Monstera Deliciosa – The Delicious Monster
Would you eat something that you know could poison you? Would you take the chance if someone told you the experience could be worth it? Well, I did, and am glad I did. Here’s this poisonous strange fruit I found at Bellingen, one that possibly helps the locals when the munchies hit: Monstera Deliciosa. If the shape looks familiar, that’s because it is. You would have seen this delicious monster growing on indoor ornamental plants. They are surrounded by a large flower and they look great. It originates somewhere around Mexico and Panama, and what’s really crazy about it is that it takes a year for the fruit to ripen, and that if it is eaten unripe, it will cause blistering, itching, swelling and pain, and possibly the loss of a loved one: you.This is due to the large amounts of oxalic acid in the unripe fruit. So, the lady who sold this to me said that it would be ok to eat when those hexagonal scales fall off, and the fruit becomes easy to lift of the stem. Even then when I ate it, it still gave my mouth and lips a tingly sensation with a slight irritation. But I tell you what, it tasted phenomenal. It is possibly nearest in flavour and texture to custard apple, but it also tastes like pineapples and bananas and grapes and strawberries. In fact, this strange, all encompassing flavour is the reason why it’s also sometimes called the fruit salad plant. If you come by this plant, ask the shop when it would be safe to eat, but I urge you to try it. It’s delicious! Now, tell me, would you eat it?
50 Responses to “Monstera Deliciosa – The Delicious Monster”
Leave a Reply
follow:- Like us on Facebook
- RSS
- Tweet with me
omg what a crazy looking fruit. it sounds petrifying yet fascinating. i love the photo too – will definitely keep an eye out for it!
I grew up with these growing in the garden! We rarely ate them (too much effort) and I don’t remember the flavour on the few occasions that we did. When I was on the farm in October I wanted to try one, but it wasn’t ready yet and I didn’t fancy their poison. Shame!
Helen – isn’t it nuts! Those hexagonal scales are so out of the ordinary. Got a new camera, so the photos are improving as I get used to it
I need more backgrounds for my subjects. My chopping board is almost a celebrity
Lili – damn you woman! How come there’s nothing I write about that you haven’t grown in your backyard! LOL. Why can’t I enlighten you in some way? Isn’t the flower pretty!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Fouad Kassab, Fouad Kassab. Fouad Kassab said: The Delicious Monster. Read about this exotic, deliciously poisonous fruit here: http://tinyurl.com/yjrqtz3 [...]
This thing will keep tingling no matter how ripe! My brother used to do accounts for exotic fruits wholesalers and he used to bring a lot of this for us to eat. He called it a different name but it slipped my mind. But I love it. To me it tastes like a mix between pineapple and the ashta fruit (I dunno the name in English), although I don’t like the last one since it is too sweet, but the acidity balances it in the monster fruit. But usually u know it is ripe when the green peel (if we can call it that) starts to come off by itself.
Wow, that’s amazing. I’ve never heard of this fruit before but I’d really like to try one now.
.-= gourmetpigs´s last blog ..Sneak Preview of Radio Room #2: Tonight at The Edison! =-.
How interesting! I would definitely eat it! Sound delicious.
.-= Angela´s last blog ..The Beer Holster =-.
I would totally eat it! This sounds awesome! I’ve never heard of it before. How cool!
.-= Kaitlin´s last blog ..Failure =-.
Hi Gourmetpigs – you should try it, it’s sweet and juicy and oh so good
Hello Angela – Let me know if you ever do
Hi Kaitlin – It is awesome
and very cool
It does remind me of custard apples but scarier looking version, haha! I think it is worth taking a risk for something that tastes great
Common in grannies yards and yummy when ripe, except for the sharp little black bits in between the cream hexagon shapes. Dad’s got me doing research on this as its the only thing that makes his bowels actually work after radiotherapy a few years back. Whatever is in it we think someone should bottle it and get rich quick. Get into it!
WOAH! Look at that! A very interesting fruit indeed. I would definately give it a go; I guess you just have to wait for when they are ripe. I wonder if we would be able to find some around Sydney..
.-= Phuoc’n Delicious´s last blog ..Efendy, Balmain: “Meze Journey to Istanbul” (A Food Blogger Dinner Event) =-.
i have just discovred your blog – wow very nice all around – content, pics, recpes!
i love mid east food (and mediterranean) so i love that about your blog but interesting to learn about food down under! i have linked you! looking forward to more great posts fouad!
.-= heni´s last blog ..Honeyed carrot coconut balls – Mielleuse boules de carotte et noix de coco =-.
How interesting to read the blog from Jane on 10th April. I wasn’t going to bring the subject up, but as a nurse, I think the nursing homes could throw out all their bowel preparations if there were enough monstera deliciosa to go arround. I just love the taste, always have, but they are not easy to come by. As for their poisonous nature, well I probably shouldn’t be here to tell the tale. I’m eating one at the moment and must confess to not being very patient, and stripping off a few scales that definitely havn’t been ready to fall. I didn’t know about their poisonous nature until looking up the fruit to see if I could find out where to get them on a more regular basis. Maybe I have built up an immunity of sorts, because I can never remember just waiting for the scales to fall completely off the section I wanted to eat. I live in Bundaberg, just in case anyone knows a supplier. Thanks, Nancy.
Hi Emily – It is so good. try it if you get the chance
Hello Jane – I am amazed by your dad’s discovery. Hope you make a million
Hey Phuoc – Never seen it in Sydney. I’ll let you know next time I get some
Hi Heni – thanks for visiting and your nice comment. I’m glad you are enjoying the blog. It reminds me why I bother hehehe…
Hi Nancy – It’s only an 11 hour drive to bellingen
I think the fruit is poisonous when it’s really underripe. Not sure at what stage exactly it’s edible, but it’s better to stay safe and wait for the scales to fall off. Tastes better that way anyway 
Thanks for your reply. Have just been researching the oxalic acid that makes the unripe fruit of the monstera deliciosa poisonous. I will be waiting for the scales to come away of their own accord from now on.
I just tasted some of this fruit from our garden that my husband brought in, assuring me it was safe, THEN decided to look it up on google and found your site, – poisonous!! Must say, it was very ripe, opening up, and tastes sensational! Will now have to find ways of using it, I reckon maybe a daquiri!
Cheers
My wife Cas and I had Monster for breakfast this morning, how sweet and delicious, we have it growing as an ornamental plant around our house, the fruit used to go to waste, until some one showed me how to ripen them.
Just pick the fruit and wrap them tightly in newspaper, after about a week you will find on checking them, that the outer covering has began to fall away from the delicious part of the inner fruit, how deliciosa.
I reckon it would make a nice and different jam, or even great icecream, ( recipes please )
I grew up with this in my nans backyard, on the north coast, and thought it was amazing as a kid. Now living in Newcastle my auntie has just given me some off her plant that she was ripping out. The roots are obnoxious and will get into the plumbing i believe, but the fruit is as good as ever. So i think if you ask around the sydney area, someone probably has one in their backyard somewhere.
Never knew these could be poisonous and I’ve been eating these for years. I usually wait till I see the base of the fruit ‘ballon’ on the plant, then pick it. I eat it bit by bit, waiting until the green scales fall off, then eat the fruit that’s revealed, then put it back in the bowl till the next day (sometimes I cheat and take a few more scales off). Takes a couple of days to eat one, but it’s worth it, besides a whole one in one day maybe too much as it’s quite acidic.
My plant has got over a dozen this year, so I’ll be enjoying heaps next year once they ripen.
I’ve also used it to make a ‘beer’ in the same style as I make Ginger Beer. I’m currently consuming my 2nd batch now. Quite delicious!
I’m in Sydney and my neighbours have one that grows over the fence, I picked one the other day and ate away. The most exquisite flavour. A little tingling even when pretty much ripe, but nothing to worry about. Didn’t know about the poisonous aspect when unripe so take care if you are tempted. Wait for the ‘scales’ to fall away easily.
http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/119775/monsterosa-deliciosa.pdf
This site suggests leaving in the dark with short length of base/stem in water to maintain fruit’s hydration, apparently then it will ripen all at once!
Does anyone know if this means you could pick the fruit before any of the scales start to baloon? Curently living on Lower North shore of Sydney, Australia, during short walk around neighbourhood this morning I think I counted about 20 plants all with quite a few fuits each.
Ii love the taste but the only way I have found to eat them is wait until they are really ripe and then use a fork to lift the segments away from the stem. They will slide away and leave those nasty black bits behind.
Just bought one ripened on Saturday from the local markets for only $2. We have just started eating it and WOW!!!! DElicious alright!! so… I thought I’d look it up and find out more. So glad we bought the ripe one!! So yum- would absolutely recommend to anyone wanting to eat something refreshing and yummy!!!
Hello all
I went onto Google and searched in the hope of finding out what the composition of vitamins the monstereo gives us. I am in Brisbane, having brought the plant up from the NSW Mid north Coast 20 years ago, where they grew and produced plentifully. With a wet year in Brisbane mine are producing fruit in large quantities.
I cut them off the plant when the stem starts to bend and bring them inside at room temperature till the little segments start to fall off. Then I put in a brown paper bag and open each day and eat with a fork the ripe fruit. Can also refrigerate at this stage.
Serve the little segments of fruit on top of custard or ice-cream. Delicious.
Oh, and they seem to be a mild natural laxative too. Eating mine in Brisbane now – Feb 2011.
I have these growing across the road from where i work, the fruit is amazing i also live in brisbane and yeah i agree with winsome wrap them in a brown paper bag and eat when the segments fall off, you should get about an inch or so a day. Beautiful!
WOW !
@ Ray Boorn & James – thank you so much for your information on how to ripen these amazing fruits.
I’ve had one for 10yrs and it only fruited for the first time two years ago. Even these are still on the plant unripe and I had started to lose hope that I would ever get to taste one……
I’ve been searching for some time on how to ripen them as they have not yet…. About to raid my newspaper supply
btw – Sydney here
I WIN ! Tried two methods to ripen fruit.
The fruit I put upside down in a glass on top of our fridge ‘bloomed’ today, and we’ve just had our first taste each. UNREAL!
(The other method I used was to place the fruit upright in a glass of water covered with a paper-bag – didn’t have any newspaper.
The smell is sensational and the taste unbelievable.
I cant wait till more are ready to eat and will encourage others to grow the Monstera Deliciosa themselves.
Hello ! They sure beat Epsom salts. No cramping. Delicious. Seem to be around for about 2 months in autumn. If frozen the taste suffers, but the medicinal properties are unimpaired. The best breakfast i ever had..
I have never seen them in shops. Perhaps because once they are ready they don’t wait very long.
Any enterprising chemist outer there ? worth bottling up.
I grew them in Darwin and Q’land and now have four slowly ripening here in Melbourne , can hardly wait as the taste is remarkable if you wait till they are really ready.
You won’t find too many growing wild as people who don’t know anything about them break them off before they are mature and they are subsequently wasted. If you wait for the little petals to fall away from the fruit they won’t cause you to feel like you have thorns in your tongue. They have an exquisite taste and they are not seen in shops too often because no-one knows much about them.
Our monstera deliciosa was an established plant when we came to this house 18 years ago. This year is the first time it has ever produced fruit(due to the extraordinary wet season I suspect). We are in Kingaroy and get very heavy frosts so the plant is decimated each year but bounces back. I noticed the fruit about 6 weeks ago. The petals (hard covering) have fallen off three and are still on two. They are an anaemic yellow colour and about 7 inches in length. When do you remove them and use the ripening techniques mentioned above?
Kate, they usually take about 12 months to mature from the time they appear, so you’ve got a bit of a wait ahead of you. I wouldn’t pick them until next (Sthn hemisphere) Spring. They should soon gradually change colour to the dark green as shown in the picture at the top of this blog. Hopefully they’ll survive next years frosts!
This fruit sucks.
MOre for me Jesse. Actually I think it is an amazing and very tasty fruit.
)
I have a plant too but the fruits don’t ripen – they rot and becommes a pinkish mess! Do the plant have to be male and female to make the fruit ripen. Mine had 4 ‘flowers’ thie season. The first time in 20 years to flower!
Grew up with these on sunshine coast in Parents nursery. If given lots of heavy shade and water this cuts out a lot of the acid as some call it seedless but it has seeds. Only less acid than other dryer plants. If you eat the unripe fruit while it is picked dry the acid is at its peak. Everyone is different but I have only known of 1 person to be unwell with the unripe fruit, but I can eat heaps but being patient is hard. Trying to grow them now here in Rockhampton but unable to get fruit as it is too dry here. Still trying
I grew up with them in Sydney and still have one in the garden – we used to just wait until the hexagonal scales started to loosen, then cut it off the plant and kept it on a plate (to catch the dropping bits), just “forking” off bits as the scales continued to fall. Texture like custard apple, and the flavour always reminded me of Juicy Fruit chewing gum.
The black bits can be a bit ouchy, though.
I had recently been talking to my partner about these divine fruits I hadn’t had in over 30years. We both grew up on the Gold Coast and now live in the South Burnett. The gods must have been listening as a few days later while visiting a friend I spotted a bucket full of fruit. She gave me an unripe one to take home. I returned a few days later & she gave me a plant & a ripe fruit wrapped in newpaper. Who cares about about the slight discomfit I couldn’t stop eating it. Everytime I walked past another row of scales had fallen off. It was the most delicious few hours I spent in a long time : D
Add over-ripe monster fruit to cake mix in place of banana! It is deliciosa
~
I have to try to beat the possums as they seem to know just the right time to eat them
I had a severe allergic reaction to eating that fruit years ago my parents got the fruit from my grandparents I was the only one eho got the reaction had blotches all over my body and was very ill as far as I know we all ate it but I was the only one who had the reaction so I don’t think it is safe to eat!!!
I have a huge plant in my backyard on the mid north coast of NSW, and it has heaps on it. I love them and they are a great “bowel mover”!! if you eat too much at once! I have been looking for somewhere to sell them without any luck – probably because they ripen slowly and aren’t well known. I will try one in a cake – sounds great – thanks for the tip Megz!
Kia ora from New Zealand, We have a huge plant with lots of fruits on it. We had a friend from New Caledonia and he said they are edible, so I tried a little bit. Yep, very delicious (just like banana & pineapple). But I have food allergies, so only take a couple of pieces. Such a shame they go to waste! (I wouldn’t give to anyone as I would be fearful they would have a reaction!!).
Donna Hamilton´s last [type] ..GIRLIE LAMB
The fruit was awesome, the look is strange but worth the try.
The taste is similar to graviola.
Our family just purchased this fruit at our supermarket in Vermont. They have an exotic fruit section and this was new. I noticed this morning some of the skin is falling off…so tonight we get to try it. Thanks for the information on the site!
Had a huge specimen in the hills above Perth , West Australia ,under shade cloth – produced several fruits – Yum yum !! ps Had to cut it back severely or it would have taken over my shade area !Consider that Perth has 40 c dry summers and 15 c wet winters . Not bad for a jungle plant !
[...] a great summary of its growth and how to treat the fruit that I suggest you download their pdf. This blog post is also right on target, describing when and why not to eat it as well as what it tastes like. [...]
I live near Gympie and have monstera growing here. About 80 fruit on it to eat this season. Could be over 100 setting on for next year. Any one live close that we could give some to?