Cape Town boasts a wide array of interesting fruits, thanks to its favorable temperate climate. Winters are cold, but not as harsh as European winters, while summers are very hot. The weather is neither tropical nor humid, so you won’t find tropical fruit farms in the Western Cape Province. Instead, the most popular fruit is grapes, making the Cape the wine region of South Africa. However, the occasional threat of droughts encourages water conservation in the region.
Join us on an amazing trip to the African 'corner' of the Orchard and explore the wonderful and diverse edible species to be found there. Learn about their names, varieties and edibility purposes. If you wish to know more about each of the many many different species and varieties present at the Orchard of Flavours, feel free to dive into the complete database. Or even better, come for a visit and get to know us!
Looking for a particular edible species?
Unique Cape Fruits
Let's delve into some of the unique fruits you can find in the Cape region:
Sour Figs
Sour figs are in season around May to July, right after the normal fig season in April. It’s a naturally dry cactus type fig, which you’ll enjoy if you’re into unusual tastes. You don’t eat the outer shell. The taste is strongly reminiscent of sour worm candy, but it’s much healthier and completely natural. Sour figs are cheap at around $1.50 (R20) per bag.
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Some sour figs contain more nectar on the inside, thus tastes better, while others are small and dry. Sour figs definitely don’t have an indefinite shelf life. It’s relatively soft when fresh, but if you chuck it in your refrigerator or storage cabinet for a few weeks, you’ll notice it becomes very hard and inedible. The juicy liquid inside dries up. So my recommendation is to eat it within a week of purchase. Also try to make sure it’s fresh before you buy. In the past, I’ve bought sour figs at Food Lovers Market. Then when I got home I noticed it was already past its shelf-life.
The most popular recipe is sour fig jam. This involves soaking the figs overnight in water, peeling the next day, then boiling it. I recently tried this jam, and it tastes great on whole wheat bread. The only ingredients are sour figs and sugar. Sour fig nectar is sweet enough by itself.
Served a plate of nature’s “caviar”. Left: Whole Sour Figs. Right: The end of these sour figs is bitten off, with nectar squeezed out.
Kumquat
Kumquat is a weird little fruit, both in taste and appearance. It looks like a tiny orange, although it’s oval, and not round - roughly the same size as a quail egg. You are supposed to eat the kumquat whole. This can be daunting, as you won’t eat an orange’s skin, thus why the kumquat? On the plus side, the juicy inner part tastes very decent. So you could potentially bite it in half, then suck out the juice, while spitting out the skin.
Kumquats are nowadays one of my favorite Winter fruits. Apart from eating it raw, kumquats are often made into a sweet jam. The skin softens when cooked, rendering it easily edible. Since it’s not a mainstream fruit, its not always that easy to find around Cape Town.
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Kumquats
Naartjie
Long ago when I visited Europe, I was surprised that I couldn’t find any Naartjies. Yet, there are oranges and grapefruits everywhere in Europe. However, the naartjie is something I’ve only ever eaten in Cape Town, and it’s often dirt cheap (e.g. R10 per pouch). Basically it’s an easily peel-able, well-segmented orange, also more tangy in taste. The smallest naartjies you can pop whole into your mouth, after peeling.
Related fruits in this soft citrus category include Satsumas, Mandarins, Tangerines, Clementines, and other “easy-peelers”. Some of these can be found outside South Africa as well e.g.
Pomegranate
Pomegranate is a reddish brown crimson-colored fruit, containing bright-red arils inside, as well as white fibers. South Africa is one of the main pomegranate producers in the Southern Hemisphere, with 80% of the production occurring in the Western Cape Region. However, as a fruit it’s not locally as popular as it is in Turkey and Israel.
When I visited Turkey, I bought a pomegranate juicer and imported it into South Africa. Without a good juicer, there’s not that much you can do with pomegranates. Sorting through the white flesh and the pips can be a hassle, unless you buy the separated pips at some grocery stores.
In season, pomegranates are cheap in the Cape. Out of season it’s very expensive.
Read also: Traditional South African Bread
Cape Gooseberry
The Cape Gooseberry (scientific name: Physalis peruviana), is a small yellow berry, known by different names around the world including Incan Berry or Goldenberry. The taste is less sweet than blueberries, raspberries and blackberries, which is why it’s not as popular with consumers. The most unusual trait of Cape Gooseberries is its protective husk.
Another nightshade plant with a husk, is the green Tomatillo (grown and used for salsa in Mexico). Gooseberries are unusually sweet for a nightshade plant. Thus, as far as I’m concerned, it tastes very good. Dried Gooseberries tastes as good as the fresh ones, and it’s a great energizing snack.
Lastly, you could even juice them.
Guava
Guavas are originally from Central America, brought to the Cape by the Portuguese in the colonial era. The skin of the ripe guava can be either yellow or green, while the inner flesh is pink with small edible yellowish seeds. It’s sweet with a creamy texture, and can be added to smoothies, or eaten raw.
Guavas are often also de-skinned and canned with syrup, then served as a dessert in the Cape, along with ice cream. It tastes good, but served this way, guavas are unnecessarily high in calories. Health benefits of this fruit include plenty of vitamins and minerals to e.g.
Guava
Persimmon
Persimmon (a.k.a Sharon Fruit) is sweet with custard-like flesh and a nice creamy texture. Although the skin itself is slightly thicker than e.g. tomatoes or apples, you can bite through and eat the skin as well. However, it’s easier to eat by cutting it in half. Persimmons are a less common fruit in Cape Town (and generally everywhere).
Dried persimmons are sometimes sold in health-stores.
Watermelon
Watermelon was already featured in my Banana-watermelon smoothie recipe. However, since it’s such a popular Summer fruit in Cape Town, we’ll mention it here as well. Watermelon is great for juicing, since it contains 90% “water”, filtered naturally through the roots of the squash-like watermelon plant.
For example, prepare watermelon lemonade by combining the juice with lime or lemon. Some varieties contain more brown seeds than others. It’s safe to swallow these seeds. Sometimes the seeds get dried and served as a snack. The only part you can’t eat is the green skin. The flesh is sweet, with a light crunchy texture.
Grab a slice with your hands by the green skin. It’s a popular beach fruit. Easy to transport. Feeds 10 or more people at the same time when sliced with a kitchen knife.
Cantaloupe (Spanspek)
Cantaloupe is locally known as Spanspek, which is an Afrikaans translation of Spanish Bacon (“Spaanse Spek”). This fruit is locally often served for breakfast along with bacon and eggs. It’s a very popular Summer fruit in South Africa. Orange in color, with a sweet taste and pleasant creamy texture.
Although most people would scoop out the seeds and throw it away, you could simply throw the seeds along with the flesh into a blender and make a delicious healthy smoothie. Otherwise, if you’re into gardening, plant the seeds to grow your own Cantaloupe in the Summer.
Figs
Fig season is more or less from January to end-April. With high natural sugar content, it’s no surprise that its a very popular fruit in South Africa. Some varieties have softer edible skin, and sweeter flesh than others. These top varieties, like the Adam’s Fig, can be expensive.
Since it’s high in sugar, be warned to take preventative measures against birds stealing your figs as soon as it’s ripe. If you don’t have figs freely available in your country, order some preservative-free organic dried smyrna figs at I-Herb (get an up-to-date price here). “Smyrna” refers to the fact that these figs require cross-pollination from other fig trees, otherwise the fig will tumble to the ground before it’s ripe.
Figs
Grapes
The cape region’s grapes are either table grapes, for eating, or wine grapes which get processed into wine at wine cellars. You can eat wine grapes fresh. But it’s smaller in size and generally only intended for fermentation into wine. Table grapes are larger in size, and more enticing to customers to eat fresh.
The most popular grapes are often the seedless varieties (e.g. Sultana). But make no mistake, grape seeds are very anti-oxidant rich. To such a degree that there are supplements available consisting purely of powdered grape seed extract (click here for a price at I-Herb).
Grapes come in different colors, such as red, pink, green and yellow. The difference between red wine and white wine, is that for red wine, the grape skins are left in the fermentation tanks, while white wine discards the grape skins.
Lastly, grapes are often dried in the sun, and converted into raisins. Raisins are high in sugar, thus necessary to limit in a carb-controlled diet. Still, it’s an useful ingredient in many recipes, snacks and deserts. It’s a very popular snack in the Cape’s wine region.
Recommended for kids who need this natural source of energy to grow.
Strawberries
Strawberries is another famous summer snack of the Cape Region. When in season, it’s very affordable, healthy, tasty, and easy to eat - no peeling or cutting required. A fun mid-summer Cape activity is going to a strawberry farm to pick strawberries yourself while filling up your bucket.
Strawberries are also a great smoothie ingredient, whether fresh or frozen.
Blueberries
Blueberries are becoming more popular in South Africa (with highest production in the Western Cape province). Up to now, it’s been more expensive than strawberries, but blueberry prices are coming down as local production soars. Blueberry farming mostly takes place under shaded nets, with a very specific soil PH level required.
The blueberry’s texture is not that different from grapes. However, the taste is definitely more intensely sweet (thus it tastes better than grapes). Combine this with the phytochemical and anti-oxidant benefits, then blueberry is one of my favorite fruits.
Blueberries
Nectarines
The main difference between nectarines and peaches is that the latter has fluff on the skin, while nectarines are smooth-skinned. The taste is quite similar, although not exactly the same. Peaches are perhaps a little more creamy in texture.
If I was forced to describe nectarines as a mix of two fruit, I’d say it’s like a cross between mango and apple. The main production hub for nectarines in South Africa is Ceres (140km from central Cape Town). Nectarine trees fruit in Summer.
Dragon Fruit
Dragon fruit is another exotic unusual local fruit, with sweet taste (depending on the variety). Read our post on the dragonfruit in a Cape Town backyard garden.
The climate also suits apples, pears, peaches, plums, apricots, etc. What you won’t find here though, are tropical fruit like mangoes and bananas.
Edible Parts of African Plants
Here's a table summarizing some African plants and their edible parts:
| Plant | Edible Parts |
|---|---|
| African Baobab | Leaves (fresh/cooked), Fruits (monkey-bread), Seeds (oil) |
| Aloe | Leaf gel |
| Argan | Seed (oil) |
| Bulbine frutescens | Medicinal Plant |
| Natal plum | Fruit |
| Carpobrotus | Sap from leaves |
| Honey Locust | Seedpods |
| Coffea | Dried seeds ('beans') |
| Coffee senna | Mature seeds |
| Kei apple | Fruit |
| Ensete | Pulp |
| Euphorbia | Juice of the plant |
| Fockea | Edible root |
| Crossberry | Berries |
| Date | Fruit, Male inflorescence |
| Elephant Bush | Leaves |
| False Marama Bean | Roasted seeds |
| Miracle Fruit | Thin-skinned fruit |
| Mobola Plum | Fleshy fruit |
| Monkey Orange | Fruit |
| Sour Fig | Leaves |
| Tamarind | Immature pods, Mature pods, Seed, Young leaves, Seedlings |
Africa is a wonderful and diverse continent of contrasts. More than 80% of the continent is tropical, but, surprise, the majority of it is also in the Northern hemisphere. It has areas of intense rain, but also areas of intense dryness. So, it makes sense that Africa has a wide variety of climates that produce an abundance of indigenous and non-native fruit. Trying the local fruit when you travel is like a fantastic voyage of sweetness. Here we will talk about only a few of the many fruit found in this expansive and vibrant continent.
- There is arguably no other fruit with the historical, cultural, and religious importance that the date carries. A great article about that can be read here. Their sticky goodness is enjoyed in Africa, and you could even say they are honored, especially in Northern Africa.
- Who doesn’t love a fruit-bearing tree in their backyard? Papaya trees are probably one of the most abundant fruit trees all over the continent because they are easy to care for and produce a lot of its sweet, melony fruit that is used for breakfast, snacks and desserts, and to make drinks and jams.
- At first glance, the soursop looks like some sort of spiky creature from a horror film. But cut it open and you will find a pure-white, dreamy fruit. It is also known as custard apple, and once you taste its sweet creaminess, you will understand why.
- All over Western and Central Africa, you will find children stopping by ackee trees to see if the fruit is ripe yet. They know better than to try and eat one before it is ripe as parents warn about their toxicity before they are ready. So, the young ones check every day until the fruit cracks open and they can see the three black seeds, meaning they are now ripe.
- The São Tomé peach is possibly the most interesting fruit on this list. It is very rare and grows only on the idyllic island of São Tomé e Príncipe. Another unique trait is that this fruit grows on the trunk of the tree, making wild animals very happy that they can grab an easy snack. The fruit itself is beautiful - triangular, purple in color, and with a velvety skin, like a little regal pouch.
- Marula is another fruit on this list with historical and symbolic importance - it is a legally protected tree in South Africa. Indigenous to Southern Africa, it has been shown to have sustained ancient civilizations across the region. It has significant health benefits and is used for medicinal purposes. Perhaps most famous is its use in alcoholic beverages. The sweet-sour, acidic fruit is perfect for fermentation, becoming a traditional brew celebrated in several southern African countries.
- Bananas may possibly be the most common fruit around, but with anywhere up to 1,000 varieties around the world ranging in size, shapes and color (red! blue!), they can’t be called ordinary. For simplicity, people usually categorize bananas into dessert bananas and cooking bananas with dessert bananas including the hundreds of sweet varieties and plantains generally used for cooking. Dessert bananas are often eaten as simple snacks and can be found all over at street markets and roadside vendors. A personal favorite is the apple banana, or banana maçã, as it is known in Portuguese-speaking countries. These gems are cute mini bananas with a lovely mild strawberry-apple taste and smell that you absolutely have to try if you get the chance! Cooking bananas are a staple in many parts of Africa and around the world, and are used as a substitute for other starchy foods such as potatoes. In East Africa, matoke is often cooked and mashed and eaten with meat and veggie stew or soup.
- The African breadfruit is a large, melon-like fruit with a sweet, starchy and, wait for it, bready flavour. You can’t eat it raw, and only the seeds are eaten. They are dried and then eaten with or as a meal, roasted for a snack or ground to make flour for porridge, or even to make a boozy drink.
- The propagation and consumption of palm fruit goes back thousands of years and the oils produced from the flesh and the kernel is of significant economic and cultural importance in Central and West Africa.
- Pepper fruit gets its name from its flavor - it is a berry with a kick. You can eat it raw, or because of its sharp flavor, it is used in all kinds of dishes.
- Nostalgic images of Africa often picture the prehistoric baobab tree with its massive trunk and branches that look like roots, which is why it is sometimes called the upside-down tree. Found in many African countries, the tree produces leaves and flowers for very short periods during the year. The fruit is melon-shaped, but with a hard shell that is hard to crack, and, interestingly, dries while still on the tree. Crack it open and the pulp looks like little pieces of white or pink chalk, but it has a delicate citrusy flavor that can be eaten raw, made into a drink, or used in cooking.
- The star apple is the star of Western Africa fruit, getting its name from the arrangement of the five seeds found inside the white flesh. Often simply eaten raw by squeezing it open, sucking out the juice, then opening it up to eat the remaining pulp, it can also be used in desserts, made into jams, juices and non-alcoholic or alcoholic drinks.
- Another star of West African fruit is the kola nut. It also has cultural significance, being used as a symbol of peace and in a number of traditional and religious duties. Not to be confused with the leafy bitter kola plant, the kola nut fruit is famous for having once been used for flavoring Coca-Cola.
- Another nutty fruit, this time found in Central African countries, is the African walnut, also known as ukpa, asala, or okwe. Similar to a chestnut in shape but with a darker brown or black shell, it is rather bitter when raw, so best to bake or roast them to get the most out of its creamy sweet nuttiness.
- Like a mini eggplant, the African pear has purple skin and a whitish green flesh and can be found all over Western and Central Africa. Known also as bush pear, safou, or ube, it is an important fruit for its use in traditional medicine, as well as a staple food. Acidic if eaten raw, it is usually cooked to enjoy its sweet buttery flavor. During the rainy season in Nigeria, many meals of oka na ube re consumed.
- Last but certainly not least, the tamarind is well-known for its many edible and practical uses from West Africa and further to the northern region of the continent. Westerners might know HP or Worcestershire sauce but might not know tamarind is a key ingredient in both. The sour-sweet flesh of the velvety bean-like pod is used to add tang to many savory dishes, to make drinks, in traditional medicine, and even for industrial purposes such as metal polish and leather dyes.
What’s your favorite Cape Fruit? Have you tried any of the above, or is there another fruit you’d suggest?
Many refer to Africa as though it can somehow be only one thing, but this continent is one to be experienced for the variety, diversity, and vibrancy that it offers.
Looking for a comprehensive list of tropical fruits? Here you 129 tropical fruits worth trying, along with information on each and ideas on how to use them! Many of these tropical and sub-tropical fruits are well-known favorites, but we include quite a few that may be new to you. The tropics include anywhere on the globe between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. This includes much of Central and South America, most of Africa, and Southeast Asia.
Looking for a specific Tropical Fruit?
Let’s take a look at some of the world’s favorite tropical fruits and a few rare and lesser-known strange fruits! We included a photo of most of these, so if you see a cool or exotic fruit and wonder what it is, perhaps we can be of assistance.
