I’ve been meaning to look into planting some Camas bulbs. A kind of tuber crop grown by indigenous people around here. Used to be entire prairies of them before whitey showed up
Mulberries are awesome; they’re tasty and they’re an excellent source of dietary iron, too.
They have two things going against them, though: as fruits they’re pretty fragile, even more so than other berries; and when they’re flowering, they’re highly allergenic for a lot of people. Lots of cities actually ban growing mulberry trees within city limits because of the allergy problem.
Of stuff that grows right in my neighborhood in the Bay Area, California, I’d point out passionfruit and prickly-pears as somewhat unusual fruit.
Passionfruit vines like to grow on fences; they make trippy-looking flowers that mature into lemon-sized fruits full of tasty gooey arils around their seeds.
Prickly-pears are Opuntia cactus, which seem to do oddly well here in even rough and windy coastal areas. The same species can also be harvested for the young cactus pads, which are nopales in Spanish; skin 'em and fry 'em up and put 'em in vegetarian tacos.
That’s exactly what I was going to say, plus scuppernongs! (Which are a type of muscadine, but just saying, I’ve gotta have some of the purple ones and some green, they really complement each other)
Loquats are sweet, lightly tart and deliciously juicy. A bit like a very firm peach or plum.
Longyan (dragon eyes) are like lychees but smaller and yellow. They're less sweet than lychees (which tbh I often find a little cloying) and maybe a little more flavourful.
Image isn't working for me unfortunately but yeah, they real pretty. I first had some in Taiwan, the owners of a small cafe gave us a branch from their tree.
Concord grapes. You all know the flavor, because it’s the flavor that artificial grape flavor is based on, but I’ve only seen the real things in farmers’ markets in the Northeast US. They’re only available for a short period, and they’re amazing. A blend of intensely sweet and intensely tart.
I had the pleasure of visiting Montana recently and huckleberries are delicious. I basically tried anything I saw that used them (in true tourist fashion).
Macadamia nuts. Not the roasted ones, not the shelled dry ones you can buy in the store. They are garbage compared to the unshelled ones, even if you do need a special device to open them and they can be very frustrating to eat fresh.
When they're freshly opened, they're opaque brighter white, sweet and even a little juicy. It's a completely different experience from the ones you can buy off the shelf. It's honestly a shame Australia doesn't have a bigger market for the fresh ones.
Was gonna say this! The texture is light but crunchy. I'd say the flavor is lightly sweet with a little hint of something pleasant. I don't think they taste at all like apples, which frankly I don't understand why anyone would eat.
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