What Is White Pineapple? A Tropical Fruit Taste Test

I cradle the heavy brown paper bag my wife just handed me and peer into the open top. Inside are four of the largest (and possibly worst-looking) mangoes I’ve ever seen. We’re on the Big Island of Hawaii and friends of mine who’ve lived there for years are sharing mangoes with us. They know a family with a mango farm that’s overproducing, so they’re passing out fruit to everyone they can. Next to the bag of mangoes are chunks of what looks like underripe pineapple.

“Have you tried a white pineapple?” my friend Leslie asks. As a fruit person, I’m a little embarrassed to admit that no—I didn’t even know white pineapples existed.

White Pineapple vs. Yellow Pineapple

I grab a slice of the white pineapple and bite in. It tastes familiar, like yellow pineapple, but even sweeter. It’s like comparing the difference between a white and yellow peach or a white and yellow nectarine: the white-fleshed fruit is sweeter with less acid than its yellow sister. As I munch, I think, White or yellow, nothing beats eating a local Hawaiian pineapple in Hawaii.

What Other Tropical Fruits Grow in Hawaii? Papayas, Apple Bananas, and More Amazing Fruits

The mangoes my friend gave us are still firm and not quite ready to eat, so we bring them back to the house where we’re staying. While we wait for them to ripen, my nieces return with lovely papayas and apple bananas from a local farmer. I always find papayas striking, though their musky melon flavor is admittedly not my favorite. The deep orange fruit meets with black, almost perfectly round seeds in the middle. Apple bananas taste very similar to the Cavendish bananas we’re used to, and they’re nice and creamy. Seeing them grow is fascinating: A local tells me that the red teardrop-shaped flower structure hanging from each bunch of bananas is called the banana heart.

From the kitchen, we can see the tops of fruit trees as we snack. I feel a bit awed when we spy a star fruit tree, a jackfruit tree, and a soursop tree in the small backyard. How did we get so lucky?

What Do Kent Mangoes Taste Like?

After a few days of ripening on the counter, we cut into the ‘ugly’ mangoes, which I’ve learned are giant Kent mangoes. They’re possibly the creamiest, sweetest mangoes I’ve ever had. There’s none of the super-fibrous flesh that you find with some mango varieties; these are melt-in-your-mouth creamy. The dark spots and scars peppering their skin don’t detract from their incredible flavor.

Why “Ugly” Fruit Can Taste Incredible (and I’ll Always Try It)

Tasting the massive Kent mangoes reminded me that the most flavorful fruits don’t have to look perfect. Small flaws like spots and scars are the beauty marks that make a piece of fruit unique. You’ll often see them on produce from small farms that prioritize flavor over appearance—which are our favorite farms to source from. We add imperfect fruits to our mixes to bring you the very best taste. So if you find an heirloom apple with brown, corky russeting in your box or an orange that’s a bit green from warmer weather, give it a try. It just might knock your socks off.

A Quick Note on Tropical Fruit for the Office

The FruitGuys always aims to source fruit as locally and seasonally as possible. But we’ll sometimes tuck fun items like mangoes, lychees, or dragon fruits into our mixes to switch things up, especially if they’re US-grown. And if you want to host a tropical fruit tasting in your office or bring in a case of papayas or jackfruits as a special treat, we’re happy to help with that, too. Our buyers are expert fruit hunters and can track down just about anything. Just send us a request, and we’ll do our best to find those wow items for you.