On a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 is the first time you bit into a lemon unawares of the consequences and 10 is a a taste of the fruit of the tree of life, the Fruit and Spice Park 35 miles south of Downtown Miami, ranks a solid 8. This park is a beautiful 39-acre park full of more than 500 varieties of exotic fruits, nuts, herbs, and spices. This park was established in 1944 and is essentially an oasis from the crazy city life of Florida.
Entrance to this park is $8 for adults and $2 for children age 6-11 (free under 6). For this reasonable price, you are able to try out any of the fruit in the park and attend the tour on a tram pulled by a tractor for free. Tours run at 11:00am, 1:30pm, and 3:00pm and I would highly recommend going on one!!
We arrived plenty early before our planned tour time, so we ate at the Mango Cafe outside the park and we got to wander around the beginning sections. The Mango Cafe was a cute homestead restaurant with one room for dining and plenty of options of sandwiches, wraps, and other great deli items for lunch. The prices were reasonable and I would recommend this if you stop by and are famished.
As we wandered around the park before the tour, we came across fruits we've never seen before like the jackfruit shown above. Bananas were also in season and bunches were set up on some stands ready for us to try. These tiny bananas were jam packed with flavor that our typical grocery store definitely lack.
Eventually the tour started. We learned about a variety of fruits as we drove by and we got to taste the fruits which were in season. There were a few notable fruits. I cannot post this blog without mentioning these. The first is called Miracle Fruit. This is a tiny fruit with a large seed. After you peel back the skin, you let the fruit slide around on your tongue until you coat the entire thing. At this point, our guide gave us a lemon to try and after the coating of Miracle Fruit, the lemon tasted like a delicious sweet candy. Miracle Fruit makes everything taste more sweet and so it can be used in several important ways in medicine. For instance, when undergoing chemotherapy, the tongue tends to take on a metallic taste which makes everything taste awful. This can make many people unable to eat. By coating the tongue in Miracle Fruit, other foods begin to taste much more palatable. Additionally, people with diabetes who aren't supposed to be eating sugar can coat their tongue with miracle fruit to help other foods take on the sweet qualities they may crave immensely.
Another amazing plant we learned about is the leaf of the Moringa plant. According to Pure Healing Foods online, "Moringa leaf is best known as an excellent source of nutrition and natural energy booster. This energy boost is not based on sugar, and so it is sustained. Moringa is also soothing. It helps lower blood pressure and is a sleep aid. Its detoxifying effect may come from Moringa's ability to purify water. Moringa acts as a coagulant attaching itself to harmful material and bacteria. It is believed that this process is taking place in the body as well." It is a highly recommended healthy food, so that is why you would have caught us all chewing on leaves that tour day!
Finally, I couldn't miss out on mentioning how many mangoes this park has! It has rows with possibly hundreds of types of mangoes. We were told that when it is mango season, there is a festival where people can taste all the different species to determine their own favorites.
This park was beautiful and, for a biologist like me, it was a magical land full of beautiful new treasures of knowledge. Upon returning back to New Mexico, I visited a few international food stores and was thrilled to see some of these fruits which I learned about at this park including Dragon Fruit and Jack Fruit. This park has picturesque areas with lilies and fountains. It also is a park which you can return to month after month to try out the different fruits currently in season. You can easily spend hours wandering and trying out the various fruits. I highly recommend this beautiful park!
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