“If you think Mexican gastronomy consists only of tacos, enchiladas, and tamales, you need to see the list of Mexican fruits.
It’s abundant, exotic, and diverse, allowing you to enjoy multiple healthy, refreshing, and tasty flavors.
From native fruits to those adopted from other cultures centuries ago that complement traditional dishes very well.
If you haven’t tried these natural delights, you must do so to not miss out on that pleasure. You can find them in any local market.
Why are Mexican fruits considered exotic?
They are considered so because they include groups cultivated in other nations and are 100% native but unconventional.
From tropical countries in the Americas and the Caribbean to Southeast Asia, Africa, and many other places.
From popular fruits to lesser-known ones, with striking colors and shapes. Some are only found in Mexican desert areas.
Their appearance and flavors are unparalleled, especially when they reach their perfect ripeness.
13 Mexican Fruits You Must Try
If you’re interested in the extensive variety of Mexican fruits, make sure to taste them to discover their various flavors.
Here’s a list of delicious and healthy options to get you started. Take a look.
1. Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit)
It’s a pink and green fruit with a shape similar to a dragon, hence its nickname “Dragon fruit.”
It grows on Sonoran desert cacti, and when you peel it, you find white pulp with tiny black seeds inside.
Some have a magenta-speckled appearance, and its texture is as smooth as kiwi. Its taste? Slightly sweet.
You can eat them raw, in smoothies, juices, cocktails, salads, or desserts. Besides its deliciousness and freshness, it offers health benefits.
It helps in iron absorption, brain and immune system health, as it is a source of copper, fiber, magnesium, vitamin C, and antioxidants.
2. Tamarind
Its exotic and delicious flavor is often utilized in Mexico for making refreshing drinks and sweets.
It’s also used to make popsicle ice creams, jellies, and various types of sauces or dressings for meals.
Normally, tamarind is sour and spicy, but when ripe, it gives your taste buds a lot of sweetness.
Its pods are elongated and brown, making it easy to recognize. The pulp is a bit darker and sticky.
It’s attached to seeds, is fleshy, and has fibrous strands containing antioxidants, fiber, and vitamins from various groups.
3. Black Sapote
This is one of the most unique Mexican fruits you should try. Its exterior is green, and the pulp is intensely black.
It’s famous for its appearance and taste comparable to a chocolate pudding, making it a wonderful treat for your palate.
When it reaches its ripeness, you enjoy it more by simply peeling the skin and eating its interior with a spoon.
You know it’s ready when it feels soft to the touch and has wrinkled skin. It must fully ripen to be sweet.
Mexicans sometimes mix it with orange juice to consume it as a refreshing and tasty beverage.
4. Mango
Mexico offers you many varieties of this fruit in yellow and orange colors, delighting you with its exotic and sweet flavor.
The most popular ones are called Tommy Atkins, Keitt, Haden, and Ataulfo, which have a soft and irresistible pulp.
You can find them in many street vendors with Mexican chamoy or tajín and in many other popular dishes.
Both sweet and savory, as it’s a versatile fruit used in numerous preparations.
Mango not only gives you a rich flavor but also a large amount of antioxidants, fiber, and essential vitamins for your well-being.
5. Cherimoya
It has incredible similarities to soursop, another exquisite Mexican fruit that you may have tried.
It’s distinguished by its pleasant and smooth white pulp that contrasts with large black seeds and rough-textured green skin.
The tropical flavor of cherimoya is charming, sweet and moderately acidic, like a combination of pineapple and banana.
Moreover, it’s quite juicy on its own and perfect for making smoothies, although its versatility allows you to do more things.
Eating it provides you with fiber, potassium, and vitamin C, as well as other health-friendly nutrients.”
6. Lime
This traditional Mexican fruit is green, small, with a much sweeter and floral flavor than the yellow lemon.
It complements a variety of savory dishes perfectly, so it’s very likely to be served with soups, burritos, tacos, or more.
A generous squeeze of lime juice brightens the flavor of these meals and makes them even more delicious.
Additionally, it adds incredible properties that strengthen your immune system and help your body absorb iron.
Such as vitamin C, citric acid, and potassium, which you also benefit from when consumed in refreshing beverages.
7. Watermelon
You’ll see this red fruit everywhere in Mexico, whether in fresh waters or served in cups with chili sauce on top.
Although it’s not native to this country, it has been part of its traditional cuisine since pre-Hispanic times.
It’s a favorite for its sweetness and hydrating power. It’s composed of 91% water, making it perfect for hot days.
Additionally, it has a high amount of polyphenols, carotenoids, and vitamin C, contributing to improving your health.
You can eat it alone, in salads, fresh waters, in popsicles, or seasoned with chamoy. Either way, it’s delicious.
8. Sapodilla
This is a tropical fruit native to southern Mexico, parts of the Caribbean, and Central America, which comes from the sapodilla tree.
Its skin is rough, brown in color, but inside it has delicate, quite sweet pulp, with inedible seeds.
If you’ve tasted brown sugar and pear, the flavor of this fruit will be familiar to you, as it’s very similar.
It’s consumed fresh, without the shell, in smoothies, and also in different preparations like jams and desserts.
9. Prickly Pear
It’s a fruit from the cactus very typical of Mexico, where it’s also known as prickly pear, tuna, or atún.
Its shape is oval and spiny, although when you buy it, the spines have already been removed to prevent your skin from being harmed.
You can find prickly pears in pink or reddish, yellow, and green. All with a spectacularly sweet and smooth flavor.
And enjoy them as they are, fresh, in smoothies, jellies, and desserts, as you prefer. These prickly pears contain potent antioxidants.
Also, significant amounts of vitamins C and E, so it’s recommended for fighting different diseases.
10. Avocado
Avocado, as you may know it, is one of the fruits most used in Mexican cuisine since forever.
For example, to prepare the delicious guacamole with which tacos, tostadas, and other local foods are seasoned.
In fact, it’s one of the chefs’ favorite fruits due to its versatility and unique, slightly sweet flavor.
In comparison to Caribbean avocados, its pulp is creamier and darker. Also, they are generally smaller.
11. Coconut
In Mexico, you get young coconuts everywhere, which serve as an ingredient for the rich and popular coconut candies.
Often, the pulp is used to prepare these drinks, as well as ice creams and other sweet foods. While the water is drunk for hydration.
Like avocado, it contains saturated fats, which are used to make products like coconut oil.
The shell of this fruit is brown, and its white pulp is delicious. Coconut is eaten both fresh and dried.
12. Banana
While it’s a well-known fruit worldwide, it has a unique and special place in Mexican cuisine.
There’s a greater variety of bananas here than in other gastronomies, so you can try the classic yellow ones and the smaller ones.
They’re used to make smoothies, shakes, cakes, and fruit salads, among other tasty preparations.
If you need potassium, bananas provide you with large amounts, as well as fiber, vitamin B, and many proteins.
13. Hawthorn
It’s a relative of the apple, although not as close, and it’s used in many special Mexican preparations.
The most common is hawthorn punch with spices and other fruits, which is enjoyed during the month of December.
It’s small, hard, yellow in color, and bitter in taste, so it’s usually eaten cooked or processed.
In the form of fruit paste or jams, for example. It provides vitamin A, B, and calcium, among other healthy elements.
And that Mexican fruits are as delicious as they are beneficial for your health. Each one provides different nutritional advantages.
They’re exotic and extremely versatile, which explains why they’re always present in meals in different ways.
Have you tried any from this list? If your answer is no, hurry to do so. If it’s harvest season, even better.