18 Well-known Chinese Fruits

Mandarin orange is a small citrus fruit popular in Chinese cuisine. Its flavor is slightly tangy but sweeter and more robust than regular oranges, making this fruit suitable for eating raw or making juice.

With a history dating back thousands of years, mandarin oranges now are widely cultivated in the warm climates of many countries around the world. In China, this aromatic citrus fruit is often associated with the Lunar New Year as a symbol of abundance and good fortune.

Chinese people use the easy-to-peel mandarin rind to make chenpi (sun-dried orange peel), which is a traditional Chinese seasoning for numerous dishes, from savory dishes to desserts and drinks. You’ll mostly see Chenpi in Chinese dessert soups like red bean soup.

Orange chicken, an American-Chinese dish, is another dish using mandarin oranges. Orange chicken consists of fried chicken soaked in a sweet chili sauce made with mandarin orange juice.

Lychee is a Chinese tropical fruit of the soapberry family. Lychee is mainly grown in Southern China. When it ripens, its white, juicy flesh becomes extremely sweet with a light floral note.

An outstanding use of lychees in Chinese cuisine is lychee wine, a full-bodied dessert wine made with lychee. Lychee wine has a rich, sweet flavor, suitable for pairing with Asian dishes and shellfish or mixing with other spirits.

There is another dish in China that has “lychee” in its name: lizhi rou (lychee pork). However, this dish contains no lychee; instead, it is a deep-fried pork dish coated with a red sauce, creating a similar appearance to unpeeled lychees

Pomelo is a well-known Chinese citrus fruit of Southeast Asian origin. It boasts a similar flavor to grapefruit, but its taste is sweeter and less tart.

Pomelo rind is also thicker than that of grapefruits, so the Chinese always make it into candies or preserves. The rind is green or yellow, while the juicy flesh varies from white to pink or red.

Pomelos are in season from late fall to early spring. This fruit is often eaten fresh, added to salads, or used in desserts.

Braised pomelo pith is a high-fiber and low-fat specialty in many parts of China. Hong Kong has a famous dessert called mango pomelo sago.

Persimmon is a popular berry fruit with glossy orange skin in China, the world’s top persimmon-producing country. Its season typically lasts throughout fall and winter.

There are many persimmon varieties, but they generally fall into two categories: astringent and non-astringent. Non-astringent persimmons are sweet, mellow, and ready to eat, while the astringent varieties must be softened before consumption.

Both persimmon categories are suitable for eating fresh, drying, or turning into various dishes, from salads to desserts. Dried persimmon is a beloved snack in many Asian countries, including China.

Kiwi, also known as kiwifruit or Chinese gooseberry, is an edible Chinese berry fruit growing on woody vines. It originated from Central and Eastern China.

Beneath the light brown, characteristically fuzzy skin of kiwi is a soft flesh with a light green or yellow color. Its taste is uniquely sweet and mingled with tropical notes of tartness, like a mix of strawberry and banana.

The first record of kiwi goes back to the Song Dynasty (960-1279), regarding the fruit as a medicine food for children and postpartum mothers. While kiwi became associated with New Zealand in the 20th century, China is still the biggest kiwi supplier worldwide.

Jujube is a small, round fruit belonging to the soapberry family in China. Its alternative names are Chinese dates or red dates.

Jujubes flourish in various seasons, notably from late summer to early autumn. The fruit has a small, date-like shape with reddish brown skin and a crisp, apple-like texture with a sweet, slightly tart flavor.

Chinese people eat fresh or dried jujubes as a snack with coffee. Various Chinese dessert soups, cakes, pastries, and medicinal dishes contain these red fruits for extra sweetness and fruitiness.

Red dates are also widely used in making beverages, from alcoholic to non-alcoholic drinks. Jujube-flavored tea, rice wine, and juice are beloved refreshments in China.

Kumquat is an orange-like citrus fruit that Chinese people have a soft spot for. Native to Southern China, it is considered a lucky fruit and is often exchanged as gifts during the Lunar New Year.

With a tiny size, a highly aromatic scent, and a sweet and tart flavor, kumquats are usually eaten whole, including the edible peel. Alternatively, these fruits are great for making jellies, marmalades, preserves, and spreads.

Pineapple is among the most beloved tropical fruits in China. Hailing from South America, it has been cultivated in many Chinese regions for centuries.

A typical pineapple is large and comes with a tough, diamond-patterned exterior, topped with a crown of spiky leaves. Its yellow flesh is crispy yet juicy and sweet, ideal for cooking and baking.

Since pineapples contain bromelain, a natural enzyme that helps tenderize meat, Chinese chefs often use pineapple as a natural tenderizer for meat or seafood. Pineapples’ flavor explains why they often appear in Chinese sweet and sour sauces.

Asian pear, also known as Chinese pear, is a well-known pear variety in China and throughout East Asia. Contrary to European pears, it is round, crispy, and has a high water content, making it unsuitable for baking or making into jams.

Instead, Asian pears are best eaten raw or sliced to add to salads, showcasing their floral and sweet flavors. Juicing Asian pears into drinks with honey or ginger and poaching them with cinnamon and star anise are more elaborate ways of enjoying these fruits.

Ground Chinese pears even enter soy sauce- or vinegar-based sauces as a sweetener. Although less common, crunchy Chinese pears also appear in several soups or stir-fries for extra flavor.

Goji berry, also known as wolfberry, is a nutrient-packed fruit native to China. It is widely cultivated in Xinjiang and Ningxia provinces.

Goji berries were first mentioned in Chinese sources in the 3rd century AD, and they have been used in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years. These fruits grow on shrubs in temperate and subtropical regions and are harvested in the summer.

Wolfberries are small, red, and oblong-shaped. Locals mainly dry wolfberries like raisins and consume them as a sweet and slightly tangy snack or add them to herbal teas, soups, and medicinal concoctions.

Carambola is a yellow tropical fruit widely enjoyed in China. Hailing from Southeast Asia, it has been adopted and cultivated in many parts of Southern China.

When you cut a carambola crosswise, it creates a distinct star shape, hence the alternative name star fruit. Ripe star fruits are juicy and crunchy, with a mix of sourness and sweetness.

In China, carambolas often appear in fish dishes to eliminate the fishy smell. Star fruits are also an ingredient in many Chinese beverages, desserts, and salads.

Longan, literally “dragon eye” in Chinese, is a soapberry fruit native to Southern China and Southeast Asia. It is closely related to lychee, so there is an overlap in the flavors of the two fruits.

The longan has a thin, brittle shell that encases juicy white flesh with a sweet, musky flavor. Chinese people believe this fruit has calming and sleep-inducing properties, so they have long used it in traditional medicine.

While longans are best eaten fresh, they are also ideal for savory or sweet-and-sour dishes and desserts, especially sweet soups. Longans are sometimes canned in syrup for preservatives.

Chinese plum is a popular Chinese fruit originating near the Yangtze River in Southern China. Despite its name, Chinese plums are more related to apricots than regular plums.

Chinese poetry and paintings often feature Chinese plums as a symbol of resilience and renewal, as the tree blooms in the cold winter. For the fruits, they range from yellow to deep red and have a sour and slightly sweet taste.

In China, locals often incorporate Chinese plums into snacks, condiments, and drinks. Two popular specialties prepared with this fruit are suanmeizi (pickled unripe plums) and huamei (preserved plums made with herbs).

When eating poultry dishes or egg rolls, Chinese people often add meijiang (plum sauce), a thick, sweet sauce made with Chinese plums. As for drinks, suanmeitang is a Chinese sour plum beverage mixing smoked Chinese plums with rock sugar and osmanthus flowers.

Chinese hawthorn is a small, apple-like fruit found in the forested areas of Northeastern China. It has a rich history in traditional Chinese medicine.

The main characteristics of Chinese hawthorns are their bright red skin and sweet and tart flavor. This fruit has many other names, such as Chinese haw, Chinese hawberry, and mountain hawthorn.

Tanghulu (candied fruits) is the most famous Chinese dish prepared with Chinese hawthorns. Other delicious hawthorn-based delights include jams, jellies, wines, and sweet and sour sauces.

Myrica rubra is the scientific name for a round fruit widely available in China, especially in the South-Central regions, such as Fujian, Guangdong, Hainan, and Jiangxi. Its alternative names include yangmei, Chinese bayberry, Chinese strawberry, waxberry, and yumberry.

Yangmei boasts a bumpy, raspberry-like texture and comes in shades of deep red to purple when ripe. Its taste is a smooth blend of sweet, sour, and tart flavors.

Besides enjoying yangmei in its fresh form, Chinese people use it to flavor alcoholic beverages, such as rice wine and liquor. The yangmei season is rather short and lasts less than a month in summer.

Buddha’s hand, also known as fingered citron, is a Chinese citron fruit with thick, bumpy skin. Originating in the lower Himalayas and northeastern India, it is famous for its elongated, finger-like segments.

Although Buddha’s hands have neither juice nor pulp, their peel offers a sweet, lemony scent. Therefore, this fruit is an exotic flavoring for many savory dishes, desserts, and alcoholic drinks in China.

Some people even dry and candy the rind of Buddha’s hands into a sweet snack. Due to its unusual shape and fragrance, Buddha’s hands are also used to decorate rooms or perfume clothes.

As its name indicates, Buddha’s hand has a religious meaning, symbolizing good luck, happiness, and longevity in China. That’s why Buddha’s hands often appear as an offering in Buddhist temples or a gift during the Lunar New Year.

Monk fruit, also known as luo han guo, is a small, round fruit that people widely grow in Southern China. It was cultivated by Buddhist monks centuries ago, hence the name.

The hard, green exterior of a monk fruit turns brown when dried, and it contains a sweet, edible pulp and seeds inside. Though low in calories, monk fruits are remarkably sweet, about 100 to 250 times more so than sugar, thanks to antioxidants called mogrosides.

Therefore, monk fruits are a healthy and natural sweetener for multiple Chinese drinks, broths, soups, and teas. It is easy to find dried monk fruits in Chinese herbal shops.

Wax gourd, also known as winter melon or ash gourd, is a large, vine-grown fruit widely used in Chinese cooking. While Southeast Asia is home to this fruit, Chinese people in warm, tropical regions have long used it in many dishes, namely winter melon soup.

Harvested in the late summer, wax gourds are and can grow to a considerable size. They have a thick, waxy coating, giving them a long shelf life without refrigeration.

Internally, each wax gourd has a crisp, white flesh with a mild, slightly sweet taste. Besides adding to soups, this fruit is also great for preparing stews, stir-fries, and candied fruits.

You have learned about the different fruits in China and their main traits, so let’s turn to another important topic: Chinese dishes prepared with these fruits.