Move over mangoes, it’s time to go beyond bananas.
Traders at Melbourne’s wholesale fruit and vegetable market have revealed the hottest trends in produce for 2025, with exotic flavours and exciting new fruit varieties set to take Australia by storm.
These unique fruits are bursting onto the local greengrocer’s shelves with their curious flavours and nutritional benefits:
Jujube: Also known as the Chinese red date, this small, sweet, and crunchy fruit has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries. Packed with antioxidants, it’s often enjoyed fresh or dried and added to soups for a touch of sweetness.
Blood Mandarins: Also known as the Early Sicily, this delicious cross between a clementine mandarin and a tarocco blood orange is an easy-to-peel variety that offers a burst of juicy sweetness with a hint of berry flavour.
Black Sapote: Dubbed the “Chocolate Pudding Fruit,” this intriguing fruit boasts a dark brown, chocolatey flesh with a creamy, custard-like texture. It’s a healthy and delicious alternative for chocolate mousse or custard.
Canistel: With an egg yolk-like texture, this unique fruit, also known as the egg-fruit, is a perfect addition to milkshakes, ice creams, and smoothies.
Star Apple: This fruit that comes in deep purple and green varieties has a star-shaped pattern formed by its seeds, and offers a sweet, jelly-like texture with hints of tropical fruits and grapes.
Thanh Truong, also known as ‘The Fruit Nerd’, from Melbourne Market store Aus Asia Produce, says the jujube is a fruit that is set to boom in 2025.
“Native to China but now grown in most Australian states, the jujube tastes like a crunchy apple with intense flavors,” Truong said.
“It’s famous for being dried and used in soups for sweetness and boasts more antioxidants than most other fruits.”
Mahmoud Roumieh from Super Sweet Produce says the Black Sapote is his pick of the fruits set to trend over the year ahead.
Known as the chocolate pudding fruit, this unique superfood is gaining attention for its health benefits and creamy, pudding-like texture.
There are many ways to use it — enjoy it as a treat just like pudding, blend it into smoothies, bake it into cakes, or whip it into mousse.
Roumieh says ripe black sapote blended with coconut cream makes a “delicious diabetes-friendly dessert”.
Look out for fruit that has changed from green to dark brown, and when soft and gooey are in prime eating condition. What they lack in looks at this stage they make up for in taste!
Consumers are encouraged to explore these exciting new fruits and embrace the diversity of produce available at local independent fruit and vegetable retailers.
“By supporting local greengrocers, you’re not only discovering unique and delicious produce but also contributing to the vibrant community of independent businesses,” says Graham Gee, from The Happy Apple greengrocers.
Shoppers can find their local greengrocer via abetterchoice.com.au, an initiative that supports local independent fruit and vegetable retailers across Australia.
