Eating fresh fruit is one of the glories of a visit to Thailand. The tropical climate and incredible fertility of the soil produce a super-abundance of a wide range of exotic produce, some of which are introduced below. The discovery of new unimagined flavours as well as sampling the fresh, fruit that has only been familiar to us from a can is a memorable holiday indulgence. Especially when the fruit is prepared, chilled and offered ready-to-eat, often served on a wooden stick, at a roadside stall, for pennies.
Banana or Gluai
A banana’s a banana right? Wrong…over twenty different varieties of bananas are available on the island all year round, the four most common varieties are:
Gluai Hom – Valued for its appealing scent, ripe fragrant, finger bananas are a popular all day snack. They go well on a breakfast platter and are ideal for making banana fritters, cakes, shakes, smoothies and ice-cream
Gluai Khai – The Egg Banana has a thinner golden-yellow skin when ripe. It’s eaten fresh or cooked in a light syrup. It is also popularly used dried, in candies or cake.
Gluai Nam Wa - Sticky and sweet when ripe, Nam Wa is valued for its claimed nutritional value. It’s often used in a dessert known as Gluai Buat Chee in which slices of banana are cooked in coconut milk. It’s also a key ingredient in several steamed desserts made with glutinous rice.
Gluai Hak Mook - A cooking banana that is delicious when roasted or grilled.
Bananas are frequently seen deep-fried as fritters, grilled or oven-dried as chips, smoked in their skin, canned in syrup or incorporated with sugar as candy. Bananas are ubiquitous shakes, smoothies and some cocktails and in delicious pancakes at roadside carts in the resorts. Bophut has two.
Banana blossom known as Hua Plee are sometimes used fresh as a garnish for the noodle dish – Pad Thai. The blossoms can also be used in Thai salads or eaten alone as a snacky vegetable served with a chilli dip called nam prik. The large emerald coloured leaves are used as informal plates or food packest used in steamers or on the BBQ. Not a lot goes to waste.
Tamarind or Makaam Waan
Native to Africa and probably to Asia, but now widely grown in Thailand and throughout the tropics. The fruit, a brown, bean like pod between 8-20 cm long. The pod contains hard black seeds surrounded by a juicy, acidic pulp used as an ingredient to impart both sweetness and sourness to soups, such as Tom Yum, sauces and curries, and formerly in medicines. A refreshing drink can made by adding sugar and water to the pulp. A dye is obtained from the leaves. Sweet tamarind (Makaam Waan) has a taste similar to prunes or dates and is eaten as a snack.
Custard Apple or Noi – na
June to September
While there are purplely mauve varieties available they share the lumpy skin of the more typically available green variety which encases sweet, fragrant creamy flesh with small black seeds. Although it looks tough with its interlocking lumpy scales, the fruit is easily divided by hand. The soft white pulpy flesh of ripe custard apple is intensely sweet and can be scooped out with a spoon with relative ease. Custard apples are seldom cooked, but find their way to the table blended with coconut milk to make a light, delicious ice-cream, shakes or smoothies.
Rose Apple or Chom Poo
Indiginous to Thailand and elseware in SE Asia, the fruits are about 5 cm long with a whitish-green colour, but variations exist, including a red skinned variety most often available in Samui. The skin is thin, waxy and edible. The fruit should be consumed soon after picking because they spoil quickly. Rose Apples are crisp and subtley flavoured, with the taste and smell of rose water. The core of the fruit is hollow and contains a small amount of fluffy inedible fibre.
Lime or Manouw
Fresh limes are a staple for cooking Thai food, and fortunately these are available all year-round in Koh Samui. We look for limes that have nice thin skin and a heavy feel which indicates good juice content. The juice is mixed with fish sauce, chillies and garlic as a condiment and squeezed neat into a myriad of recipes. We use almost as many in the bar as we do in the kitchen, especially when we have a run on Mojitos.
Kaffir Lime or Makhrut
A cooking ingredient and not an otherwise edible fruit. The leaves are a very popular herb in Thailand; their characteristic flavour is present in soups, stir-fries and curries. Kaffir lime, has a very strong, distinguishing fragrance that cannot easily be substituted by other ingredients. The fruit typically, fails to give up much juice.
Dragonfruit or Pitaya
From a vine-like plant of the cactus family (the tree has no leaves), the typical bright pink fruit weigh from 200 to 700 grams. They average 7-10 cm wide and 10-15 cm long. The flesh inside is white, contains many small black seeds and has an unremarakable, mildly sweet taste. The fruit is supposed to possess the shape and colour of a dragon’s eye. In season, we occasionally use them sliced as a decorative bright spot on a breakfast fruit platter.
Durian or Tu-rian
May to August
Considered to be the King of Thai Fruits, Thais prefer a durian that is just ripe. The flesh should be slightly soft to the touch but without being crunchy. Durian is, to say the least, an acquired taste. For the first taste of durian, Mon Tong or the Golden Pillow Durian with its light creamy texture is the mildest version and is widely available throughout Thailand. Alternatively, as a first hint of what is to come, try Durian ice-cream or Khao Nieow Turian – Sticky Rice topped with durian meat cooked in a coconut cream sauce, and Turian Kuan, a preserved durian toffee, or jams. Kahn Yaow or the Long-Stem Durian with firmer yellow flesh and Chanee or Gibbon Durian with its golden yellow flesh have a richer and more distinctive flavour and are much sought after by true durian connoisseurs, although in the city, it is becoming an increasingly rare commodity.
The best durian is judged by the thickness of the flesh and the size of its seed. (The smaller the seed relative to the amount of flesh, the better). Durian ripens quickly in hot tropical climates. As it does so the flesh takes on a creamy consistency and the intensity of the aroma increases. Given its lingering pungency, the fruit is banned from hotel rooms, cinemas, aircraft, limousines, coaches and vans.
Passionfruit or Saowarot
The fruit has a round to oval shape with either yellow or dark purple skin. The fruit has a thick peel and a soft to firm, juicy interior which is filled with many seeds in an orange or yellow coloured glutinous gel-like flesh. The purple form has black seeds and the yellow fruit has brown seeds. Both are green when immature. Passionfruit are used for fresh (and seldom cooked) consumption or to produce juice. The juice has a very strong, sharp flavour and is often diluted or mixed with other fruit juices or in cocktails. The fruit should be left to ripen at room temperature until they wrinkle. Cut in half, the flesh and seeds are easily scooped out. My preference? Spooned over ice-cream or drizzled over Pavlova, seeds and all. The flesh is usually seived to separate the seeds when to be used for juice or cocktail ingredient.
Langsat
Peak season: July to September
The oval-shaped Langsat is native to Thailand. Peeling back the light yellowish-brown skin to exposes small, plump segments of translucent flesh. Some contain seeds. Perfectly ripened plump langsat have a delicate refreshing sweet-and-sour taste and a fragrant aroma. Very young langsat tend to be very sour. It is grown in Uttaradit Province in Northern Thailand, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Suratthani, Chumphon, Trang and Songkhla in the south.
Longan or Longkong
Peak season: July to September
Of the same family as the langsat, the rounder longkong has thicker skin with less sap making it easier to peel. It’s more fragrant and noticeably sweeter. With longkong being the connoisseur’s choice, it is slightly more expensive than langsat.
Medicinal qualities claimed for the Longan fruit include: to cure symptoms of weakness, fatigue, insomnia, palpitating heart, and forgetfulness. Longan is considered full of useful medicaments such as glucose, sucrose, and fructose and vitamins such as vitamin C, B1, and B2.
Thai Mango or Ma-Muang
Peak season: April to June
All Thai mangoes are sweet, juicy and fragrant when ripe, but the Nam Dawk Mai and Ok Long variety are best known and the favourite choices as dessert fruit or as Mango and Sticky (glutinous) Rice, a dessert especially popular during the peak of the mango season in the summer.
Ma-muang Keow Savoey and Ma-muang Rat varieties are also delicious as ripe mango, but Thais prefer to enjoy both of these as served with a dry salt-and-sugar dip seasoned with crushed chilli called prik kab kleua or a savoury chilli dip prepared by blending palm sugar with fish sauce heated to a caramel-like consistency called nam pla wan.
Unripe Keow Savoey is sweet and has a powdery texture, while Ma-muang Rat is predominantly sour with a hint of sweet. Raw mangoes add a more delicate sour flavour to dishes and are featured in Thai salads such as Yam Ma-muang and in chilli dips. Thai mangoes come in many other preserved forms such as delicious mango ice-cream, or pickled mango – Ma-muang Dong. Ma-muang Chae-Im or dried mango, and Ma-muang Kuan.
Thai Orange or Som
Season: September to February for the tangerine or Som Keow Wan. September to November for the Sweet Orange.
Fresh Thai tangerines have a highly aromatic thin greenish-yellow peel and are refreshingly sweet when ripe, perfect when served as fresh fruit or as a breakfast juice or cocktail mixer.
Pomelo or Som O
Peak season: August to November
Native to Thailand and Southeast Asia, pomelo is the Asian equivalent of grapefruit, but significantly larger in size. The green peel is aromatic, the sweet and juicy champagne pink flesh of Som O Thong Dee or Brilliant Gold Pomelo and the virtually translucent and crisper flesh of Som O Khao Hom or Fragrant Rice Pomelo are considered to be the best. Because of its light tangy flavour, Som O Khao Hom adds a delicate harmonious flavour to Thai salads.
Carambola Star Fruit or Ma Feung
Peak season: October to December
In cross section a five-pointed star, hence its name, carambola is not a native species, but is grown throughout Thailand. Ripe star-fruit is sweet and juicy with a hint of sour making star-fruit excellent for quenching thirst. It is often served as a refreshing fruit juice. It can also be served in slices with a dry salt-and-granulated sugar dip seasoned with crushed chilli called prik kaab kleua, or with a savoury chilli dip prepared with palm sugar and fish sauce heated to a caramel-like consistency called nam pla wan.
Guava or Farang
The word ‘farang’ in Thai means foreigner and reveals the guava is not a native species. Indigenous to tropical America, it was brought into the kingdom by traders in the 17th century. Guava is grown primarily in the Central Plains and is available all year round. Crunchy raw guava is served with a dry salt-and-granulated sugar dip seasoned with crushed chilli called prik kab kleua or a savoury chilli dip prepared by blending palm sugar with fish sauce heated to a caramel-like consistency called nam pla wan.
The creative use of guava is gaining popularity and is frequently used as an alternative to papaya in Som Tam – the papaya salad and in Thai salads.
Jackfruit or Kanoon
Peak season: January to May
Jackfruit becomes sweeter as it ripens. When served chilled, the chewy flesh has a crunchier texture to it.
Given its natural sweetness and fragrance, jackfruit is often used as a topping to enhance a wide range of Thai desserts such as a rich traditional home-made coconut ice-cream, Ruam Mitr – a light dessert with young coconut meat, an assortment of cooked strips of rice flour, syrup and a dash of coconut milk topped with shaved ice, or Jackfruit served with Sticky Rice, plain and simple. Deep-fried jackfruit is also a popular snack and dessert. Jackfruit ice-cream is gaining popularity.
A versatile fruit, every part of the jackfruit is edible and leaves, flowers and seeds are featured in savoury dishes such as curries or served with nam prik chilli dips. The provinces of Chonburi, Uttaradit, Nakhon Ratchasima are famous for their jackfruit.
Jujube or Phut-Sa
Peak season: February to September
Phut-sa (or jujube) is oval-shaped and green. The outer peel gradually turns into a light golden yellow as it ripens. Like freshly-picked Golden Delicious apple, its flesh is crisp and crunchy. To offset the slightly tart taste of fresh jujube, the entire fruit is dipped into a dry salt-and-granulated sugar dip seasoned with crushed chilli.
Put-sa is pickled in light brine and served with the salt-and-sugar dip, preserved in syrup, candied, dried or baked. It is a popular garnish as it can be easily carved into dainty leaf or floral shapes.
Longan or Lam Yai
Peak season: June to August
Longan has a thin brittle olive-brown outer shell that is easy to crack open. The Bieow Keow variety commonly found in fruit stalls, markets and supermarkets, the smooth translucent flesh that surrounds the round black seed is juicier and exceptionally sweet. In the See Chompoo variety, the light champagne pink flesh is noticeably crisp. Longan is usually eaten fresh but is also popular when served as a dessert called Khao Nieow Lam Yai – a fragrant rice pudding cooked in coconut milk. Dried longan is double-boiled and served as a refreshing Chinese-style tea, hot or with crushed ice. Canned longan is simply served with crushed ice. Grown in the Northern provinces of Chiang Mai and Lamphun, Longan is exported fresh, canned and dried to Europe, the United States and Asia.
Lychee or Lin Chee
Peak season: April to June
Prime grade fresh lychees are large in size with a thicker bright red skin. Lychees with thick, succulent flesh surrounding a relatively small seed, such as in the “Hong Huai” and “Chakrapat” (Emperor lychees), are considered to be the best quality. These are predominantly sweet. However for those who prefer flavourful lychees with a sharper taste, look out for oval-shaped lychees with brittle skin. These are sweet and slightly sour. There is tremendous worldwide demand for this exotic dessert fruit and Thai lychees are one of Thailand’s leading economic crops ranking high on the list of top exports shipped to all corners of the globe in a variety of forms – fresh, dried, frozen, and canned, as well as lychee juice or wine. Lychees are primarily grown in the Central Plains and in Northern Thailand.
Mangosteen or Mungkoot
Peak season: May to August or September
Considered to be the “Queen of Tropical Fruits”, there are five or six small segments of white flesh contained within the hard, dark reddish purple outer shell. When ripe, the outer shell yields to slight pressure and cracks easily to reveal the soft, white flesh with a refreshing sweet and tangy taste. To avoid crushing the delicate flesh within, it is best to make a continuous clean cut around the circumference by turning the mangosteen clockwise or counter-clockwise through the dark beetroot-coloured pith but without cutting through the flesh.
Papaya or Malakaw
Papaya grows all over Thailand and is available all year round but ideal conditions in the provinces of Southwest Thailand namely Chumphon, Ratchaburi and Prachuab Khiri Khan, it is cultivated on a large scale as an important commercial crop.
It’s widely consumed as fresh fruit, but in Thai cuisine, also in dishes such as the Papaya Salad – Som Tam, a light curry without coconut milk called Kaeng Som, or boiled and served with nam prik, a chilli dip.
Pineapple or Sapparote
Peak season: April to June and December and January
There are two distinct varieties of pineapple grown in Thailand. An extremely sweet and succulent pineapple with softer lemon-yellow pulp called the Siracha pineapple and a crunchy pineapple with a delicate sweet taste. A pinch of salt is often rubbed into freshly cut pineapple to offset its bite.
The Siracha and Phuket pineapples flourish in the South in the provinces of our own Suratthani and Hua Hin. A new variety of miniature Phuket pineapples are now grown at The Royal Project experimental agricultural stations in northern Thailand.
Thailand recently became the World’s largest producer and exporters of canned pineapple. and juice. Excess pineapple is also sun-dried, and processed into juice, jams, chewy toffee and candy. Pineapple adds natural sweet balance and contributes to the harmony of flavours that is the distinctive quality of Thai cuisine. It’s commonly used as a flavouring in savoury dishes, for example in pineapple curries such as Kaeng Sapparote, Saow Nam or the yummy Khao Ob Sapparote – Rice Baked in Pineapple.
Rambutan or Ngoh
Peak Peak season: May to September
In Thailand, there are two varieties of rambutan, both sharing a thick and hairy outer skin. Ngoh Rong Rian has sweet, succulent flesh that clings to the seed, while the oval-shaped Si Chompoo, the pink rambutan, has crisp, white flesh that comes off the seed more easily. Rambutan orchards are commonly found in Chanthaburi and the provinces of the south making them relatively cheap in Samui during the season.
Sapodilla or Lamoot
Peak season: September to December
The oval-shaped Sapodilla is a dessert fruit resembling Kiwi fruit in its external appearance, but with its smooth, hairless brown skin, it looks more like a kiwi-shaped potato instead. Inside the fruit are 2-5 black bean-like seeds with a hook on one end. It has a pale yellowish to earth brown colour and the texture is grainy, resembling a pear. Sapodilla that is just ripe is slightly soft to the touch and is easily peeled with a knife. The caramel brown Sapodilla flesh is fragrant, honey-flavoured, slightly gritty and somewhat crisp. As it ripens further, Sapodilla becomes extremely sweet and increasingly juicy.
Watermelon or Taeng Mo
Peak season: October to March
Sliced for a refreshing breakfast or snack, served as a fruit juice, sorbet, or cocktail, Thai water melons are said (by Thais) to be the best in the world in terms of their flavour and texture. The traditional Thai variety, with its characteristic dark green skin, has rich red flesh that is sweet and juicy, and crisp when well-chilled, with a slightly gritty texture. A less common, yellow-fleshed variety you may come across, has a light green skin and alternating dark stripes. Given the thickness of their skin, water melons are frequently used in fruit-carving displays.
Young Coconut or Mapraow Onn
Peak Peak season: September to December
Available all year round, the cool light refreshing juice of fresh young coconut is a popular thirst quencher and mixer for exotic, tropical cocktails. The tender, white flesh is edible and can be easily scooped out with a spoon. It’s often featured as a key ingredient in light desserts served with crushed or shaved ice and topped with coconut milk. As the coconut matures, the kernel becomes solid and the flesh is grated to make coconut cream, an integral ingredient in Thai cuisine used as a base for curries and desserts such as Sankhaya – Coconut Custard, Khanom Kroke – Coconut Pancakes and Gluai Buat Chee – banana slices cooked in coconut milk.
Thai fruit
Eating fresh fruit is one of the glories of a visit to Thailand. The tropical climate and incredible fertility of the soil produce a super-abundance of a wide range of exotic produce, some of which are introduced below. The discovery of new unimagined flavours as well as sampling the fresh, fruit that has only been familiar to us from a can is a memorable holiday indulgence. Especially when the fruit is prepared, chilled and offered ready-to-eat, often served on a wooden stick, at a roadside stall, for pennies.
Banana or Gluai
A banana’s a banana right? Wrong…over twenty different varieties of bananas are available on the island all year round, the four most common varieties are:
Bananas are frequently seen deep-fried as fritters, grilled or oven-dried as chips, smoked in their skin, canned in syrup or incorporated with sugar as candy. Bananas are ubiquitous shakes, smoothies and some cocktails and in delicious pancakes at roadside carts in the resorts. Bophut has two.
Banana blossom known as Hua Plee are sometimes used fresh as a garnish for the noodle dish – Pad Thai. The blossoms can also be used in Thai salads or eaten alone as a snacky vegetable served with a chilli dip called nam prik. The large emerald coloured leaves are used as informal plates or food packest used in steamers or on the BBQ. Not a lot goes to waste.
Tamarind or Makaam Waan
Native to Africa and probably to Asia, but now widely grown in Thailand and throughout the tropics. The fruit, a brown, bean like pod between 8-20 cm long. The pod contains hard black seeds surrounded by a juicy, acidic pulp used as an ingredient to impart both sweetness and sourness to soups, such as Tom Yum, sauces and curries, and formerly in medicines. A refreshing drink can made by adding sugar and water to the pulp. A dye is obtained from the leaves. Sweet tamarind (Makaam Waan) has a taste similar to prunes or dates and is eaten as a snack.
Custard Apple or Noi – na
June to September
While there are purplely mauve varieties available they share the lumpy skin of the more typically available green variety which encases sweet, fragrant creamy flesh with small black seeds. Although it looks tough with its interlocking lumpy scales, the fruit is easily divided by hand. The soft white pulpy flesh of ripe custard apple is intensely sweet and can be scooped out with a spoon with relative ease. Custard apples are seldom cooked, but find their way to the table blended with coconut milk to make a light, delicious ice-cream, shakes or smoothies.
Rose Apple or Chom Poo
Indiginous to Thailand and elseware in SE Asia, the fruits are about 5 cm long with a whitish-green colour, but variations exist, including a red skinned variety most often available in Samui. The skin is thin, waxy and edible. The fruit should be consumed soon after picking because they spoil quickly. Rose Apples are crisp and subtley flavoured, with the taste and smell of rose water. The core of the fruit is hollow and contains a small amount of fluffy inedible fibre.
Lime or Manouw
Fresh limes are a staple for cooking Thai food, and fortunately these are available all year-round in Koh Samui. We look for limes that have nice thin skin and a heavy feel which indicates good juice content. The juice is mixed with fish sauce, chillies and garlic as a condiment and squeezed neat into a myriad of recipes. We use almost as many in the bar as we do in the kitchen, especially when we have a run on Mojitos.
Kaffir Lime or Makhrut
A cooking ingredient and not an otherwise edible fruit. The leaves are a very popular herb in Thailand; their characteristic flavour is present in soups, stir-fries and curries. Kaffir lime, has a very strong, distinguishing fragrance that cannot easily be substituted by other ingredients. The fruit typically, fails to give up much juice.
Dragonfruit or Pitaya
From a vine-like plant of the cactus family (the tree has no leaves), the typical bright pink fruit weigh from 200 to 700 grams. They average 7-10 cm wide and 10-15 cm long. The flesh inside is white, contains many small black seeds and has an unremarakable, mildly sweet taste. The fruit is supposed to possess the shape and colour of a dragon’s eye. In season, we occasionally use them sliced as a decorative bright spot on a breakfast fruit platter.
Durian or Tu-rian
May to August
Considered to be the King of Thai Fruits, Thais prefer a durian that is just ripe. The flesh should be slightly soft to the touch but without being crunchy.
Durian is, to say the least, an acquired taste. For the first taste of durian, Mon Tong or the Golden Pillow Durian with its light creamy texture is the mildest version and is widely available throughout Thailand. Alternatively, as a first hint of what is to come, try Durian ice-cream or Khao Nieow Turian – Sticky Rice topped with durian meat cooked in a coconut cream sauce, and Turian Kuan, a preserved durian toffee, or jams. Kahn Yaow or the Long-Stem Durian with firmer yellow flesh and Chanee or Gibbon Durian with its golden yellow flesh have a richer and more distinctive flavour and are much sought after by true durian connoisseurs, although in the city, it is becoming an increasingly rare commodity.
The best durian is judged by the thickness of the flesh and the size of its seed. (The smaller the seed relative to the amount of flesh, the better). Durian ripens quickly in hot tropical climates. As it does so the flesh takes on a creamy consistency and the intensity of the aroma increases. Given its lingering pungency, the fruit is banned from hotel rooms, cinemas, aircraft, limousines, coaches and vans.
Passionfruit or Saowarot
The fruit has a round to oval shape with either yellow or dark purple skin. The fruit has a thick peel and a soft to firm, juicy interior which is filled with many seeds in an orange or yellow coloured glutinous gel-like flesh. The purple form has black seeds and the yellow fruit has brown seeds. Both are green when immature. Passionfruit are used for fresh (and seldom cooked) consumption or to produce juice. The juice has a very strong, sharp flavour and is often diluted or mixed with other fruit juices or in cocktails. The fruit should be left to ripen at room temperature until they wrinkle. Cut in half, the flesh and seeds are easily scooped out. My preference? Spooned over ice-cream or drizzled over Pavlova, seeds and all. The flesh is usually seived to separate the seeds when to be used for juice or cocktail ingredient.
Langsat
Peak season: July to September
The oval-shaped Langsat is native to Thailand. Peeling back the light yellowish-brown skin to exposes small, plump segments of translucent flesh. Some contain seeds. Perfectly ripened plump langsat have a delicate refreshing sweet-and-sour taste and a fragrant aroma. Very young langsat tend to be very sour. It is grown in Uttaradit Province in Northern Thailand, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Suratthani, Chumphon, Trang and Songkhla in the south.
Longan or Longkong
Peak season: July to September
Of the same family as the langsat, the rounder longkong has thicker skin with less sap making it easier to peel. It’s more fragrant and noticeably sweeter. With longkong being the connoisseur’s choice, it is slightly more expensive than langsat.
Medicinal qualities claimed for the Longan fruit include: to cure symptoms of weakness, fatigue, insomnia, palpitating heart, and forgetfulness. Longan is considered full of useful medicaments such as glucose, sucrose, and fructose and vitamins such as vitamin C, B1, and B2.
Thai Mango or Ma-Muang
Peak season: April to June
All Thai mangoes are sweet, juicy and fragrant when ripe, but the Nam Dawk Mai and Ok Long variety are best known and the favourite choices as dessert fruit or as Mango and Sticky (glutinous) Rice, a dessert especially popular during the peak of the mango season in the summer.
Ma-muang Keow Savoey and Ma-muang Rat varieties are also delicious as ripe mango, but Thais prefer to enjoy both of these as served with a dry salt-and-sugar dip seasoned with crushed chilli called prik kab kleua or a savoury chilli dip prepared by blending palm sugar with fish sauce heated to a caramel-like consistency called nam pla wan.
Unripe Keow Savoey is sweet and has a powdery texture, while Ma-muang Rat is predominantly sour with a hint of sweet. Raw mangoes add a more delicate sour flavour to dishes and are featured in Thai salads such as Yam Ma-muang and in chilli dips. Thai mangoes come in many other preserved forms such as delicious mango ice-cream, or pickled mango – Ma-muang Dong. Ma-muang Chae-Im or dried mango, and Ma-muang Kuan.
Thai Orange or Som
Season: September to February for the tangerine or Som Keow Wan. September to November for the Sweet Orange.
Fresh Thai tangerines have a highly aromatic thin greenish-yellow peel and are refreshingly sweet when ripe, perfect when served as fresh fruit or as a breakfast juice or cocktail mixer.
Pomelo or Som O
Peak season: August to November
Native to Thailand and Southeast Asia, pomelo is the Asian equivalent of grapefruit, but significantly larger in size. The green peel is aromatic, the sweet and juicy champagne pink flesh of Som O Thong Dee or Brilliant Gold Pomelo and the virtually translucent and crisper flesh of Som O Khao Hom or Fragrant Rice Pomelo are considered to be the best. Because of its light tangy flavour, Som O Khao Hom adds a delicate harmonious flavour to Thai salads.
Carambola Star Fruit or Ma Feung
Peak season: October to December
In cross section a five-pointed star, hence its name, carambola is not a native species, but is grown throughout Thailand. Ripe star-fruit is sweet and juicy with a hint of sour making star-fruit excellent for quenching thirst. It is often served as a refreshing fruit juice. It can also be served in slices with a dry salt-and-granulated sugar dip seasoned with crushed chilli called prik kaab kleua, or with a savoury chilli dip prepared with palm sugar and fish sauce heated to a caramel-like consistency called nam pla wan.
Guava or Farang
The word ‘farang’ in Thai means foreigner and reveals the guava is not a native species. Indigenous to tropical America, it was brought into the kingdom by traders in the 17th century. Guava is grown primarily in the Central Plains and is available all year round. Crunchy raw guava is served with a dry salt-and-granulated sugar dip seasoned with crushed chilli called prik kab kleua or a savoury chilli dip prepared by blending palm sugar with fish sauce heated to a caramel-like consistency called nam pla wan.
The creative use of guava is gaining popularity and is frequently used as an alternative to papaya in Som Tam – the papaya salad and in Thai salads.
Jackfruit or Kanoon
Peak season: January to May
Jackfruit becomes sweeter as it ripens. When served chilled, the chewy flesh has a crunchier texture to it.
Given its natural sweetness and fragrance, jackfruit is often used as a topping to enhance a wide range of Thai desserts such as a rich traditional home-made coconut ice-cream, Ruam Mitr – a light dessert with young coconut meat, an assortment of cooked strips of rice flour, syrup and a dash of coconut milk topped with shaved ice, or Jackfruit served with Sticky Rice, plain and simple. Deep-fried jackfruit is also a popular snack and dessert. Jackfruit ice-cream is gaining popularity.
A versatile fruit, every part of the jackfruit is edible and leaves, flowers and seeds are featured in savoury dishes such as curries or served with nam prik chilli dips. The provinces of Chonburi, Uttaradit, Nakhon Ratchasima are famous for their jackfruit.
Jujube or Phut-Sa
Peak season: February to September
Phut-sa (or jujube) is oval-shaped and green. The outer peel gradually turns into a light golden yellow as it ripens. Like freshly-picked Golden Delicious apple, its flesh is crisp and crunchy. To offset the slightly tart taste of fresh jujube, the entire fruit is dipped into a dry salt-and-granulated sugar dip seasoned with crushed chilli.
Put-sa is pickled in light brine and served with the salt-and-sugar dip, preserved in syrup, candied, dried or baked. It is a popular garnish as it can be easily carved into dainty leaf or floral shapes.
Longan or Lam Yai
Peak season: June to August
Longan has a thin brittle olive-brown outer shell that is easy to crack open. The Bieow Keow variety commonly found in fruit stalls, markets and supermarkets, the smooth translucent flesh that surrounds the round black seed is juicier and exceptionally sweet. In the See Chompoo variety, the light champagne pink flesh is noticeably crisp. Longan is usually eaten fresh but is also popular when served as a dessert called Khao Nieow Lam Yai – a fragrant rice pudding cooked in coconut milk. Dried longan is double-boiled and served as a refreshing Chinese-style tea, hot or with crushed ice. Canned longan is simply served with crushed ice. Grown in the Northern provinces of Chiang Mai and Lamphun, Longan is exported fresh, canned and dried to Europe, the United States and Asia.
Lychee or Lin Chee
Peak season: April to June
Prime grade fresh lychees are large in size with a thicker bright red skin. Lychees with thick, succulent flesh surrounding a relatively small seed, such as in the “Hong Huai” and “Chakrapat” (Emperor lychees), are considered to be the best quality. These are predominantly sweet. However for those who prefer flavourful lychees with a sharper taste, look out for oval-shaped lychees with brittle skin. These are sweet and slightly sour. There is tremendous worldwide demand for this exotic dessert fruit and Thai lychees are one of Thailand’s leading economic crops ranking high on the list of top exports shipped to all corners of the globe in a variety of forms – fresh, dried, frozen, and canned, as well as lychee juice or wine. Lychees are primarily grown in the Central Plains and in Northern Thailand.
Mangosteen or Mungkoot
Peak season: May to August or September
Considered to be the “Queen of Tropical Fruits”, there are five or six small segments of white flesh contained within the hard, dark reddish purple outer shell. When ripe, the outer shell yields to slight pressure and cracks easily to reveal the soft, white flesh with a refreshing sweet and tangy taste. To avoid crushing the delicate flesh within, it is best to make a continuous clean cut around the circumference by turning the mangosteen clockwise or counter-clockwise through the dark beetroot-coloured pith but without cutting through the flesh.
Papaya or Malakaw
Papaya grows all over Thailand and is available all year round but ideal conditions in the provinces of Southwest Thailand namely Chumphon, Ratchaburi and Prachuab Khiri Khan, it is cultivated on a large scale as an important commercial crop.
It’s widely consumed as fresh fruit, but in Thai cuisine, also in dishes such as the Papaya Salad – Som Tam, a light curry without coconut milk called Kaeng Som, or boiled and served with nam prik, a chilli dip.
Pineapple or Sapparote
Peak season: April to June and December and January
There are two distinct varieties of pineapple grown in Thailand. An extremely sweet and succulent pineapple with softer lemon-yellow pulp called the Siracha pineapple and a crunchy pineapple with a delicate sweet taste. A pinch of salt is often rubbed into freshly cut pineapple to offset its bite.
The Siracha and Phuket pineapples flourish in the South in the provinces of our own Suratthani and Hua Hin. A new variety of miniature Phuket pineapples are now grown at The Royal Project experimental agricultural stations in northern Thailand.
Thailand recently became the World’s largest producer and exporters of canned pineapple. and juice. Excess pineapple is also sun-dried, and processed into juice, jams, chewy toffee and candy. Pineapple adds natural sweet balance and contributes to the harmony of flavours that is the distinctive quality of Thai cuisine. It’s commonly used as a flavouring in savoury dishes, for example in pineapple curries such as Kaeng Sapparote, Saow Nam or the yummy Khao Ob Sapparote – Rice Baked in Pineapple.
Rambutan or Ngoh
Peak Peak season: May to September
In Thailand, there are two varieties of rambutan, both sharing a thick and hairy outer skin. Ngoh Rong Rian has sweet, succulent flesh that clings to the seed, while the oval-shaped Si Chompoo, the pink rambutan, has crisp, white flesh that comes off the seed more easily. Rambutan orchards are commonly found in Chanthaburi and the provinces of the south making them relatively cheap in Samui during the season.
Sapodilla or Lamoot
Peak season: September to December
The oval-shaped Sapodilla is a dessert fruit resembling Kiwi fruit in its external appearance, but with its smooth, hairless brown skin, it looks more like a kiwi-shaped potato instead. Inside the fruit are 2-5 black bean-like seeds with a hook on one end. It has a pale yellowish to earth brown colour and the texture is grainy, resembling a pear. Sapodilla that is just ripe is slightly soft to the touch and is easily peeled with a knife. The caramel brown Sapodilla flesh is fragrant, honey-flavoured, slightly gritty and somewhat crisp. As it ripens further, Sapodilla becomes extremely sweet and increasingly juicy.
Watermelon or Taeng Mo
Peak season: October to March
Sliced for a refreshing breakfast or snack, served as a fruit juice, sorbet, or cocktail, Thai water melons are said (by Thais) to be the best in the world in terms of their flavour and texture. The traditional Thai variety, with its characteristic dark green skin, has rich red flesh that is sweet and juicy, and crisp when well-chilled, with a slightly gritty texture. A less common, yellow-fleshed variety you may come across, has a light green skin and alternating dark stripes. Given the thickness of their skin, water melons are frequently used in fruit-carving displays.
Young Coconut or Mapraow Onn
Peak Peak season: September to December
Available all year round, the cool light refreshing juice of fresh young coconut is a popular thirst quencher and mixer for exotic, tropical cocktails. The tender, white flesh is edible and can be easily scooped out with a spoon. It’s often featured as a key ingredient in light desserts served with crushed or shaved ice and topped with coconut milk. As the coconut matures, the kernel becomes solid and the flesh is grated to make coconut cream, an integral ingredient in Thai cuisine used as a base for curries and desserts such as Sankhaya – Coconut Custard, Khanom Kroke – Coconut Pancakes and Gluai Buat Chee – banana slices cooked in coconut milk.