Tropical Fruits From Mexico Every Traveler Should Try

Mangos cut like flowers are almost too pretty to eat, but a presentation on a stick makes them less messy to sink your teeth into. Ask the vendor to shake some chili salt on it — the combination of sweet and spicy is truly yummy.

Sometimes called custard apple, guanabana or Brazilian pawpaw, the soursop is a prickly, pear-shaped tropical fruit with a soft and juicy inside. It has a tangy, citrus, and sweet taste. Don't eat the seeds though—they're toxic. ​Soursop has many medicinal uses such as promoting sleep, controlling diabetes, and relieving back pain.

The mamey fruit has a brown skin and fleshy orange pulp that is remarkably sweet. It tastes like cherry, pumpkin and sweet potato. The seed of the mamey fruit is used to make a drink called tejate. 

Guavas are a sweet fruit most often consumed as juice. They can also be used in jellies, candies, and sauces and as a tomato substitute. Try seasoning them with soy sauce, salt, pepper, vinegar, or sugar. Health benefits include helping with weight loss and relieving colds and coughs.

This fruit, known as loquat in English or nispero in Spanish, has a soft, orange flesh and usually three to five almond-sized seeds. It is native to Asia, but it grows in Mexico and the Southern United States as well as in Central and South America.

The cherimoya, sometimes called a sugar apple, has a sweet, juicy, white flesh with pulp that contains seeds. Like soursop, its seeds are toxic. It has a creamy and soft texture that makes it great in ice cream, smoothies, mousse, and pie filling. Cherimoya is good for the heart, hair, and skin. 

This fruit of the nopal cactus is known as tuna in Mexico—not to be confused with the fish, which is called atún. In English, it's called prickly pear. It's used in drinks, candies, and jellies and can also be used as an apple substitute. Health benefits include decreased inflammation, cancer prevention, and lowered cholesterol.

Pomegranates look like red apples and have a thick skin that's inedible. However, inside are hundreds of edible seeds called arils that can be eaten raw or as juice. Pomegranates are high in fiber and vitamins C and K and are said to improve memory, lower heart disease risk, and lower blood pressure.

This fruit from Mexico is crunchy and has a spicy, bitter taste. They're great in salads or mixed with scrambled eggs. Agave flowers can be eaten fresh, battered, fried, roasted, or boiled. Agave plants are monocarpic, which means that the plant only flowers once and then dies. 

The coffee tree produces cherry-sized, red berries. Inside the fruit lies the beloved coffee bean; however, it's technically a seed, not a bean. The fruit is somewhat sweet and tastes similar to other fruits such as cranberries, cherries, raspberries, and currants.