Fancy a mangosteen or a jujube? The exotic fruit branching across regional Australia

The passion for growing exotic fruit is ripe in regional Australia.

Major Australian producer of kiwi fruit and nashi pears, Seeka, has decided to expand its jujubes orchard north of Shepparton in Victoria.

Jujubes, sometimes called Chinese dates, are sweet and tart similar to apples.

"They taste great and you can dry the product as well. It tastes great dried," Seeka operations GM Jonathan van Popering said.

Seeka first planted the first few trees in 2020 and now they're planning to expand the Victorian orchard to 40 hectares over the next two years.

It found the region had great conditions to grow the Chinese fruit.

Mr van Popering said being able to dry the jujubes meant there would be little wastage.

Jujubes need half the amount of water that nashi pears do to grow.

"We can operate with nearly no waste at all on this particular line which is very uncommon for any fruit grower to be able to say".

Given the popularity in the Asian market, he said they would look at exporting the fruit in the future.

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In Innisfail, one hour south of Cairns, retired banana growers Judy and Mark Spagnolo, decided to fill their property with tropical fruits.

With a combined 70 years of experience in the banana industry, the couple has decided to start growing tropical fruit from around the world.

Their six acres property has around one thousand trees.

Some of its produce includes pawpaws, bananas, mangosteens, durians, dragon fruit, jackfruit, achachas, lychees, rambutans, abius, and pomellos.

Mrs Spagnolo said mangosteens were the 'queen of the fruits' while durians were the kings.

The sweet purple fruit, mangosteens, are native to southeast Asia.

"In a way, it would almost remind me of drinking champagne," Mrs Spagnolo said, describing the taste of mangosteens.

Mrs Spagnolo is the treasurer of the Cassowary Coast branch of Rare Fruit Australia.

Rambutans are somewhat similar to the taste of lychees, while rollinias were similar to custard apples.

Achacha's are a Bolivian fruit that tastes like sorbet, she said. They are nicknamed the 'kissing fruit' because they gave you wonderful breath.

"There's nothing nicer than being able to walk outside and eating a piece of fruit that you've grown yourself."

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