If you’ve ever been to Hawaii, you understand there isn’t anything much fresher than the islands’ fruit.
The fruit in Hawaii is plentiful, nutritious and downright yummy!
When we visit Kauai, Maui or the other Hawaiian islands on a winter vacay, enjoying that tropical Hawaii fruit for breakfast is worth waking up for!
It’s also nice to pick up some of the same fruits at grocery stores when we’re home.
Eating a juicy mango or pineapple on a cold winter day back in Canada makes us relive (even if only briefly) our sunny Hawaiian holiday.
Hawaiian fruit FAQs
What is Hawaii’s state fruit?
Strangely, Hawaii doesn’t have a state fruit.
Florida has oranges, Georgia has peaches, Kentucky has blackberries.
But the state of Hawaii doesn’t have an official state fruit.
What fruit is Hawaii famous for?
Pineapple!
Interestingly, though, pineapples aren’t native to Hawaii. They were actually brought over from South America.
What kind of fruits grow in Hawaii?
Different varieties of fruits in Hawaii grow at different times of the year.
In the fall, you’ll find passion fruit, jackfruit and breadfruit.
Winter is the peak season for longan, mangosteen and rambutans.
Lychee and citrus fruits are readily available in spring.
And you’ll find egg fruit, avocados and mango (one of our all-time favorite fruits!) in the summer months.
And then, year-round, you’ll get coconuts, papaya, pineapple and apple bananas.
Talk about a cornucopia of delicious tropical fruits grown in Hawaii!
25 Types of fruit in Hawaii you must try!
Check out the following 25 most delicious fruits of Hawaii.
You’ll find many exotic fruits. If this is your first visit to Hawaii, you might not have tried some of these before!
1) Pineapple
Say Hawaii. Think pineapple! The island of Lanai is even known as the “pineapple island.”
Hawaiian pineapple must be the most popular of all Hawaiian fruits.
So we hate to disappoint you if you think pineapples are native to Hawaii. But one of the many interesting facts about Hawaii is that pineapples actually originated in South America.
James Dole established the pineapple industry in Hawaii in the early 1900s. He bought the island of Lanai in 1922 and turned it into the biggest pineapple plantation in the world.
By the 1960s, Hawaii was the world’s biggest exporter of pineapples (supplying over 80% of all canned pineapples).
Today, there are no more canneries in Hawaii. But pineapples are still grown on the islands and they’re now a local fruit. We always have them for breakfast when visiting Hawaii.
And pineapples are the one fruit from Hawaii that you can take home with you to the U.S. mainland (in your carry-on).
How do you eat pineapple?
Sure, fresh slices of pineapple are great in Hawaii.
But we’re also pushovers for pineapple upside-down cake. Warm. With whipped cream.
Definitely our favorite way to eat pineapple during the cold winter months back home!
2) Breadfruit
Nothing like bread, this starchy green fruit has the texture of a potato.
Many visitors aren’t fond of this strange fruit.
But it’s an important Hawaiian fruit because of its potential as a food staple to alleviate world hunger.
Breadfruit trees are very easy to grow and highly productive, and the breadfruit is high in carbohydrates and a good source of vitamins. (And it contains no fat.)
Interestingly, breadfruit isn’t technically a native Hawaiian fruit, though it’s been growing in Hawaii for so long that you could say it’s indigenous and not really be wrong.
Breadfruit was actually brought to Hawaii by the ancient Polynesians around 300 AD as a “canoe plant.”
The bark and wood of the breadfruit tree is lightweight and perfect for making traditional outrigger canoes (and today, surfboards and drums).
The sap also makes an excellent sealant.
How do you eat Hawaiian breadfruit?
Most of the time, people eat breadfruit cooked.
For a sweet treat, you can eat it mashed up with coconut milk or baked in banana leaves. You can also find it in a hummus blend.
Is breadfruit a “super food”?
Visit the Allerton and McBryde Botanical Gardens in Kauai, and you’ll learn that thousands of breadfruit plants have been shipped to developing nations to grow for food.
It’s really quite an incredible fruit!
And pssst! Visiting these gardens is one of the top things to do in Hawaii too.
3) Papaya
With a unique flavor, papaya is another fruit that people either love or hate.
It’s a common Mexican fruit that was introduced to Hawaii just over a century ago.
It now grows very well in the Hawaiian islands, mostly on the Big Island of Hawaii.
Pear-shaped, with dark yellow flesh inside, papayas are one of the healthiest fresh fruits to eat – rich in nutrients, low in fat and a good source of fiber.
How do you eat Hawaiian papaya?
Many people prefer to eat papaya after dessert (it contains an enzyme called papain, believed to aid in digestion).
We like to squeeze lime juice on top of it (which improves its taste).
4) Lilikoi (passion fruit)
The passion of passion fruit is its tart juicy taste. The seeds are edible.
And here’s an interesting factoid: Many people swear passion fruit tea makes you drowsy because it contains Harmala alkaloids.
How do you eat lilikoi in Hawaii?
This tropical Hawaiian fruit is perfect in a juice, breakfast bowl, as a topping on ice cream or mixed as Hawaiian lilikoi butter.
We also like to buy lilikoi jam to take home with us. (It’s the perfect Hawaiian souvenir to remind us of the tropical tastes of Hawaii!)
5) Mango
Mangos are some of the juiciest, sweetest Hawaiian fruits!
If you’re used to eating everyday ho-hum mangos, this exotic fruit in Hawaii is totally different.
There are over 60 different kinds of mangos on the Hawaiian islands. You’ll see tons of mango trees growing everywhere.
Some of the best tasting and most popular varieties are the Haden, Pirie and Rapoza mangos.
Most of the commercially grown mangos in Hawaii are the Haden. When ripe, its skin takes on hues of red, yellow and green.
(That’s your “Hawaii mango 101” lesson for today.)
How do you eat mango?
It’s perfect to eat mangos in Hawaii just on their own, cut up into pieces.
Fresh mango is great in salads and desserts too. And mango slices are also amazing on top of chicken.
Mangos are a summer fruit.
If you can’t find the fresh fruit grown in Hawaii (the mango season is May to September), you can buy frozen mango – it works almost as well in those margs.
6) Lychee
Brought over from southeast China in 1873, lychee looks scary with its thorny outside.
But it’s an awesome Hawaiian fruit because of its big boost of vitamins, especially Vitamin C and Vitamin B-complex.
You find lychee fruit in Hawaii from May to August.
If you have just tied the knot (congratulations!) and are staying in a honeymoon hotel in Maui, you might discover lychee served with other fruits at breakfast (ask, if you don’t see it).
How do you eat lychee?
Lychees are lovely to eat fresh and raw. You can pop the skin easily to get to the sweet fruit inside.
If you don’t feel like peeling and eating them, make lychee green tea or lychee jelly.
7) Longan
Never judge a book by its cover.
The longan has a rough brown exterior that doesn’t look as pretty as other fruits.
But while it may be an unusual Hawaiian fruit, it’s great to eat! The chewy interior tastes slightly sweet with an interesting flavor twist of tart.
They call it the “dragon’s eye” in Chinese because a longan looks like a big eye staring at you.
How do you eat longan?
This juicy sweet fruit tastes good all on its own – crack the outer brown skin to get at the flesh. Bonus: Longans aren’t messy to eat.
You can also put longans in sorbets, desserts or salads. And if a recipe calls for lychee (#6 above), longan is the perfect substitute (it’s just a little more tart).
8) Egg fruit
No, the Hawaiian fruit called egg fruit (or canistel) isn’t an egg disguised as fruit.
Okay, it does have a texture like a hard-boiled egg yolk. And it’s a bright yellow-orange in color.
But it also has a dry sweet interior that tastes like a sweet potato or perhaps chestnuts.
How do you eat egg fruit?
Most people love to use egg fruit in juices and milkshakes. Try egg fruit in eggnog!
Some people put egg fruit in yogurts, custards and ice creams.
9) Noni
If you like the taste of blue cheese, you might like noni.
But to tell the truth, not many people enjoy the taste of this tart fruit. It has a fishy aftertaste.
The reason you’d eat this unique fruit is because of the potential health benefits of noni – said to include pain relief and improve arthritis.
How do you eat Hawaiian noni?
Noni is best mixed in a juice blend. It’s also good to crunch the fruit up in salads.
10) Soursop
Soursop is a pretty strange name for a native Hawaiian fruit, but don’t let its name fool you.
It tastes like a fruit explosion of apples, kiwis, and strawberries. Besides the flavor, you get a big punch of antioxidants too.
How do you eat soursop?
You can peel it like a banana and eat it like string cheese.
If you want to mix it with other ingredients, add it to ice cream or fruit juice.
11) Apple banana
How did a “normal” fruit make our list of Hawaiian fruit? Because the bananas in Hawaii are anything but normal.
In fact, several different types of bananas are grown in Hawaii.
The most common – and a local favorite – is the apple banana. With a red and pink peel, these short squat Hawaiian bananas have an extra pop of flavor.
You won’t think of bananas as “ordinary” any more after biting into apple bananas!
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How do you eat apple bananas?
You probably already know how you like to eat your bananas. Most people just peel them open and eat them right away.
But they also taste great blended in smoothies and sliced on top of ice cream or in a fruit salad.
12) Sapote
Sapote doesn’t really fit in as a popular fruit from Hawaii in the same way as the citrus fruits do.
Full of strong antioxidants, its texture is like that of an avocado.
As for its flavor, white sapote tastes like a sweet potato custard with vanilla, while black sapote tastes like chocolate pudding.
You find sapote fruit in Hawaii in the spring time.
How do you eat sapote?
You can eat this yummy fruit raw. You can also turn sapote into creamy concoctions like smoothies, milkshakes, mousse or ice cream.
13) Coconut
Don’t knock the coconut since it’s technically a nut.
But coconut meat is also considered a fruit (and a seed). And you can do so much with coconut!
How do you eat Hawaiian coconut?
Green coconuts are young coconuts that haven’t fully ripened and turned brown on the outside. They’re the best for drinking the coconut water straight out of the nut.
Coconut water is such a refreshing drink! It’s the perfect thirst-quencher after surfing, snorkeling and other Hawaii water sports.
You can also eat the meat fresh or squeeze it to make milk.
We love any dessert made with coconut – coconut is the main ingredient in the popular Haupia dessert, served at Hawaiian luaus.
14) Rambutan
Rambutan is another exotic Hawaiian fruit that’s also native to Hawaii.
Similar to lychee (#6), these red fruits are colorful and hairy, and they’re packed full of Vitamin C, iron and potassium.
But while lychees are really sweet, rambutans are more tart – a mix of sweet and sour, a little like a cross between a grape and an apple.
Yes, they’re a strange looking fruit.
But don’t miss out on eating rambutans in Hawaii!
Because they’re hard to transport and store, you’re not likely to find them in your local Canadian or U.S. grocery store.
How do you eat rambutan?
Rambutans are great to eat raw. You just slice open the skin and eat the white flesh from the large seeds.
Rambutans are also great in smoothies and salads.
15) Durian
You’ll probably hate the smell of durian. This fruit is a stinker! Think rotten onions?
But once you get over the smell, you’ll be intrigued by the creamy custard-like middle – and may even love it.
It’s not nick-named the “king of fruits” for no reason!
How do you eat durian fruit?
First, you have to chop through those spikes on the outside.
Once you do, be prepared for a new taste sensation.
Durian has great vanilla-like undertones. Or maybe notes of almond? No, wait, it tastes like butterscotch. The taste of durian is quite unique and hard to describe.
It pairs well, though, with Laotian sticky rice, a dessert made with coconut milk. You can also make durian ice-cream or cheesecake.
16) Poha berries
Poha berries are Hawaiian fruits with a waxy skin. These golden berries are often confused with tomatoes. But tomatoes they’re not.
They have a tart taste and are highly concentrated with nutrients.
How do you eat poha berries?
Many people love to eat poha berries in jam, preserves or in baked goods. You can also put them in a salad with sea scallops. Mmmm!
17) Jackfruit
Don’t be intimidated by the large size of the jackfruit. It can weigh over five pounds (but often comes bigger than the size of a football).
While the spiky skin on the outside is green, the fruit inside is a yellow color.
A relative of figs and breadfruit, the fruit tastes like sweet lychee and pineapple mixed together when ripe.
How do you eat jackfruit?
You can eat jackfruit like most other fruits by just eating the middle. Cut the seeds out with a knife.
When young and unripe, jackfruit has the consistency of chicken or pork, and it’s becoming more popular as a meat replacement in curry and vegetarian dishes.
The seeds of jackfruit are high in protein, so some people also like to boil them up (for 20 to 30 minutes) and eat them as a snack or throw them in salads.
18) Mountain apples
Mountain apples are different than your everyday teacher’s apple.
They have the shape of a bell (and look somewhat like small red peppers), with a shiny waxy red skin. And they have a light sweet taste, with the fragrance of roses.
Like breadfruit (#2), mountain apples were brought to Hawaii centuries ago by the Polynesians as a canoe plant – the trunk of the mountain apple tree was used to build beams for their houses.
How do you eat mountain apples?
You can bite into a mountain apple, just as you’d bite into an ordinary apple.
Mountain apples can also be turned into delicious applesauce – mix them up with ginger and cinnamon.
19) Avocado
If you’re used to the usual Hass avocado at the local grocery store, you’re in for a surprise.
Expect to find Hawaiian avocados to be four times the size of your Hass ones. Many people have avocados growing wild right in their backyard in Hawaii.
How do you eat avocado?
It’s a pretty versatile fruit.
These fellas are so yummy you can throw them in anything from a salad to a sandwich. (We adore sliced avocado in our salads.)
And because they’re so creamy inside, you can use mashed avocado as a substitute for mayonnaise.
20) Persimmon
Revered in Japan, persimmons are another delicious fruit from Asia that you find in Hawaii. They’re mostly grown in Maui.
Their texture is silky and crunchy at the same time, and they have a very unique taste – a little like honey and a cross between mangos and sweet peppers.
How do you eat persimmons?
Just peel and cut them to eat. You can use a peeler or knife to remove the skin, and then slice them in quarters or smaller pieces (like you would an apple).
Peeled and diced persimmons are also a great addition in a salad, adding extra crunch and sweetness.
21) Strawberry guava
Most locals call strawberry guava “waiawi.”
It’s just like regular guava, but red-skinned. And the taste resembles a strawberry for its sweetness.
How do you eat strawberry guava?
You can eat the tangy fruit raw.
Or try putting strawberry guavas in smoothies and on top of salads, or mixing them with chicken.
22) Loquat (biwa)
Loquat has been around for a few centuries – it’s thought Chinese immigrants brought this fruit to Hawaii.
The tiny, yellow oval-shaped fruit delivers a mouth burst of tart flavor.
Some people think there are many health benefits to loquats and believe loquats make the perfect syrup to cure all sorts of ailments.
How do you eat loquats in Hawaii?
You can eat these by just peeling off the skin, then biting into the fruit, eating around the seeds.
Or slice them in half, take out the seeds and use them in curries, salads, chicken dishes, chutneys, rice pudding and other dishes (see these loquat recipes).
23) Mangosteen
You’re not reading it wrong. Mangosteen is different than a mango.
Mangosteens are a purple fruit. To be more precise, they have a thick purple skin on the outside and look almost like a white orange on the inside, with juicy sections.
The fruit tastes like a combination of mango, peach and lychee.
How do you eat mangosteen?
You can eat this fruit from Hawaii by itself, in a salad or mixed with vegetables.
24) Star fruit (carambola)
The coolest thing about this exotic fruit in Hawaii is that it makes little stars when you cut into it. This makes star fruit perfect for decorating salads or using as a garnish.
As for the flavor, the seductively sweet-and-tart star fruit tastes like grapes with citrus.
You sometimes find star fruit on the breakfast buffet in Hawaiian hotels on Kauai and other islands.
How do you eat star fruit?
Many people eat star fruit like candy. Or mix it with your stir fry, or drink it as a juice.
25) Surinam cherries (pitanga)
Sometimes called “pumpkin cherries,” Surinam cherries look like small, shiny red pumpkins.
One of the more exotic Hawaiian fruits, they thrive in Hawaii, and many Hawaiians have Surinam cherry trees growing in their back yards.
Creative chefs are also starting to use these cherries in their dishes in Hawaiian restaurants.
How do you eat Surinam cherries?
You can eat them raw – they taste like cherries. They’re best when slightly soft and dark red in color. (When orangey in color, they’re more sour.)
They can also be used to make sauces, jams and jellies. And you can toss them in salads for a hint of sweetness.
So, are you intrigued by this list of tropical Hawaii fruits?
We’ve covered some of the yummiest, most unique fruits of Hawaii that you must try for yourself. You really can’t leave Hawaii without tasting at least some of these, can you?
Then when you get home, see which of your favorite Hawaiian fruits are stocked in your local grocery store or farmer’s market.
Discover more of Hawaii!
Need some help planning your trip? Read our post on how to plan a Hawaii vacation.
Maui: There are so many romantic things to do on Maui for couples too! One example: Chasing these fabulous waterfalls on Maui.
Which Hawaiian island? How do you choose between Maui and Kauai? Which island is better?
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About the authors
Luxury travel journalists and SATW, NATJA and TMAC “Best Travel Blog” award winners, Janice and George Mucalov are the publishers of Sand In My Suitcase. Between them, they’ve traveled to all 7 continents. See About.
Find destination guides, global food-and-wine stories, luxury hotel reviews, articles on cultural explorations and soft adventure trips, cruise reviews, insanely useful travel tips and more!
Marsa
Sunday 28th of August 2022
A few of these fruits are from Hawaii, but I didn't think mangosteen was from Hawaii?
Durian is some nasty stuff. Gross.
Sapote isn't common at all...
Janice and George
Tuesday 30th of August 2022
No, mangosteen isn't from Hawaii. It's originally from Malaysia and Indonesia.
But you can find the fruit in Hawaii :-).
Tyler
Tuesday 9th of August 2022
You talk about all these. But where can you find the exotic fruits? I’ve been to Oahu and Maui and only found regular common fruits.
Janice and George
Tuesday 9th of August 2022
Oh, they're there. But some may not be at the big box grocery stores.
Try the local fruit markets and fruit stands.
On Oahu, specifically, try the Chinatown Hawaiian Market, Chau's Fresh Fruit (a fruit and veggie store) and the Kaka'ako Farmers Market (Saturdays at Ward Village) in Honolulu.
On Maui, check out Yee's Orchard on South Kihei Road and the Napili Farmers Market.
Dan
Thursday 15th of July 2021
You have a picture of a jackfruit where a breadfruit is supposed to be. Might want to fix that.
Janice and George
Thursday 15th of July 2021
Hi Dan!
Thanks for pointing that out!
To the "untrained" eye, breadfruit and jackfruit look similar on the outside :-). But breadfruit is smaller.
Anyway, we have now swapped out the photo and included a green breadfruit pic.
Best!
Paul Patt
Monday 26th of April 2021
Great list of the fruits of Hawaii!
Joyce
Saturday 23rd of March 2024
@Janice and George,
Hi, I lived in the Philippines for 2 years in the 60s as a Peace Corps science teacher.
Durian was a fruit I tried against the advice to avoid it. It was delicious and I didn’t smell anything. I was glad to have eaten such an interesting fruit! I didn’t know it grows in Hawaii, too.
Janice and George
Monday 26th of April 2021
Thanks! We had fun putting it together :-).