India is an agrarian country, and in general, we tend to cultivate a lot of our own food - pulses, veggies, fruits and legumes. But there are some foods that, due to either low demand or climatic conditions, just don’t grow in India. While most fruits find their origins in hot countries (meaning tropical and sub-tropical and India being a subtropical country) like India, they don’t really find their market in the region. But a lot of these fruits are absolutely wonderful and we probably might never get to see them in our local grocery stores. Here are those four fruits:
Tangerine
Much like orange, tangerine is a citrusy and sweet flavourful fruit that is great all year round. But the catch? It doesn’t grow in the country. Since it looks much like the orange, its demands in the country stay low. But in reality, tangerine is a much more complex taste than an orange. And is actually a cross between an orange and mandarin.
Lingonberry
Native to the Arctic and European regions, lingonberry is a red fruit that is abundantly popular in Sweden. They taste much like cranberries but are less tart. Lingonberry jam is loved in regions in and around Sweden. In fact, the furniture chain IKEA which hails from Sweden sells lingonberry jam!
Peruvian Groundcherries
As the name suggests the ground cherries are from Peru and the neighbouring regions of Colombia and Ecuador. These bright yellow-orange fruits are also called golden cherries and are grown exclusively to export. With the texture of tomato and grape, this cherry tastes sweet and tropical.
Persimmon
A fruit that popularly grows in the dead of winter, Persimmon is orange coloured fruit. They are originally from China and the country holds three-quarters of the world production of fruit. This “honey-like” fruit tastes sweet but has very flavours. But sadly, we can’t get our hands on this sitting in India.