Any trip, on top of all its other pleasures, always includes a culinary experience: fish & chips, a crusty baguette, or exotic fruit. Today we’re talking about the latter.
Want the classics? Well, Dominicans know how to appreciate coconuts and pineapples like nobody else. The legendary Coco Loco and Piña Colada are beloved coconut- and pineapple-based cocktails, because the only thing better than coconut and pineapple is coconut and pineapple with rum! No Dominican would dare sell you an unripe or bruised fruit: first, there’s more than enough ripe, fresh fruit to go around; second, embarrassing the country with a bad pineapple would be practically unforgivable.
If you’re staying at a hotel, oddly enough, aside from the fruit platter at the buffet, the hotel usually won’t offer you fruit itself. But every morning, gardeners knock ripe coconuts down from the hotel’s palm trees so they don’t fall on anyone’s head, and they sell them all day for $2–3 apiece. Watching a Dominican skillfully hack open the top of a coconut with a giant machete, turning it into a huge cup, is priceless. Inside, 0.3–0.5 liters of coconut water quenches thirst wonderfully, with a slightly sweet, neutral flavor. Perfect for a sunny day! Heading to the beach? Look for the gardener :)
Pineapples, on the other hand, are best found at fruit stalls in town — small fruterías are scattered everywhere. You can also get a piña colada served in an actual pineapple at a beachside bar. Once you finish your drink, don’t forget to ask them to peel and cut up your “cup” — it makes a great snack.
Dominican mangoes deserve special mention. They’re special here: very large, incredibly juicy, and free of tough fibers in the flesh — pure pleasure. As many as 200 mango varieties grow in the Dominican Republic, and a single fruit can weigh 2–3 kg! It would be a shame not to pick up one of these giants if you make it out of your hotel.
Dominican avocados are the most avocado-y avocados in the world! A 3-kilogram fruit with the most tender flesh inside — no need to fuss over guacamole, just spread it on bread and breakfast is ready. Our insider tip: ask the vendor for Semil 34 or Carla — the best avocado varieties in the world, and they’re waiting for you in the Dominican Republic.
Familiar to many travelers as well are pitahaya, passion fruit, and guava. Well, in the Dominican Republic you’ll be in familiar, delicious company — these fruits are available almost year-round and are packed with Caribbean sun and juiciness.
Papaya also grows here on practically every corner, but remember: the brighter the fruit, the riper it is. Pick away, but choose the tastiest-looking one ;)
As for those tempting bunches of green bananas growing along the roads — don’t pick them. Those are plantains, and they’re… vegetables. But more on that in our next article!
