{"id":45657,"date":"2025-03-10T17:31:45","date_gmt":"2025-03-11T00:31:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/?p=45657"},"modified":"2025-03-10T17:58:21","modified_gmt":"2025-03-11T00:58:21","slug":"chocolate-fruits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/miscellaneous-chocolate-information\/chocolate-fruits\/","title":{"rendered":"Chocolate fruits"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since I write about chocolate I tend to see it everywhere. A couple of those places were unexpected to me: produce bins and plant nurseries. I couldn\u2019t resist trying some fruits and vegetables with chocolate in the name that are not cacao. Would they taste like chocolate? Look like chocolate? Feel like chocolate?<\/p>\n

Chocolate persimmons<\/h2>\n

One of the joys of moving to California was discovering persimmons. Cacaopod and I first moved to SF\u2019s Richmond District and would explore the neighborhood produce markets to find new-to-us fruits and veg to try. The first round of persimmons was a miss \u2014 a firm Hachiya so astringent it gave us total dry mouth.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Watercolor of a Fuyu persimmon from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Friends pointed us in the right direction \u2014 Fuyus. Save the Hachiya for cooking and baking, Fuyus are sweet when crunchy and they\u2019re delicious.<\/p>\n

So when I saw what looked like a Fuyu but labeled Chocolate Persimmon I had to try it. Chocolate? Persimmon? I like them both! Together they could be awesome!<\/p>\n

\"Chocolate
Chocolate persimmon cross section from Minneopa Orchards site<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the outside the chocolate persimmon resembled a Fuyu but the flesh inside was brownish orange \u2014 not very appetizing looking. To me it looked like it was rotten. (I forgot to take a pic so here’s one I found on the Internet.) It also had more seeds than a typical Fuyu which isn\u2019t a big deal but not an improvement on the almost seedless Fuyu.<\/p>\n

While the persimmon looked like it was going bad, it didn\u2019t smell bad so I tried it. It was juicier than a Fuyu but not as crisp tasting. It tasted sweet, vaguely persimmon, and something else \u2014 but definitely not chocolate.<\/p>\n

I prefer Fuyus but chocolate persimmons are good too \u2014 just make sure it\u2019s fully ripe. I bought several at the time and after the first one that looked past its prime I tried a firmer one \u2014 and got that astringent mouth pucker like it was an unripe Hachiya.<\/p>\n

Chocolate Sprinkles Tomatoes<\/h2>\n
\"\"
Chocolate Sprinkles tomatoes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The chocolate persimmon experience reminded me of our recent chocolate vegetable experience.<\/p>\n

In our backyard we have 3 veggies boxes \u2014 so not a lot of growing space. I have to be careful because I always want to plant more than we have space for. To simplify things we always buy 3 starter plants \u2014 a zucchini, a cherry tomato, and a Roma tomato \u2014 plants we know will grow in our small space with limited sunshine. One starter per box, then I fill in the space with things that are easy to grow from seeds \u2014 lettuce, radishes, herbs, peas, and beans.<\/p>\n

We get our starters from the same nursery<\/a> every year \u2014 it\u2019s a small one that only sells to the public a few times a year at their space in the parking lot of the old West Oakland train terminal<\/a>. We like the ritual of riding the bus downtown and walking through West Oakland to the nursery, then reversing course to take our starters home.<\/p>\n

Last year on our annual pilgrimage to the train station I spotted a plant that said Chocolate Sprinkles so I bent the rules \u2014 because of course, chocolate! \u2014 and we ended up taking 4 starters home.<\/p>\n

The Chocolate Sprinkles tomato plant grew spectacularly filling a single planter box all by itself and producing lots of little tomatoes. And the tomatoes were kinda cute with their pointed ends \u2014 but they didn\u2019t get as sweet as our Sweet 100s cherry tomatoes. And something about the color \u2014 kind of a dull striped orange \u2014 just wasn\u2019t as appetizing. Plus it was hard to know when they were ripe because they never looked ripe to us.<\/p>\n

So this year when we do our annual pilgrimage I\u2019m going to be good. Three starters, no chocolate.<\/p>\n

Chocolate navel oranges<\/h2>\n
\"Chocolate
Chocolate navel oranges in store bin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Finally a chocolate fruit I can recommend \u2014chocolate oranges! Not the Terry\u2019s Chocolate Orange<\/a> that people get at Christmas time but real oranges.<\/p>\n

I saw this bin full of big oranges with mottled olive green and dark orange peels at Berkeley Bowl<\/a> \u2014 our local grocery store known for its extensive range of produce \u2014 labeled chocolate navel oranges. Having been burnt twice I bought a single orange to try.<\/p>\n

The peel and pith were pretty thick but once inside, it looked like a regular navel orange \u2014 the opposite of my chocolate persimmon experience which looked better on the outside. The pulp was sweet, soft, and juicy. It\u2019s a tasty orange with a flavor that made me think of Tang \u2014 which I haven\u2019t thought about \u2014 much less tasted \u2014 in decades.<\/p>\n

\"Cut
Cut chocolate navel orange<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So another not-chocolate-tasting-but-chocolate-named fruit. And they are more expensive than regular navel oranges \u2014they were even more expensive than my favorites, Cara Cara navel oranges \u2014 but they are tasty. I would buy them again.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Fresh Cocoa Fruit from Ecuador<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Look what else I found at Berkeley Bowl:
\nCacao\u00a0pods!<\/p>\n

The bin label said they\u2019re from Ecuador but otherwise no info on type of cacao or where in Ecuador. I think it\u2019s kind of adorable tho\u2019: Fresh Cocoa Fruit!<\/p>\n

And yeah I didn\u2019t buy it \u2014 I am no chocolate maker, heck, I\u2019m not even a cook, what would I do with such a thing? And did you see the price on that? $12.49 a pound. Hard pass.<\/p>\n

But if you want to get creative with a chocolate fruit, this might be for you. And if you handle it right, it will taste like chocolate!<\/p>\n

As for me, I will stick with my Tang-tinged chocolate navels.<\/p>\n

But the question remains: If they don\u2019t taste like chocolate, look like chocolate, or feel like chocolate, why the name?<\/p>\n

My hypothesis is: Marketing. These are probably all hybrids that somebody created. And while they are perfectly edible they don\u2019t look tasty so to sell them the creators gave them a name with built-in hype. Like how \u201ccozy\u201d is realtor-speak for a small house or I\u2019m \u201cvertically challenged,\u201d naming these awkwardly colored fruits and vegetables \u201cchocolate\u201d might entice someone to buy and try.<\/p>\n

Worked on me! (And probably will in the future…)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Does this look like chocolate to you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":45658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[1599,659,1667,1479],"class_list":["post-45657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-miscellaneous-chocolate-information","tag-berkeley-bowl","tag-orange","tag-persimmon","tag-tomato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45657"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45689,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45657\/revisions\/45689"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}