7 Exotic New Fruits for Rosh Hashanah

On the Second Night of Rosh Hashana, there is a custom of eating a New Fruit – a fruit that you have not tasted since last year.

When tasting this fruit we can say the bracha of shehechiyana – thanking G-d for “keeping us alive, and sustaining us, and allowing us to reach this moment.” It’s a joyous blessing and one that is usually reserved for rare moments of great joy – the birth of a baby, the occupation of a new home, the Jewish holidays.

So why do we also say this blessing on a fruit?

Let’s try an experiment. For once. let’s try answer a question using our senses, rather than our minds.

Sit back, take a deep breath and allow your sense of sight, smell, taste and touch, answer this question for you.

Let’s experience seven of my favorite exotic fruits, which you might want to bring to your Rosh Hashana table:

Rambutan: These popular tropical fruits are a little like red, spiney lychees. They are just as sweet but lighter on that strong lychee flavor – and peeling them is a lot of fun. The texture of the flesh is very smooth and pits shine like polished stones.
Mangosteen: Dig your fingernails into the fleshy reddish-brown peel, and expose the pure white flesh, divided into segments like a Clementine. The texture of the fruit is something really special – creamy, sweet and refreshing. You cannot imagine it until you try it. Here’s a trick that an Asian grocer showed me: you can always guess how many segments will be in a mangosteen without opening it by counting the petals on the base of the fruit. You can use that trick to impress the kids with your “psychic powers.”
Dragon Fruit: This is the Beauty Queen of fruits. It’s flamboyant pink, textured skin paired with the polka-dotted white flesh really turns heads. L-rd, I like Your style! The taste of dragon fruit is not very sweet but the experience is well worth it.
Durian: The scent of this fruit is very powerful and perhaps somewhat stinky, but don’t be put off. Taste the flesh and you are in for a treat. It is custardy in texture and delicately sweet, with perhaps a hint of almond, and utterly delicious. One of the first Westerners to taste a Durian wrote in 1599: “it is of such an excellent taste that it surpasses in flavour all other fruits of the world, according to those who have tasted it.” What a way to begin the New Year!
Tamarind: The crunchy shell of a Tamarind looks like a peanut and they are just as fun to peel. But how to describe the taste of the fruit inside? I’ll do my best: It’s kind of like a dried apricot in texture with a sweet-and-sour and slightly salty taste. OK… that doesn’t sound so appetizing… but trust me, they are incredible! You will be praising G-d for His Kindness to your tastebuds when you sample these beauties. It’s been 10 years since I ate a fresh Tamarind, since I’ve never seen them in Israel. So if you can find them at your local Asian or South American grocer, please buy some for me!
Star Fruit: Star Fruits have become popular on Rosh Hashana because of their extraordinary shape. The taste is mildly sweet and the texture crunchy. They add pizzazz to any fruit platter.
Quince: This is the traditional New Fruit here in Jerusalem, and it is also eaten by many Sephardim and Persian Jews on Rosh Hashana. Even my grandmother tells me that they ate it on Rosh Hashana back in Hungary. So quince may be the New Fruit that unites the Jewish people for the New Year! Quince can’t be eaten raw, but if cooked right it can smell and taste divine. Check this recipe for Quince Compote by Reyna Simnegar.

With each bite of an exotic fruit, I move out of my comfort zone just a little bit, in the most delightful way. New tastes, new aromas, new textures, new glimpses of the beauty of Creation.

So why do we say the joyous blessing of “shehechiyanu” on the New Fruit on Rosh Hashana?

Splash out on some really fabulous fruits this Rosh Hashana and you’ll know!