Top Ten Exotic Fruit of Costa Rica

Fruit is the best of foods.

Even better are fruits that are not typically found, or really found ripe or goof quality, in most of North America. I mean, don't get me wrong: apples and pears and grapes are great when they're in season but when you start on a healthy diet that include lots of fruit, variety makes it that much sweeter.

So, I dare you to expand your fruity horizons!

A few of these are not necessarily local and indigenous to Costa Rica, but they are amazing, delicious and grow very well in the climates available. Many are available in their imported forms and most definitely worth trying if you can get your hands on them. I suggest trying your local asian grocer or China Town to see what they offer.

1. Biriba

A sweet blissful fruit that tastes like lemon meringue pie. Best if picked ripe, and ready to eat. This is one that is worth the plane ticket since I've never seen them anywhere else.

2. Pineapple

I know, you can get pineapple pretty much anywhere. But nothing beats the taste of a truly ripe pineapple. If they're picked green and left to ripen, they lose most of their magic. Did you know it takes up to 2 years for one pineapple to grow?

3. Sour Sop (Guanabana)

was a massive outburst of information about the Sour Sop not too long ago, boasting about it's cancer fighting abilities. The taste of these is amazing, a sweet/soup juicy bite will lead you to devour the entire thing in one sitting!

4. Mangoes

Yes, again, mangos are available everywhere. Here, they are picked ripe and have a very large selection of varieties. The season starts soon and I expect to live off them for days!

5. Ice Cream Banana

An intriguing variety of banana, it is to be eaten when very soft, and massaged beforehand as well. It has a lemony creamy taste with an ice creamy texture.

6. Jackfruit

The source of the flavor they developed for juicy fruit gum! Jackfruit is a beast of a fruit, it can weigh up to 36 kg or 80 lbs. The insides are interesting and require some work to get out as the fruit has a natural latex that oozes out and gets on everything wh
en cut open. The trick is to oil up your hands a knife and dig in!

7. Granadilla

A large type of passion fruit that is sometimes sweet, with a tang. One of my most favorite fruits, it tastes even better when paired with mango.

8. Sapodilla

A feast that reminds one of brown sugar and cake. This little brown fruit is much more than it appears to be.

9. Maracuya

A super sour passion fruit that is often used here in drinks and juices. Many people like adding a little sweetness, but it reminds me of the sour candies I enjoyed as a kid.

10. Rambutan (Mamón Chino)

An alien looking fruit that tastes similar to the lychee, it is bursting with juicy flavor. Just peel away the colorful skin and pop the white fruit into your mouth, making sure not to chomp down on the pit!

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What I eat Wednesday's and Homemade Coconut Milk!

Welcome to the first What I eat Wednesday.

The purpose of this series is just to give a bit of a glimpse of what this blog is really all about. Lifestyle encompasses more than just the recipes I post, and along with the food I eat I'll talk about other subjects like fitness, meditation, self-love, gratitude and other lovely things that have proven to lead to better health and vitality.

I would also love some guest bloggers for What I eat Wednesday's, so if you feel up to it, send me a message or comment below.

I will also pop in a recipe now and again. Today it's something fairly simple: How to make fresh as can be Coconut Milk.

But first, let's start with breakfast!

The first meal of the day consisted of a beautifully ripe pineapple before the day's exercise (sprints and squats). It was really sweet and I'm guessing much higher in calories than any of the pineapple I've eaten in Canada. This is the biggest issue with fruit that's picked unripe and shipped, it just has no flavor, never ripens properly and cause digestion issues. I couldn't eat a full one because my mouth burned after 1/2. Now I eat to my heart's content!

Meal numero dos was a simple banana smoothie, I'd say about 10-12 medium ones. Just pulse blended in the blender with some pure water to the right smoothness and enjoyed throughfully.

I had another pineapple in the afternoon, I swear I could live on them!

Dinner was no doubt the most complex meal of the day. Rice with yams, red peppers, onion, nappa cabbage and a raw curry sauce made with homemade coconut milk.  The sauce is so simple, just one coconut worth of milk, 2 tomatoes, some curry powder and lime juice. If you use salt, add some in. I've been on a no-salt kick since January 1st and it's still taking some adjustment.

How to make Coconut Milk!

It's as easy as buying a coconut, I usually like using young thai coconuts, but whatever you have access to will work perfectly. Here, they have these yellow or green coconuts which are sometimes sweet, sometimes not so much. Anywho, cut open your coconut. There is a range of techniques and tools to do this, I've become pretty good at just using a knife. I suggest looking at a few youtube videos to see what works best for you. It's really worth learning!

Pour the water into your blender carafe. Now the trickier part, to get the meat out you can try a few things. The easiest way that may not get all the flesh is to just use a spoon from the opening you made to get the water out. Another way, which I always get my partner to do for me, is to smash the coconut on some hard surface (usually cement) to crack it open.

Once you've got the meat out, put it into the carafe with the water. Blend it until smooth. If you are going to cook with it, you don't need to add anything but if you want a sweeter milk, add in some soaked dates or coconut sugar along with 1/2 tsp of vanilla.

Enjoy!