23 Most Popular Caribbean Fruits

Mango is a fruit favorite in the Caribbean that adapts well to the tropical climate, although it originated in India. The region has lots of mango types, with Nevis Island alone having 44 different kinds.

Mangoes are important in Caribbean culture, often eaten fresh or used in dishes like curried mango and mango chow. Ideally, the best time for mangoes is in the summer, from June to August, when it’s also the rainy season there.

Coconut is a tropical fruit in the Caribbean, which is essential for providing sweet water and cooking ingredients. The coconut meat has a creamy flavor along with cool water.

Coconut milk, a product made from squeezing shredded coconut meat, is crucial to making many stew recipes in the region. Depending on the varieties, coconuts have various colors, with green and brown being the most popular.

Commonly, young coconut is a great choice for getting water, while the crunchy meat texture is easily found in old coconut.

Pineapple is a tropical plant cultivated in the Caribbean and is known for its edible fruit. It grows with a short stem and tough leaves, producing spiky fruits with sweet, juicy, yellow insides.

These fruits are actually many berries joined around a core. Pineapples are a big part of Caribbean food, used in dishes like salsa and grilled pineapple.

Plantain is like a banana but tougher and full of starch in the Caribbean. It has a firm texture with a green or light yellow but a sweeter taste when it turns yellow and black.

Ideally, plantains need to be cooked, boiled, baked, or roasted. People in the Caribbean, Africa, and South America love to enjoy them as fries.

The not-ripe ones are great for dishes like tostones and tajadas. Green plantains are used in hearty soups, stews, and curries, while the black ones are perfect for desserts like banana bread and pudding.

Avocado is a cherished fruit from the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America. Known for its oval shape, the fruit has a green or yellowish inner, possessing a soft, creamy texture when ripe.

One of the most iconic features of avocado is its large round pit, playing little value and is often removed. In Jamaica, avocado is often eaten with bread, like hard dough bread.

It’s also put in vegetable salads, served beside other food, or blended into cool drinks. In the Caribbean, avocados are sometimes called “pear” because of their shape.

Papaya is a soft-textured fruit and a mild flavor akin to a ripe melon in the Caribbean. Additionally, papaya also comes in different varieties that can be used in numerous dishes.

When young, these fruits are crunchy, often cut into thin slices or shredded into strips to turn them into a delicious salad. As for ripe papayas, they are much softer and have orange-colored meat, boasting a sweet profile.

This fruit also houses papain, a natural meat tenderizer protease used as a culinary secret from indigenous Americans, Caribbean folks, and Filipinos.

Guava is a popular fruit that comes from the Caribbean, Mexico, and South Central America. It has different types, differing by the inner content of white or bright pink, all wrapped in dark green skin.

It tastes sweet and a bit tangy, often cut in half and eaten with a spoon. Guava is tasty by itself or incorporated into sweet desserts, thick syrup, jam, juice, or jelly.

Passionfruit is a small and round fruit in the Caribbean that comes in yellow or purple. Once cracked open, the fruit contains a vibrant pulp brimming with tiny black seeds with a balanced sweet and sour taste.

You can mix this pulp into drinks, blend it into smoothies, or whisk it into desserts like cakes and mousses. In the Dominican Republic, people savor passionfruit raw, perhaps with a sprinkle of sugar, or transform it into juice and fruit preserves.

Soursop is from the Caribbean and Central America and has a somewhat prickly outer peel. The fruit is relatively large, boasting a green exterior and white, sweet pulps covering black hardy seeds.

The flesh possesses strawberry and pineapple flavors along with a smooth, creamy texture. Best enjoyed as juice, folks in Grenada also use it to whip up beverages, ice creams, and desserts.

Tamarind is a sour fruit used in many culinary creations in the Caribbean. Sometimes called tamón, it has a brown shell with a soft, sticky inside that tastes both sweet and sour.

You can find tamarind as concentrates, dried pods, purées, or syrups. Young tamarind is used in cooking savory dishes, while sweet things like snacks, drinks, and desserts make use of ripe ones.

In the Caribbean and Mexico, it’s mixed with water and sugar to make a refreshing drink called agua fresca.

Carambola, also known as star fruit, is from the wood sorrel family and is loved in the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, the South Pacific, and Latin America. It’s named for its unique star shape when diagonally.

The skin is thin and ranges from green or yellow to orange, with its flesh having a crisp, juicy, and taste. You can eat it fresh or use it in juices, jams, pies, and sweets.

Star fruit is great for decorating desserts, too, or for adding a touch of sourness to salad.

Prickly pear fruit is small and shaped like a lightbulb in the Caribbean area. It perches atop nopals, the stems of the prickly pear cactus that mainly appear in the Caribbean islands in the West Indies.

The unique fruit offers a burst of flavors like a combination of watermelon, citrus, or strawberry. Aside from eating plain after peeling, people even turn prickly pear into a host of sweet forms like liqueur, syrup, jellies, and candy.

Cocoplum is a plant that appears both on the coast and inland sides of the Caribbean. The plant blooms small, shiny white flowers and grows edible round fruits.

These fruits have light skin, white inside, and one big seed. Usually, the taste ranges from almost no flavor to a light, sweet, with locals using them for making jam and jellies.

Cherimoya, also known as Annona cherimola, is the Caribbean soft and sweet fruit of custard apple. The oval-shaped skin starts with a firm green and turns brown as it ripens.

Inside, the creamy white flesh offers an exotic tropical flavor similar to a combination of pineapple, papaya, peaches, and banana with a hint of strawberry. However, its black seeds are hardy and should be removed.

Often, locals consume cherimoya as it is or turn it into a cold ice cream dessert.

Pomegranate is a Caribbean fruit cultivated in the warm and dry weather. The fruit is now a big part of the Caribbean’s farming.

This fruit is big, with tough skin that’s yellow-brown to red and filled with tiny, juicy seeds. People in the Caribbean enjoy the seeds fresh or use the juice to make flavors, liqueurs, and sweet syrup for cooking.

Plum is a special fruit in the Caribbean, known as the June plum or golden apple. The fruit comes in an oval shape of about 6–9 cm in diameter and grows together in groups.

They turn into a bright golden-yellow or purple when ripened. Plums feature a big, fibrous seed, but the outside is crunchy and has a slightly sour taste.

People enjoy fresh plums, make them into jams, or cook them in sauces and dishes. Plums are a favorite in many Caribbean islands like Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, and Puerto Rico.

Mamey sapote is a fruit related to sapodilla, coming from the Caribbean, South America, and Florida. Its appearance is a bit like an oval shape with rough, thin skin.

The best part is its flesh of pink-orange color boasting a grainy texture and a creamy texture. When it’s ripe, mamey sapote tastes really sweet, like a combo of sweet potatoes with maple syrup.

You can enjoy mamey sapote by itself or add it to ice cream, shakes, and sweets like flan and mousse.

Grapefruit, in the Caribbean, is a hybrid of sweet oranges and pomelos. The fruit features a rainbow of flesh colors, from yellow to pink, along with a tender pulp texture.

Its flavor profile ranges between acidic sour and sweet-tart. Folks in Haiti even turn grapefruit into jam, though the primary use is to savor its refreshing, tangy juice.

Ackee is a unique fruit in the Caribbean region, and it is even considered the national produce of Jamaica. Interestingly, the fruit is used like a vegetable, thanks to its bright red skin and soft, yellowish cream insides with big black seeds.

The fruit is a bit nutty and creamy with cooked ackee being similar to scrambled eggs. It’s also good in quiches, dips, and sautéed with onions, tomatoes, and chiles.

Jackfruit is a big fruit from the Caribbean, now popular in East Asia and West Africa. It tastes sweet, like a mix of mango, pineapple, and banana, but the pod has a meaty texture.

To get to the meat, simply cut it open to yank out the yellow pods and brown seeds. The meat of jackfruit is great for adding to yogurt, oatmeal, or fruit salads.

It’s also fit in curries, soups, and stews as a meat alternative. Plus, you can roast the seeds to enjoy the creamy and nutty profile.

Mammee apple is a tropical fruit from the Caribbean that’s also found in Central America. The fruit has a soft flesh with a yellow or red color accompanied by a sweet profile.

In Trinidad and Tobago, they mix its grated seeds with rum or coconut oil to treat head lice and chiggers. In Haiti, it’s called zabriko or abricot, with its raw flesh employed in fruit salads or with wine, sugar, or cream.

In the Bahamas, they make it into jam by first soaking it to take away the bitterness. You can also stew mammee apples for a sweet dish.

Breadfruit is a highly valued fruit tree in the Caribbean for its mild flavor, similar to that of potatoes or bread. With a slightly nutty taste, the fruit also has a soft texture, all protected under a peel full of tiny green spikes.

In Jamaica, it is often roasted until black on the stove, oven, or wood coal. It can also be used in soups, salads, or fried as a side dish.

Additionally, the seeds of breadfruit are traditionally boiled, peeled, and eaten whole in Puerto Rico.

Genip, also called Spanish lime or mamoncillo, is a small, round fruit from the soapberry family in the Caribbean. The fruit has green skin covering orange, sweet pulp that tastes like lychee and lime together.

In the Caribbean, people love to eat genip fresh, or they make it into juices, fizzy drinks, and even booze. The seed inside can be roasted and eaten, too, offering a taste like cashew nuts.

It’s a favorite in the Caribbean, especially during its season when it’s often sold by street vendors.