12 Exotic Tropical Fruits You've Never Heard Of: Snake Fruit Will Amaze Your Taste Buds

4. Rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum)

Though at first glimpse this hairy-looking fruit seems frightening, under its prickly surface is a delicious and succulent delicacy. Rambutan, native of the Malay Archipelago, gets its name from the Malay word "rambut," meaning hair, which describes the soft spines covering its surface. With a texture like grape but tougher, the translucent flesh within tastes sweet and faintly sour.

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Every fruit has one seed, and the flesh clings to it like a lychee, hence needing some dexterity to eat elegantly. In each harvest season, rambutan trees can generate hundreds of fruit and are really large. Along with being great, the fruit is loaded in vital minerals including vitamin C, iron, and antioxidants. For their medicinal qualities, traditional medicine practitioners have long made use of several parts of the ramboutan tree—fruit, peel, and seeds among others. Because of its great copper concentration, the fruit is very helpful for maintaining good blood vessels and red blood cell production.