Do you know the latin name? Sound interesting!
If you like that sort of thing, you will really like the roasted seeds of Pachira glabra. If you see that big fruit, grab it and roast the seeds. Really yummy, and meaty enough 
Money tree ? You can eat those fruit ?
We found the walnuts on a trail.
Blog post…
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Australian oranges with the little kangaroo sticker, probably doesn’t narrow it down, were very good this week. White dragon fruit has been really good, as well as passionfruit. Still waiting to see try good sweet crisp persimmons though, last year they were really good.
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Thanks for clearing that up, I was unsure whether they were pulled off the tree early or a different variety. I found dried green mangoes in the family mart. Will have to keep me going until next year.
The dried green mangoes are almost always Tu Manguo, “original mango”. They are more sour and normally have an acid sprayed on them with sugar, salt and maybe other flavor enhancers. They arent the big green skinned with soft sweet flesh variety.
Awesome cheers man. I dont think i have ever seen these here, very cool. A quick google makes me think the ones i had in japan may be a hybrid with yours. Interesting.
Edit. Yes those braided luckytrees ar the same. The roasted seed is eaten (peel the “shell”). The only reason they arent commercially available is cause the growers get a higher price from the nursery market for growing into those little trees. $25 to 30 per jin fresh whole fruit
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Here’s one for “awesome fruits in Taiwan,” as opposed to “Taiwan’s awesome fruits,” found in my local Carrefour Market in Taipei City.
I cannot travel to Japan, but at least I can enjoy some of Japan’s juicy winter mikan.
Guy
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I saw pineapples at the markets today, are they in season now? I cluelessly grabbed one anyway. Persimmons are all but gone, until next year, it was good while it lasted.
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Question: does anyone know what those little brown apple things are called? They look exactly like apples, but only about 4cm across. And brown. Usually only seen on the prepared-fruit stands, not in the market. Some local type of Asian pear perhaps? I’ve never actually eaten one.
Fermented plums ? Fermented zaozi (Chinese dates- it kind of looks like an apple, crunchy like an apple, but not an apple )?
Photo ?
There are many kinds of pears in Taiwan as well but they are usually bigger than you describe…
I just found out they’re called 鳥梨, “Lindley’s Pear”. I’ve been here for years, seen them occasionally, and never got around to even trying them.
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Again on awesome fruits in Taiwan (and not Taiwan’s awesome fruits): summer fruits from down under are now available, for those with the means to pay for their hefty freight charges to get them here. Valuing my health and culinary pleasure more than my bank balance, I picked up some New Zealand cherries yesterday. They are excellent! 
I also spotted at City Super some imported cherries from Australia—the first time I’ve seen this, as the usual suspects at this time of year are from Chile and, in lesser quantities, NZ. Has anyone tried them?
Guy
I asked a hawker in Zhudong about them, because they were selling them like toffee apples but three to a stick, and had been for many years. They seemed to be saying that the little ones are the wild progenitor of all the large cultivars. It just so happened there was a big tree that produced those tiny round pears the other side of the levee in the riverside park outside our front door. I remember it flowered very early in the year. I just checked my photo from two years ago and it was flowering on 1st January.
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Yeah, after doing a bit of research they appear to be something like crabapples - if you cook them up with sugar I guess they taste nice, but not otherwise. I’ve also discovered there are bigger cultivars available. I have a thing for unusual fruit (I grow all sorts of weird stuff) and I’m thinking about adding this to my collection.
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I recall you once mailed me a valuable piece of turmeric root, which was much appreciated! Funny, you can get it by the bushel at the market now.
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I don’t know why, but it was pretty unusual at the time, and now it isn’t. I have no idea what the locals use it for - I thought it was more a S.E.Asian ingredient.
It’s perceived/been heavily promoted as having health benefits.
Ah, I should have guessed 
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I’m enjoying it while it lasts