Uganda – the Best Tropical Fruit Lover Destination in Africa
While on Safari -Discover Uganda -The Tropical Fruit Basket of Africa
Uganda -The Tropical Fruit Basket of Africa- Visiting the Pearl of Africa -Uganda on a Safari is a Foodie Adventurer’s Delight.
Uganda is truly the Fruit Basket of Africa, with over 50 varieties of Bananas and Pineapple, simply the Best, Passion Fruit, Mangoes, Watermelons, Jackfruit, Papayas Citrus Fruits, Star Fruit, Avocados, and even Apples – Uganda is Africa’s Fruit Basket.
Uganda is also home to some of the Best Avocados, green oranges that range from sour to sweet, and green lemons with what seem like warts on them, but the taste is the same. Fruit Lovers on Safari will love Uganda, the Tropical Fruit Basket of Uganda.
Uganda is the Best Destination for those on the lookout for a Fruit Foodie Adventure Safari – it is the Tropical Fruit Basket of Africa.
Uganda’s Flavorful, delicious Fruits alone are worth a visit to the Pearl of Africa. Hopefully, you will soon find out.
Uganda -The Tropical Fruit Basket of Africa – Uganda – the fertile Pearl of Africa with its pleasant climate, fertile soil, and plentiful rain, is a place where fruit lovers will find paradise with filled tropical Fruit that will delight your senses. It is no wonder that 
Winston Churchill wrote in his 1908 book.
“My African Journey” Uganda is, from end to end, one beautiful garden where the staple food of the people grows almost without labour. Does it not sound like a paradise on earth? It is the Pearl of Africa.”
When you visit this paradise on Safari, this Pearl of Africa, and eat its tasty Fruit, you will undoubtedly agree with Winston Churchill and his description of Uganda.
Uganda -The Tropical Fruit Basket of Africa. The Fruit is plentiful in Uganda, and you will find Fruit standing on the road’s side wherever you go. There are Pineapple vendors with wheelbarrows in town, women are carrying baskets containing small eating bananas for sale, and the town markets are found almost everywhere, including the famous Nakasero Market, where you will be astounded by the Fruit on display.
Uganda – the Pearl of Africa, is truly a tropical fruit lovers’ paradise. You can put a stick into the ground one day and find it bearing Fruit the following day.
Uganda is “Africa’s Tropical Fruit Basket.” You will never forget the taste of our exquisite Pineapple or Bananas that rank among the best in the world
Fruits that you will find and taste in Uganda – The Tropical Fruit Basket of Africa
Bananas – Uganda is Africa’s, Premier Banana Republic:
Uganda is Africa’s Banana Republic, and that is a compliment since Uganda grows more Bananas in Africa than any other nation. Bananas are a primary food item for many Ugandans, and locally it is called Matooke – plantain type Banana. Eating bananas are the small and sweet ones called Menvu here, and the larger ones, as you would find in the West, are called Ndiizi.
Eating Bananas are found everywhere and are eaten at any time of the day as a fruit snack. They are also used in making Ugandan pancakes called Kabalagala. For a special treat, there are the sweet cooking bananas called Gonja. They are often roasted over charcoal and sold by vendors in town. Some people coat the Gonja Bananas with a batter. I like to use Gonja Bananas in stir-fry dishes with chicken and vegetables slicing the Gonja Bananas, which always surprises my Ugandan friends.
Uganda’s versatile Bananas – are found in almost everything from Waragi – Uganda’s Gin, to Banana Chips and everything in between
Pineapples – The Best Tasting Pineapple in the World
Uganda has the best Pineapple, which is sweeter, juicy, and lower in acidity than Pineapple found elsewhere, and they are inexpensive. You often have Pineapple at hotel restaurants, lodges, or tented camps for breakfast in Uganda or other meal times.
The Pineapple in Uganda is so good that you can even eat its center. They are found everywhere year-round, but there are peak seasons in which the best-tasting Pineapple can be had.
Enjoy some pineapple while visiting Uganda – you will be amazed and agree with us that Ugandan Pineapple is simply the best and a cut above the rest.
You can buy dried Pineapple chunks here and take them home. Pineapple Pizza with ham can be had in Uganda, and you rarely see it used in stir-fried dishes, but you can always suggest it.
Uganda’s Pineapple – did not originate here but was perfected in the Pearl of Africa.
Juicy – Tasty Mangoes:
You will see many Mango Trees in Uganda, and I have a huge one across the street and partake of the mangoes in season.
Ugandans often eat Mangoes while still green, whereas most Westerners like them a bit riper.
Do not despair. You can pick them where you are buying them and get lots of them at a meager price, full of color and bursting with flavor.
Many Ugandans eat mangoes without cutting them like we would eat an apple. You can also get mango juice here, mango ice cream, or sorbet – some restaurants of better quality even have fruit salads that contain mangoes, among other things.
One can use mangoes to make muffins or sweet bread, mango pancakes, and mango French Toast and use mangoes in stir-fry dishes and Pineapples and firmer Gonja Bananas.
You will not find the above-recommended use of mangoes in various dishes in Uganda, except for some luxury lodges.
Passion Fruit:
Passion Fruit Trees are found all over the country – if you are buying some, look for the more purple-colored type, which grows in the higher altitude areas such as in the Kasese districts in the foothills of the Rwenzori Mountains. Some even call them Kasese.
You can also find yellow passion fruits, and no matter which one you pick– both make excellent fruit juice, which is often served in hotels and restaurants – make sure and ask if they used bottled or boiled water rather than tap water.
You can also buy Passion Fruit Juice in supermarkets almost everywhere. A great juice to have along on a Gorilla Trek in Uganda.
There could be many more uses for Passion Fruit, from Passion Fruit Wine to Passion Fruit Soda and Passion Fruit flavored Waragi.
Citrus Fruits:
You can find Oranges, Tangerines, and Lemons in Uganda. Here they both grow in the wild and on farms, and they can be bought in fruit and vegetable markets all year long. There is one thing that you will find most of the citrus fruit here – they will look different.
Oranges are mostly green (both sour and sweet), and tangerines. Lemons are also more on the green side and have warts on them.
All of them taste fine, and for those that do not want to partake in a green orange, tangerine, or lemon – citrus fruits with the colors you are used to are available almost everywhere in Supermarkets.
The Oranges and Tangerines here are also often used to make orange juice at hotels and restaurants in Uganda.
The actual flavor of the citrus fruits here is quite tasty though they look different from what you are familiar with. Be daring and try something that you might not be used to, especially the lemons with wart-like bumps.
Juicy Watermelons:
Watermelons are found here all year long, and most Watermelons are round and smaller in size in most cases. Seedless watermelons do not exist here, and if they do, they are not seen in most markets(supermarkets have recently introduced them).
The flavor is excellent, and it pays to do what many do here – have the seller of the watermelons take a knife and cut a small triangle out so that you can see that it is a quality, ripe melon that most likely you will enjoy.
As with most Fruit here, the price is most reasonable, and you could try your bargaining skills when buying any fruit, including watermelons. Thanks to its fertile soil and sunshine, I find the melons tasty in Uganda.
Seedless watermelon is found mainly in larger supermarkets with a produce section. In the last few years, different types of watermelon can be found in the open markets. Watermelon with seeds is what is still widely sold out of wheelbarrows on the side of the road.
Flavorful Papayas:
Papayas grow almost everywhere in Uganda, and you can see them in many gardens. Even at hotels and lodges, you will find papaya growing – they ripen to become yellowish and soft.
Papaya is often served at breakfast or for a dessert at lunch or dinner or is part of the fruit platter you ordered at a Ugandan restaurant.
Not only is papaya tasty, but the tall trees are beautiful decorations in local gardens with their tropical look perfectly fitting into equatorial Uganda.
You might find Papayas here quite a bit larger than the ones you are used to, but they burst with flavor.
You will like the papaya here in Uganda. Add some pineapple and mangoes and get even more of a tasty treat. If you are on a safari, you will get to taste the Papaya Fruit at meals at lodges or hotels that you are staying at.
The Enormous Jackfruit:
Most visitors to Uganda are unfamiliar with the watermelon-sized Jackfruit that grows on trees here in Uganda, and once again, those trees are found near homes, hotels, and lodges. Ugandans enjoy Jackfruit a lot and see it as a treat. Westerners, on the other hand, either loves it or dislike it. It is more like it.
Jackfruit is different, a bit sticky, and the list of Fruit that those who partake of it compare it to is endless.
I think it has a flavor and texture that is merely unique to Jackfruit, and there is no accurate comparison.
Vegetarians and Vegan will enjoy Jackfruit used in cooking. It is an excellent addition to stir-fry dishes, though Ugandans mostly use it as a dessert or snack.
You have to try it – it is not often available in restaurants here. However, many Ugandans consume it at home, and hopefully, during your time here, You will have the opportunity to taste some Jackfruit in Uganda.
Don’t miss the chance to eat the different Fruit found here in the Pearl of Africa.
The Freshest Avocados:
The avocado Fruit, like many others, is not native to Uganda. However, one could say that it has been perfected in Uganda because of its favorable climate, fertile soil, and the farmers that till the ground and tend to the crops such as Avocados.
The avocado grows on trees here, and you can find it readily sold in open markets and at vegetable and Fruit stands throughout Uganda.
It is eaten fresh after being cut into slices and supplements the diet of many Ugandans. You will find it served in restaurants, hotels, and lodges.
Avocados, often called Ovacados, are usually eaten with meals here in Uganda.
Those on a vegetarian or vegan diet will find them especially tasty.
Ugandan Avocados are flown out daily to Europe, where most consumers may not realize that they came from Uganda.
In Uganda
Coffee is a fruit grown in Uganda:
Coffee was born and raised in Africa. Uganda is home to the indigenous Robusta Coffee Plant. However, it also produces many tons of high-grade Arabica Coffee.
What most do not realize is that coffee is a fruit – A coffee bean is a seed of the coffee plant and the source of coffee. It is the pit inside the red or purple Fruit, often referred to as a cherry. Like ordinary cherries, the coffee fruit is also a so-called stone fruit.
In Uganda, you can have some high Nectar from the Coffee plant, but though grown here, its most excellent coffee is not always offered in the midrange or budget hotels and lodges, a reason we have come up with a coffee Lover Survival Kit.
In Supermarkets, some of the best examples of great Ugandan Coffee are Gorilla Conservation Coffee, Big Gorilla Coffee, and others.
Getting a good cup of coffee can be a challenge, most Ugandans drink tea, but things are changing.
Vanilla is a Fruit from an Orchid Plant grown in Uganda:
Vanilla is the Fruit that makes quite a few Ugandan Families wealthy since it is the most expensive spice around. Vanilla in Uganda is the Fruit of an orchid plant, which grows in a bean pod.
Although there are over 110 varieties of vanilla orchids, only one, Vanilla planifolia, produces the Fruit, which gives us 99 percent of commercial vanilla. Vanilla Orchids thrive in tropical climates such as Uganda, where it is grown in the shadows of the Rwenzori Mountains of the Moon in Western Uganda and Mount Elgon in Eastern Uganda.
A good Plantation to visit is the Ndali Estates, where you can see how vanilla is processed, and at the same time, you can Purchase Some.
Tropical Fruit – a Taste of Uganda
African Travelers will find that Uganda is a Foodie Adventure from its Tropical Fruits to Rolex or Nsenene, Ankole Beef, and more.
Uganda is the Tropical Fruit Basket of Africa – is the place for tropical Fruit. Besides tropical Fruit that is grown here.
Apples are now being produced here in southwestern Uganda, producing two crops per year in the Kabale area. Even tropical apples have been imported and grown in the Wakiso District near Kampala.
Valencia Oranges are now being produced in the Northern area of Uganda and even grapes in the Mbarara area of Uganda and Bushenyi and Nebbi areas of the Pearl of Africa.
The Pearl of Africa, Uganda is one of the largest exporters of Exotic Fruit to European Countries, the Mideast, and a trickle to North America. Once you taste our Fruit, you will know why people worldwide call it the Tropical Fruit Basket of Africa.
Uganda-The Tropical Fruit Basket of Africa – enjoy some of our Tropical Fruits in the Pearl of Africa while visiting here on a Safari.
