Babaco

Vasconcellea × heilbornii · Tropical fruit

40 pairings

Babaco is a seedless, five-sided Andean fruit (Vasconcellea × heilbornii) — a sterile natural hybrid in the papaya family, native to the highlands of Ecuador. Torpedo-shaped and ribbed like a fat star in cross-section, it ripens from green to bright yellow and is eaten skin and all, prized for a fizzy strawberry-pineapple-papaya tang.

Picking a good onedrag

UnderripeOverripe

Even waxy yellowJuicy, tangy and faintly sparkling. Eaten raw skin and all, sliced or pressed to juice. The papain-type enzymes can sting a sensitive mouth or a split lip.Peak — eat it raw

Skin colourEven waxy yellow all over, the thin skin bright and unmarked

The squeezeFirm with a gentle give along a rib, skin tight over the flesh

SmellStrawberry, pineapple and papaya, lifting as you turn it

Reading a just ripe one. Move the slider and the rest of this page — nutrition, pairings — re-scores with it.

Preparing