One is known as the poor man’s fruit. Another means dragon eye while the third is often mistaken for a banana, but you have to cook it like a potato.
Confused? You’re not alone.
Guava, the wonder fruit
It’s one of India’s cheapest fruits, but scientists from that country’s National Institute of Nutrition have deemed guava the “ultimate superfood” because it’s packed with antioxidants, dietary fibre and vitamin C.
A member of the Myrtaceae family, the round, oval or pear-shaped fruit has a thin, bumpy skin that’s green, yellow or maroon. Inside, the soft flesh is riddled with small, hard seeds. You can eat the whole fruit.
Sweet but acidic, guava offers a long list of health benefits, ranging from being a natural laxative to helping cure swollen gums, relieving coughs and controlling blood pressure.
longan, Eye of the dragon
With a large, black pit in the centre of a ball of translucent flesh, a longan looks like an oversized eyeball.
Native to southern China, it has a rough, bark-like shell called a pericarp that you crack to pop out the fruit. About the size of a plum, the grape-like flesh is musky and sweet and an excellent source of potassium and vitamin C, but don’t eat the seed.
No, it’s not a banana
Plantains are a member of the banana family, but unlike their sweet cousin, plantains are starchy and can’t be eaten raw.
Popular in Caribbean cuisine, plantains are cooked like a vegetable, but their taste varies based on how ripe they are. A green plantain is bland and starchy like a potato; yellow plantains are slightly sweet. They are sweetest when the peel is brown or black.
Unlike bananas that turn mushy when overripe, plantains remain firm. They are a good source of potassium and vitamins A and C.