Tamarillo — Tomato's Tangier, More Exotic Cousin

Tamarillo comes from the Andes, where it's known as "tree tomato" for good reason — it's a close botanical relative, and it shows in the shape and the seeds, but the flavour goes somewhere tomatoes never do. Ripe fruit has smooth, glossy skin in shades of red, orange, or yellow, entirely free of green, with a slight give when pressed. The skin itself is bitter and not meant to be eaten — halve the fruit and scoop the flesh out with a spoon instead. Inside, the tangy, juicy flesh carries notes that shift between tomato, passion fruit, and guava, with the area right around the small edible seeds tending to be sweeter than the flesh nearer the skin. Colour is a rough guide to flavour, too: yellow and orange varieties tend to be sweeter and milder, while red ones keep more tartness even at full ripeness.