12 Strange, Yet Beautiful Fruits & Vegetables

Here's a fun roundup of odd fruits and veggies. If you have any experience eating any of them, we're all ears! The comments are open below...

1. Durian

There are more than 30 durian species in Southeast Asia alone, but only about one third of them are edible. Those who don't like the flavor of the durian fruit often say it smells like dirty gym socks. Yum!

2. Pitaya

Pitaya is found on several cactus species. In different countries it's known as dragon fruit, dragon pearl fruit, and strawberry pear.

3. Yangmei

Yangmei (sometimes called/spelled yamamomo, myrica rubra, kanji, katakana, Chinese bayberry, or Chinese strawberry) is native to Southeast Asia, mainly China.

4. Bottle Gourd

The bottle gourd grows in tropical areas all over the world and can actually be used as a real bottle, rather than eaten.

5. Monstera Deliciosa

This guy is also known as monstereo, windowleaf, Mexican breadfruit, Swiss cheese plant, ceriman, fruit salad plant, or just monster fruit, due to its monster size (it can grow up to two feet in length!). It’s mostly native to Mexico and Panama.

6. Black Radish

Black Spanish or Black Spanish Round occur in both round and elongated forms, and are sometimes simply called the black radish or known by the French name Gros Noir d'Hiver.

7. Carambola

The carambola, also known as starfruit, is native to Southeast Asia and is rich in antioxidants and vitamin C and low in sugar, sodium and acid.

8. Horned Melon

This fruit is another with tons of aliases: kiwano, horned melon, African horned cucumber, hedged gourd, jelly melon. It’s native to Africa, but also grows in California, Chile, Australia and New Zealand, as well. In California it’s widely known as Blowfish fruit. Although it’s edible, kiwano is mostly used as decoration food.

9. Buddha’s Hand

Buddha's hand fruit is very fragrant and is used predominantly by the Chinese and Japanese for perfuming rooms and personal items, such as clothing. According to WIKI, "The fruit may be given as a religious offering in Buddhist temples. According to tradition, Buddha prefers the 'fingers' of the fruit to be in a position where they resemble a closed rather than open hand, as closed hands symbolize to Buddha the act of prayer."

10. Ugli Fruit

The ugli fruit is actually a Jamaican tangelo, which was created by hybridizing a grapefruit (or pomelo), an orange and a tangerine. Because it's a bit unsightly when ripe, it was called the Ugli fruit by its trademarker, Cabel Hall Citrus Limited.

11. Noni Fruit

Talk about aliases! It's only called Noni in Hawaii. Elsewhere, this fruit goes as the great morinda, Indian mulberry, nunaakai (Tamil Nadu, India) , dog dumpling (Barbados), mengkudu (Indonesia and Malaysia), apatot (Philippines), Kumudu (Bali), pace (Java), beach mulberry, and cheese fruit! The tree that produces the fruit is actually in the coffee family.

12. Dulse

Technically, dulse is a red alga, but often considered a vegetable, most often found off the coast of Maine. In Iceland people eat it with butter!