The REAL Sweet Sixteen: Vote for Your Favorite “Hard to Get” Exotic Fruit

June 18th, 2013

Welcome to day one of voting in the REAL Sweet Sixteen Exotic Fruit Tourney!  The first four fruits vying for your votes represent the “Playing Hard to Get” category.  These fruits take longer to grow but are definitely worth the wait.  Because they can take months to grow and ripen they’re not always available in the market, making them some of the most expensive fruits you can buy.  But we think you’ll agree that they’re worth every peso!

Below are descriptions of each fruit; the winner of this category will go on to compete against the three winners of the other categories.  Vote for your favorite, give us your reasons in the comments, and keep the conversation going on facebook and twitter.  May the best fruit win!

Mangostino

Growing mostly in Southeast Asia, the mangostino (or mangosteen as they are called elsewhere) is a relatively new addition to Colombia’s extensive fruit arsenal, and many Colombians have yet to try what is called the “Queen of Fruit.”  What’s with the name? Well, legend has it that Queen Victoria offered a reward of 100 pounds sterling to anyone who could bring her Mangostinos.  The queen wasn’t the only fan; New York Times journalist and gourmand RW Apple Jr. was quoted as saying “”No other fruit, for me, is so thrillingly, intoxicatingly luscious…I’d rather eat one than a hot fudge sundae…”

Pitahaya

You may know this mildly sweet cactus fruit by its other name, Dragon Fruit, or you may have seen its pink cousin in Southeast Asia.  Yellow and spiny on the outside, and clear with black seeds on the inside, many people remark on texture’s similarity to kiwi.  Like kiwi, Pitahaya is rich in Vitamin C as well as calcium, antioxidants, and omega-3s.  It’s also rich in natural fiber, making it a great digestive aid. So don’t eat too much, no matter how much you love the flavor!

Guama

This peculiar fruit (technically a legume) is native to the Amazon region of South America, and grows in pods that can reach the length of an arm.  The fruit itself is a little over an inch long and resembles a cotton ball but is surprisingly moist.  The odd texture is accompanied by a mildly sweet flavor some have likened to vanilla ice cream. A little bonus: the large seed can be used as prosthetic finger nails!

Feijoa

This green, egg-sized fruit has only recently come onto the Colombian scene in the last 25 years, but has become quite popular in that time.  Because of its resemblance to the guava, many people have inaccurately called it a type of guava (myself included).  When ripe, the pulp turns from white to translucent and the flavor has been described as a mix between pineapple and guava or pineapple and strawberry, with hints of winter green or spearmint, truly a combination that must be tasted to be believed.

So which fruit has your vote? Vote here, on facebook, or tweet us your pick!

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The REAL Sweet Sixteen: Colombia’s Exotic Fruits Compete To Be Your Favorite!

June 17th, 2013

Click here to see more fruit pics!

As anyone who has visited Colombia will tell you, there are countless fruits and juices to be found in this fertile country.  Medellin has the great fortune of having an especially large variety because of its proximity to warm and cold climates.  With so many delicious fruits, which one reigns supreme?  It’s time to find out with our very own Sweet Sixteen bracket!

We have taken 16 of Colombia’s most popular fruits and divided them into 4 categories: Playing Hard to Get, Passionate for Passion Fruit, Tart and Tiny, and the Wild Cards. Vote for your favorite fruit in each category and the winner of each bracket will go on to compete against each other in the Final Four next week. 16 fruits will enter, only one will emerge victorious!

Here are the contestants:

Playing Hard to Get:

These four fruits take longer to grow but are definitely worth the wait.  Because they can take months to grow and ripen they’re not always available at the market, making them some of the most expensive fruits you can buy.  But we think you’ll agree that they’re worth every peso!

Mangostino

Pitahaya

Guama

Feijoa

Passionate for Passion Fruit:

Similar to the seed structure of a pomegranate, these four fruits are all in the passion fruit family. However, their outward appearances are very different, as are the flavors on the inside, which range from tangy, to sweet, to savory.

Granadilla

Maracuyá

Curuba Larga

Curuba Redonda

Tart ‘n’ Tiny:

Sometimes the biggest flavors come in the smallest packages, and that is certainly the case with these four fun-sized contestants.  Although small in stature, these four fruits pack a bigger punch than most of their larger competitors, and they’re great for snacks to boot!

Uchuva

Mora

Mamoncillo

Madroño

Wild Card:

Our contest wouldn’t be complete without some of these Colombian standards on the list.  They may not have anything in common except that they’re all delicious and they taste best right here in Colombia!

Mango

Zapote

Nispero

Papaya

Voting begins officially begins tomorrow, but feel free to post your favorite fruits from each category in the comment section below. What’s that you say? You aren’t familiar with these exotic fruits?  Well that’s an easy fix: simply come visit us at our Bed and Breakfast in Medellin and join us for our Exotic Fruit Tasting Tour!  In the mean time, every day this week we’ll give you more information on each of the fruits and their flavors, so stay tuned!

Pics of Day: Funny Signs

October 3rd, 2011

While cruising the streets of Medellin we see plenty of signs that make us laugh; whether they are funny by accident or by design, the result is always the same. Here are a few of the best that we’ve seen:

These super sexy undergarments, called Fajas, are all the rage in Colombia. Note how you can choose which ''asset'' you'd like to enhance.

Speaking of assets, take care of those hemorrhoids with NewAss! Colombians are very blunt, and so are their product names.

This bathroom is specifically for women with holes in their torso.

Although there are many wonderful details on this cart, we really like the smog bit at the bottom.

What's a Japy Niu Yiar? That's Happy New Year spelled phonetically with Spanish sounds.

God posted several posters similar to these around the city giving good advice to his creations. This one says "If you're going to drink, don't drive...even I won't be waiting for you. God"

Pics of the Week: Tropical Flowers

September 26th, 2011

Thanks to Medellin’s tropical climate, we are constantly seeing bizarre tropical flowers that look as if they came from some fantasy world.  Most of them can be found in the city’s fabulous Botanical Gardens.  Here are some of our favorites; our apologies in advance for not knowing what any of them are called!

This crazy flower looks like an artichoke on an acid trip.

We're convinced that these flowers are straight out of the movie Avatar.

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We don't even know where to begin in describing this flower!

Same goes for this guy, we think they're related.

This electric pink flower is certainly appealing to the butterflies.

These fuzzy flowers come in just about every shade of red, pink, yellow and orange. They are happiness in flower form.

Pics of the Week: Exotic Fruits

September 19th, 2011

Colombia is home to a great variety of exotic fruits that we had never seen before.  One of our favorite tours to give is the fruit tasting tour because it’s so much fun to see our guests reactions to the various foreign fruits.  The following photos are of some of the fruit all-stars.

This colorful fruit has a similar flavor to passion fruit and is great for people who want some tanginess in their lives.

This mildly sweet fruit is known here as Pitayah, and dragon fruit in Asia. It's one of the rarest and most expensive fruits here because each one takes months to grow and ripen.

This frightening looking fruit is called Guanabana, one of the most fun words to say in Spanish!

The fruit in the tan bowl is Guanabana pulp (pictured above). The fruit with the orange shell filled with what looks to be fish eyes is granadilla and is one of our favorites. The white fruit with black dots is the aforementioned Pitayah. The bright orange fruit is Zapote and has the texture of a ripe mango with the flavor of cantalope.

Mangostino is our favorite fruit here, perhaps because it's one of the few fruits that isn't available year-round. Due to its limited availability it is the most expensive fruit in the markets, but arguably worth every peso!