Goa is often called the fruit paradise. The abundance of familiar and exotic fruits can throw you into confusion with the riot of shapes, colors and flavors. Fruit is one of the major sources of income in Goa, and there is a great deal of attention paid to it by the residents. When you come on vacation, be sure to visit one of the local bazaars and devote yourself to taste experiments, especially since any seller will consider it his duty to help, tell and even prepare your product for tasting.
Types of fruits in Goa in India
Favorable climate, the lack of abrupt seasonal contrasts and temperature changes creates ideal conditions for the cultivation of fruits. They are literally everywhere, hanging in bunches from the branches, growing on the ground, hiding in the shade of leaves on large and small bushes. Some become news characters. For example, the size of the mango crop is considered important information for the people of Goa, and there are television programs devoted to it.
In the markets you can see almost all the fruits that are available in Goa, they change during the season, giving way to newly ripened.
Often the tourist will not even think to try some of the fruit, so they look unusual. And then it turns out that it is very tasty, the main thing is to know how to eat them.
Chiku or sapodilla. It’s strange to see potatoes on a tree. Nevertheless, the fruit most resembles it with its rough brown crust and yellowish flesh. The tree is an evergreen and grows all its life.
Fruits are small, round or oval in shape, valued for their high vitamin and micronutrient content, great taste and juicy flesh.
Mango. There are several varieties cultivated in different countries. The fruits from Goa are the most fragrant and delicious. They can be recognized by their small size and yellow-green coloring with a pinkish spot.
It has immunomodulatory properties and is used in many culinary recipes. It has a subtle sweet taste with an original sourness.
Carambola is more like an amazing flower. The large yellow fruit is star-shaped in cross-section.
The taste is surprising, too. Residents of Europe will immediately recognize in it shades of cucumber, apple and gooseberry, intricately mixed in an unusual cocktail.
Guava is versatile in its application. Rarely can you make jam and cheese from any product. It is boiled, dried, frozen. Fruits are green in color with a strong musky odor and lots of small seeds.
It contains vitamins and minerals, useful for vitamin deficiency, general weakness after a long illness.
Rambutan looks like a shaggy hedgehog with a rich purple color. The intimidating appearance hides a delicate flesh with a subtle flavor.
Jackfruit looks like it was made for big companies. It’s hard to eat a fruit that weighs about 36 kilograms on its own. These giants grow on trees common throughout Goa.
Inside the fruit is divided into longitudinal slices, the taste is a bit like pineapple, but softer and juicier.
Fresh durian can only be tasted here. It does not refer to the fruit that can be brought from Goa. It has such a nasty odor that it should not be brought indoors or carried on public transportation. But the paradox is that inside the rind hides one of the most exquisite flavors imaginable.
Eat only fresh, immediately cut fruit. Once exposed to the air, the pulp begins to quickly lose its flavor. Many who have tried durian immediately become fans or opponents of it. But no one is indifferent.
In addition to unusual fruits among the fruits of southern Goa’s niche occupy peaches, citrus fruits, pears, apples and grapes.
The avocado is the most caloric fruit
Avocados are called a poor man’s cow for their caloric value and high nutritional content.
It is one of the few fruits in Goa capable of satisfying the daily norm of trace elements and, in part, vitamins. Its caloric value reaches 160 kcal. There are more than 400 species of this plant, it can replace meat, eggs, milk in the diet. Used in the preparation of sauces, sweet dishes. The flavor of the ripe pulp is reminiscent of a mixture of butter, herbs, and nuts.
Fruit season in Goa by month
The fruit abundance lasts all 12 months, some fruits growing in Goa are gradually replaced by others.
Markets are never short of exotic and type fruit, but some seasonal patterns can be seen:
- January, February, March – oranges, chica, sugar apple, tangerines;
- April, May, June – mango, jackfruit, melon, peaches, sweet lime, passion fruit;
- July, August – pineapples, papaya, guava, pears;
- September, October – pomegranates, citrus fruits are added;
- November and December – jackfruit, guava, figs.
Bananas and coconuts are always present. The pineapple season lasts from July to October.
Video review of fruits in Goa
Some fruits are found only in India, while others have been imported from other countries and successfully acclimatized in a new place.
In addition to the usual fruits in Goa are found:
- figs;
- Physalis;
- papaya;
- atemoya or sugar apple;
- dragonfruit.
Arriving in Goa, tourists find themselves in an abundance of fruit, which you want to not only try, but also take away with them. Many fruits store well in dried form, so they weigh little and take up little space in the luggage. You can take almost any fruit with you, except fresh durian. It is forbidden to transport fresh because of the degree of stench, and the smell cannot be removed even by modern means. It loses its properties in canned and dried form. That’s how it’s allowed on the plane.
