If you're looking for a fresh, light Christmas dessert to finish off a rather large holiday meal, why not serve up some out-of-the-ordinary fruit? December is the peak season for tropical fruits. We have selected 5 exotic fruits to serve for the holidays.
1- Passion fruit
The passion fruit, which is native to Brazil, is mostly grown to be made into juice. However, for the holiday season, it can be interesting to buy whole fruit and even if the skin looks crumpled!
Whether the fruit is nice and fresh and smooth or slightly dehydrated and crumpled, its taste qualities are the same.
Passion fruit is one of the 5 exotic fruits to serve for the holidays because it is easy to enjoy and its flavor takes your taste buds on a journey. Just open it to savor its many small orange-yellow seeds.
These seeds with their tangy flavor also have their place in festive recipes like a salmon tartar as an appetizer or a coconut milk panna cotta as a New Year's Eve dessert.
2- Lychee
With its sweet and fruity flavor, the lychee is also one of the 5 exotic fruits to serve for the holidays. Under its hard red or pinkish skin, the white pulp is translucent, fragrant and very juicy.
This small fruit native to Asia was the favorite fruit of China's Emperor Li Longji in the 7th century CE. But it was not until the end of the 17th century that it was introduced on other continents.
It is a real treat eaten alone or in an exotic fruit salad to offer your guests a fresh and light Christmas dessert.
3- Mangosteen
Less known than the lychee, the mangosteen is the fruit of a tree native to Malaysia. Malaysia and Thailand are in fact the main producing countries.
Its round and hard purple fruit houses white quarters with a very delicate texture and flavor.
If you find mangosteens imported by plane, do not hesitate to taste this tropical fruit little known here!
The mangosteen is undoubtedly one of the 5 exotic fruits to serve for the holidays because its fruity flavor is incomparable, with aromas of grape, lychee even peach...
4- Coconut
Even though its flavor is well known to Western palates, coconut is in my opinion one of the 5 exotic fruits to serve for the holidays.
In our latitudes, we don't often have the opportunity to taste it fresh and yet this very nourishing flesh is delicious.
To compose a fresh and original Christmas dessert, you can combine fresh coconut shavings with a scoop of coconut ice cream and a scoop of sorbet of your choice (mango, passion fruit or lime for example).
Also, if you want to introduce your guests to a part of coconut they may never have eaten, I recommend serving chilled coconut water as a side dish.
5- The pitaya or dragon fruit
The pitaya or dragon fruit is native to Latin America. It has a surprising shape reminiscent of the prickly pear because it is the fruit of a cactus.
But most importantly the pitaya is one of the 5 exotic fruits to serve for the holidays if you want to surprise your guests with a fruit as beautiful as it is good!
Its flesh is sweet and contains small black seeds resembling those of the kiwi... There are varieties with white flesh and others with bright pink flesh.
As you can see, this very refreshing fruit is ideal if you want to serve a girly and light dessert for Christmas.