Wampee / Clausena lansium

Native to Southern China and parts of Vietnam, I first got the opportunity to try these guys off the tree at the Tropical Research and Education Center in Homestead, FL with Ian Maguier; and they were great. Once you peel the papery skin, wampee's are about the size of a grape, with large, hard seeds. The sweet, minimal, juicy flesh tasted like a peach / white peach combo. I found them again in Fullerton, CA and these were a lot more acidic, but similar. Photo by Chris Mathews.

Jambolan / Java plum / Jambul

Native to India and Burma, theses date-sized fruit have a thin skin, a juicy sweet-tart flesh with a slight astringent flavor, and a hard seed running almost the entire length of the fruit. Found on the tree in Fullerton, CA. Photo by Chris Mathews.

Chocolate (fuyu) Persimmons

Unlike the the Hachiya persimmon this hard to find non astringent variety know as tsurunoko in Japan can be eatin hard or soft and has a sweet flavor, a thick crunchy skin that can be peeled if needed. Found at Wholesome Choice Irvine Ca photo by chris mathews,

prickly pear / cactus pear / tunas

Grown on the Opuntia ficus cactus that is also used for its cactus pads (nopales) they have a sweet watermelon type flavor with hard edible seeds.

Thomcord Grapes

A "seedless" hybrid of a Concord and a Thompson grape these have a delicious Concord flavor without the weird skin separation and gelatinous seeded flesh typical to the Concord. The aborted seeds in the Thomcord, though slightly larger than the Thompson, added a tolerable crunch. Found at Trader Joe's Irvine, CA. Photo by Chris Mathews.