Dragonfruit (or any coloured dragonfruit for that matter - apparently the yellow skinned varieties just taste better), Longan, or Rambutan (images attached)?

I'm in Tauranga, and the only exotic/rare fruits we get sometimes are mangoes - usually the ones from Ecuador really suck (because they've traveled too far and lose flavour), but the ones from Australia are much better in flavour. I have still yet to see any of the fruits mentioned available fresh however (and by fresh I mean either straight off the tree/plant, or at least imported from another country). I've seen tinned lychees, but honestly, it simply doesn't compare to eating fresh lychees.

I've also been searching for fruits such as: black sapote, abiu, alupag, pulasan, purple star apple, and red ilama.

If anyone could help as to where I could find/source these rare/exotic fruits in New Zealand, that would be awesome!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2020 05:21AM by Fruit Hunter.

I've seen both fresh lychee and dragonfruit in Auckland over the years in various shops. Sorry can't be more help with specifics, but they're out there. I don't shop at any little ethnic shops as I live way too far away, so it would have to have been fairly mainstream and on the North Shore -- options are Albany New World, Fruit World Silverdale, one of the Asian grocery places off Wairau Rd, or Farro Constellation Drive.

I've seen rambutan and mangosteen here at Moore Wilsons. Did you want to source plants to grow, or just fruit to eat?

Oh wow I wasn't expecting such quick replies :O

Just fresh fruits to eat (not dried, frozen or powdered, etc.). though trying to grow some of the fruits would be fun, so I wouldn't say no to sourcing rare/exotic plants to grow, either.

Thanks for the recommendations Jenna and Griz.

I hope Moore Wilsons can ship fruits to other parts of NZ. We never get fruits like mangosteen or rambutan. Only mangoes - and everyone knows what a mango is!

I sent an email to New World, Fruit World, and asked around some markets in NZ on the Google Map if anyone knew of any of these fruits being sold.

I've bought Mangosteens (known as the queen of fruits) once in NZ and have never seen them since. The season for them in Singapore is around June, July, August. I'm hoping there might be some available when I go again in February, seeing as the climate there is fairly steady all year round, but as they say, everything has its season!

I think our climate doesn't have a long enough summer for these fruits to grow to maturity. We are a sub-tropical climate, not tropical, and even if they did grow and fruit, I think the fruit would be small, runt-like specimens compared to the 'real' thing from a tropical climate I tried growing a pomegranate tree here on the Coromandel. It bore plenty of fruit, but they never ripened.

Just heard back from constellation drive, Farro, they only have mangoes in stock. And from Moore Wilsons:

Hi Jordan,

Thanks for your email. We stock fresh mangosteen when it's available from our suppliers - none currently but we'd expect small quantities to come around March/April with the bulk of supply being from July-September. Also when available we have Pitaya/Dragon Fruit and Lychees. We don't stock Rambutan.

Unfortunately we aren’t able to offer shipping on fresh produce.

You could try keeping an eye out at local Asian supermarkets/speciality stores, they are often a good place to find more exotic fruits.

Sorry we can't be of more assistance.

Kind regards,
Rebecca

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It's a shame :-( so they do have some good fresh exotic fruits, but they don't ship it to other areas in the country. It seems I'm not going to have any luck at this rate :-/ I've sent emails to asian supermarkets but haven't had any replies.

I have purchased Dragonfruit from P n S, but it isn't stocked that often. However if you have Asian shops over in the bay I would actually call in and see what they have on the shelf.

My mum has been doing research all morning and came across Service Foods, in Maleme Street, Greerton, Tauranga, who sell fresh:

AUSTRALIAN LYCHEE - $38.68 a kg (so if you want 2 or 3 can order 200g etc)

MANGOSTEEN - $3.95 each

DRAGONFRUIT - $6.75 each

Yay! Mangosteen, lychee, and dragonfruits found in Tauranga! We'll finally be able to see what mangosteen tastes like. How exciting :-) Thanks for all your help everyone!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2020 05:20AM by Fruit Hunter.

I haven't run across Service Foods yet - very interesting. Are they open to the public, or are they a wholesaler? Their website isn't clear.

Now you have just g to to find Durian and you are all set. durian should be in season now and I shall never forget that awful smell. Perhaps it would be better to give this one a miss?

I actually quite like durian. I first tried it in Bangkok out of curiosity, bracing myself for it to be horrible, but the smell was mainly oniony (not sewage as often described), and the flavour and texture were lovely.

Can Durian be exported to NZ? I know it is forbidden on aircraft due to the smell, and wondered if they can import into NZ with it being on a cargo plane? I have never seen it here.

Have tried it in Asia, and I can take it or leave it.

Edited to add ignore the above re bringing it in to NZ. I asked Mrs Google and yes it is imported here



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/2020 01:33AM by Irene Field.

Congrats Hope you enjoy the experience!

I didn't know about Service Foods either. I think they mainly deal with supplying to chefs and stuff like that. I saw some website in Auckland (https://www.scandalponsonby.co.nz/drink) which sold some sort of mangosteen majito on their drinks list, so I guess they must supply to places like that, so my mum and I were lucky to buy some directly from them, as just an individual buyer not wanting many fruits.

We just went there today and they all looked so good. Most of the lychee seeds sunk in water, which is a good sign that it's viable - only a few rose to the top which means they're not good for planting - so will try my luck at growing lychee plants.

The red dragonfruit looked amazing - it's from vietnam. I must say I'm not really a fan of red dragonfruit. This is the 2nd time I've tried it now - once in Hawaii, and once just now. It kinda tastes like an earthy, beetroot flavoured jelly. I guess it would be nice pickled, in a green salad, or something. Maybe the white flesh dragonfruit taste better, but for me, I'm not a fan of the red variety.

The mangosteen were AMAZING! How to describe the flavour I guess would be is if peaches, bananas, and a hint of pineapple, all had a baby. That's what mangosteen to me tastes like. It has more of a peachy juice flavour, followed secondly by a definite banana kind of taste, and only a slight pineapple hint. It's delicious! I can see why people call it the queen of fruits. The smaller segments of the fruit seem to be seedless - so good for eating, while the larger segments in the fruit usually have a seed. To tell how many segments are in the mangosteen, a neat little trick is to look on the underside of the fruit. It will have some flower-shaped petal-looking raised bits. It if has 6 petal looking raised bits, it will have 6 segments inside.

@Chris, I think there was an asian supermarket somewhere in Tauranga (I think I saw it on Google reviews/map), and in amongst some of the photos people have taken of the supermarket, I noticed a photo of durian in some sort of cooler - not sure if it was a fridge or freezer. I think I'll give it a miss. If it stinks so much as many say, I can't imagine myself wanting something like that, lol. But I'd never say never. If I saw one fresh, I'd give it a go, because I can't knock it til I've tried it. It's not something I'm going to go out of my way to look for, to try it though.

I tried tinned jackfruit at Wildearth Organics in the Tauranga CBD once also, but it was so disgusting I threw it out. It could just have been the brine or whatever the liquid was, that was in it. But my first experience of that wasn't good. I'm sure it would taste a lot better fresh, as many people seem to love jackfruit. I'd also not give this one a miss, as I'm sure the liquid/brine was what made it taste bad.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/2020 03:25AM by Fruit Hunter.

The jackfruit you get in cans is immature, doesn't taste of much and is most commonly used as a substitute for chicken/pork in Vege dishes. I've made it as a pulled "meat" to put in tacos and it was delicious, but not very fruity. I've not seen mature jackfruit here, but assume that would have more flavour.

I've eaten white-fleshed dragonfruit but didn't find they tasted of much at all. Which on the other hand might be an improvement on beetroot jelly. Dying to try a mangosteen now!

I recently bought some fresh lychees at the new fruit and vegie shop in Greerton - first time I've seen these for sale in Tauranga

I bought lychees from New World (Brookfield) today....Almost $30 a kilo. I have already eaten 3 of them. In Brisbane I couldn't get enough of them.
Someone else is more than welcome to my durian, should it be available locally. The smell during the peak season is still in my mind.

I know you can't get fruit from Moore Wilson's but thought you might like to hear that they are stocking NZ's first NZ grown finger limes and also expecting Japanese Green Ume fruit in the next week too.

I have seen red dragon fruit for sale in Tauranga at different times. Yes , here in Auckland we can buy Durian.

I love love love Mangosteens. In Auckland, I have seen them at Tai Ping on Dominion Road, and actually across the road at the Japanese Food Supermarket too. Point Chevaliers Wholesalers are the wholesalers of them and they kindly once let me buy some there. They are horrifically expensive most of the time, but occasionally you get a bargain.

Farro Mt Eden, and Greenlane both have Lychees and a few asian supermarkets as well from time to time.

Just back from my 9 days in Singapore and I had a feast of mangosteen while there. At this time of year, they're not the best and a bit hit and miss as far as ripeness goes, but the large net bag I bought must've weighed about 1.5kg and my friend I enjoyed a mangosteen or two each day with our breakfast. They varied in size from about ping-pong ball size up to almost tennis ball size and the quality varied too, some having a softish brown colour to the sections instead of pure white. But they were enjoyed!

This face book page just popped up on my feed, it might be interesting? Put

NZ Rare Fruit Growers into your facebook search bar.

Thank you for that, Danube. I've just applied to join the group.

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Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2020 05:18AM by Fruit Hunter.

Griz Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The jackfruit you get in cans is immature, doesn't
> taste of much and is most commonly used as a
> substitute for chicken/pork in Vege dishes. I've
> made it as a pulled "meat" to put in tacos and it
> was delicious, but not very fruity. I've not seen
> mature jackfruit here, but assume that would have
> more flavour.

Griz, I saw tinned jackfruit by Ceres Organics for the first time inthe supermarket and searched this site for ways to cook it. No luck, unless I put the wrong words in. Could you (and other members) perhaps let us/me know how to go about it, please. I am quite keen to try something new. Many thanks.

Several jackfruit recipes here: [www.olivemagazine.com] While I'm aware it's commonly used as a meat-free 'pulled pork' I've never actually tried it and would be interested in hearing if anyone else does.
Lynne2

Many thanks for the link, Lynne2.

Hi Chris, haven't been here much lately, so sorry for late response, I can't find the exact recipe I used but this is similar to the technique and ingredients I used the first time, I've winged it from there after the first time. I think once you've tried it you will find that it's quite adaptable, and I don't think you really need to use the baking step, just reduce the sauce until its coating the shreds of jackfruit. [www.eatwell.co.nz]

Thank you very much, Griz.