The tropical and southern ones
| Fruit | Chinese | What it tastes like | How to eat it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lychee | 荔枝 lìzhī | A grape crossed with a rose. Sweet, floral, juicy | Peel the rough pink shell, eat around the stone |
| Longan | 龙眼 lóngyǎn | Like lychee but milder and slightly musky | Peel the thin brown shell, eat around the stone |
| Rambutan | 红毛丹 hóngmáodān | Lychee-like, slightly tarter, firm flesh | Cut the hairy skin and peel, eat the flesh |
| Mangosteen | 山竹 shānzhú | Sweet, creamy, faintly citrus. Nothing else like it | Twist the thick purple shell and pull it apart |
| Durian | 榴莲 liúlián | Custardy and sweet, with an onion-and-gas smell | Open the spiky husk, eat the yellow pods |
| Jackfruit | 菠萝蜜 bōluómì | Bubblegum and banana, very sweet when ripe | Cut the huge fruit open, eat the yellow bulbs |
| Pomelo | 柚子 yòuzi | A gentle grapefruit without the bitterness | Score the thick rind, peel and break into segments |
| Dragon fruit | 火龙果 huǒlóngguǒ | Mild and sweet, a bit like kiwi. Mostly texture | Cut in half and scoop, or peel and slice |
| Papaya | 木瓜 mùguā | Sweet, musky, soft. Better with lime | Halve, scoop the seeds, eat the orange flesh |
| Mango | 芒果 mángguǒ | Honeyed and rich. Chinese mangoes are superb | Peel and slice, or cut the hedgehog pattern |
The citrus, stone fruit and pears
| Fruit | Chinese | What it tastes like | How to eat it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mandarin | 橘子 júzi | Sweet and easy to peel. The everyday winter fruit | Peel and eat, segments separate easily |
| Kumquat | 金桔 jīnjú | Sharp skin, sweet inside. Eaten whole | Eat the whole thing, skin and all |
| Persimmon | 柿子 shìzi | Honey-sweet and jelly-soft when ripe | Scoop with a spoon when soft, or eat firm ones crisp |
| Nashi pear | 沙梨 shālí | Crisp like an apple, sweet like a pear, very watery | Eat like an apple, skin and all |
| Ya pear | 鸭梨 yālí | Pale, crisp, clean and refreshing | Peel or eat as is. Often stewed with rock sugar |
| Green plum | 青梅 qīngméi | Sour enough to make your face ache. Almost never raw | Usually preserved, made into plum juice or wine |
| Chinese plum | 李子 lǐzi | Sweet-tart, firmer than a European plum | Eat fresh, skin and all |
| Apricot | 杏 xìng | Sweet with a sharp edge, intensely aromatic | Eat fresh, or dried as the classic snack |
| Peach | 桃 táo | Sweet and floral, best in high summer | Peel if fuzzy, eat around the stone |
| Kyoho grape | 巨峰葡萄 jùfēng pútao | Big, seeded, intensely grapey and sweet | Peel the thick skin and spit the seeds |
The ones people get wrong
| Fruit | Chinese | What it tastes like | How to eat it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jujube (fresh) | 冬枣 dōngzǎo | Crisp like an apple, sweet like a date. Not a date | Eat fresh and crisp, skin and all |
| Hawthorn | 山楂 shānzhā | Very tart, mealy, needs sugar | Candied on a stick, or cooked into a paste |
| Yangmei | 杨梅 yángméi | Sweet-sour, juicy, faintly pine. Not a mulberry | Soak in salt water first, then eat |
| Loquat | 枇杷 pípa | Sweet-tart, soft, a bit like apricot | Peel the fuzzy skin, eat around the large seeds |
| Star fruit | 杨桃 yángtáo | Crisp, watery, faintly citrus | Slice across and eat the star, skin and all |
| Kiwifruit | 猕猴桃 míhóutáo | The Chinese gooseberry, and better than the export ones | Cut in half and scoop |
| Watermelon | 西瓜 xīguā | The best in the world in summer. Seriously | Slice, or eat with a spoon from the half |
| Sugarcane | 甘蔗 gānzhè | Pure sugar water with a grassy edge | Chew the peeled sticks and spit the fibre |
| Water chestnut | 荸荠 bíqi | Crisp, sweet, starchy. A corm, not a fruit | Peel the black skin, eat raw or cooked |
| Ginkgo nut | 白果 báiguǒ | Faintly sweet, slightly bitter, very starchy | Always cook them. A few at a time, never many |
How to buy fruit in a Chinese market
The single most useful thing I learned is that the best fruit is not at the front. It is in the crate behind the stall, and if you point at it and ask, they will usually sell you some. The front display is for people who are not going to look.
Buy in season and buy small. Almost everything here has a two to four week window where it is spectacular and the rest of the year where it is merely available. Lychees in June are a completely different fruit from lychees in September.
Weigh your hand against the fruit. Lychees, longans and mangosteens should feel heavy for their size. A light one has dried out inside, and you will not find out until you get home.
The things tourists get wrong
- Lychee, longan and rambutan are three different fruits, not three names for the same one. Longan is milder, rambutan is firmer.
- Yangmei is not a mulberry. It is a bayberry, and it needs soaking in salt water because it has small insects in the crevices. Everyone eats them anyway.
- Fresh jujube is crisp and apple-like. Dried red jujube, the one in soups, is chewy and date-like. Same plant, completely different food.
- Durian is not allowed on public transport in many Chinese cities. There is a reason.
- Ginkgo nuts are not a snack. They must be cooked, and eating a lot of them will make you ill.
- Water chestnut is a corm, the underground stem of a sedge. It is sold as a fruit but it behaves like a vegetable.
The first time I walked into a fruit market in Guangzhou I recognised almost nothing on the stalls. There were fruits the size of my head, fruits covered in soft spines, fruits that smelled so strongly from two aisles away that I genuinely thought something had gone off.
Ten years and a lot of questionable purchases later, I can tell you the good news: most of them are delicious, most of them are cheap, and the ones that are not delicious are still worth trying once.
Here are the thirty you will actually see, in rough order of how often you will meet them.
Frequently Asked Questions
By volume it is watermelon, by a wide margin. China grows and eats more watermelon than anywhere else in the world. Mandarin oranges are the most popular winter fruit, and lychees are the most celebrated summer one.