This is another Top Five/Bottom Five I must have done on my old blog? I was sure I’d done it here, but can’t find it.
Time to fix that!
In general, I like most types of fruit. I’m narrowing it down into a Top/Bottom, but that means things I genuinely enjoy—like watermelon (with salt) and deliciously crisp apples—don’t make the cut.
TOP FIVE
- Raspberries. The perfect blend of tart and sweet.
- Fresh cherries. So good!
- Peaches. A perfect peach is nearly impossible to beat (though they can be hit-or-miss).
- Strawberries. When they’re good, they’re next-level amazing (watery or tasteless strawberries are such a disappointment).
- Bananas. The humble banana deserves more love, especially when paired with peanut butter on toast. Plus, banana chocolate chip muffins are delicious.
Bonus: apples, watermelon (with salt), crunchy grapes.
BOTTOM FIVE
- Cantalope. Yuck. Not my thing. I will never reach for cantalope if there is any other fruit handy.
- Blackberries. Too tart, too many seeds.
- Seeded grapes. A good grape can be delicious, but seeds ruin the whole experience.
- Pineapple. I love pineapple, but sadly it doesn’t love me back (instant stomach ache).
- Grapefruit. Just…no. (Though I weirdly enjoy grapefruit-flavoured things.)
Bonus: kiwi.
Your turn.
- What are your Top 5/Bottom 5 fruits?
- Any grapefruit loyalists out there—how much sugar do you need to make it edible?
- What’s the strangest fruit you’ve ever tried?
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Watermelon with salt? I need to try that!
I love banana, too. And I share your dislike for grapefruit – it feels like a punishment.
I love blueberries, mixed with yoghurt and flaxseed. I could live off the stuff!
And mango, especially the ones we get in South Africa. They are so good that people often eat them like apples – with the skin and all.
My least favourite is litchi – the taste, the texture, everything just feels so off!
I love, love, love watermelon with salt. Without salt, watermelon is just a Meh for me.
I find mango get stuck in my teeth and that drives me a bit batty; mostly, I just don’t like preparing them. So being able to eat them WITH THE SKIN sounds life changing.
I’ve never had litchi/lychee before…!
My top 5:
–Grapefruit. I used to hate it, but I was tempted to try some when in Florida, and I love it. I have one nearly every day.
–Raspberries. Frozen raspberries stirred into oatmeal, with some sweetener and yogurt–chef’s kiss.
–Clementines. They fit perfectly in my lunchbox and are so good in season.
–Watermelon. In season, I can’t get enough. And it’s actually very good for you!
–Lemons. Only because they work so well in so many recipes. I use lemon in blueberry and mulberry pie, and lots of lemon in my homemade hummus.
Bottom 5:
–Kiwi. Rarely have I gotten a very good kiwi, and then there is the fuzzy fruit. I know they’re supposed to be very good for you, but they’re a pain.
–Cantaloupe. UGH. That is all. My kids all like cantaloupe, so I’d buy it–and once we even grew our own–but it has the worst smell and texture. Same goes for honeydew and muskmelon (who even NAMED that last one? Musk. Ugh.)
–Bananas. In theory I like bananas; I keep them on hand frozen for my kid’s smoothies (he has braces), and I use them to make soft-serve and popsicles, but they are so finicky. I only can eat a banana without any spots of brown on it–after that, they are only fit to be baked or frozen for recipes. I also tend to get headaches if I eat too many.
–Certain apples. Red Delicious and Golden Delicious are mis-named. I prefer the apples with some flavor.
–Kumquats. I don’t trust them.
We LOVE frozen raspberries in our oatmeal.
A good clementine is delicious! They can be hit-and-miss, but a good one is so delicious, especially this time of year. They feel very festive to me.
I don’t like honeydew or cantaloupe. Blergh.
I also HATE red delicious apples. Honeycrisp, Gala, Sweet Tango = good. The rest are all meh or downright not good to me. Red Delicious is my least favourite though.
I find kumquats forgettable and not very tasty. Maybe I’ve just never had a good one???
I join you in the pineapple stomach ache. Seeded grapes are garbage!
I actually like grapefruit, but I almost never buy it. Same with most other citrus, I find that the quality is too hit or miss. My go to is having SEEDLESS red grapes on hand at all times.
Agreed that seedless is key for grapes.
I don’t know if I’ve ever purchased a grapefruit. But the lady I boarded with in university used to have them on hand sometimes and she has special cutlery to eat them and everything!
I don’t love the melon family. I mean, I would eat it if that was the only fruit available. But I don’t love it. I would never buy a melon, and that includes watermelon. Sure, if someone sliced it up and gave me a piece I would consume it.
I eat Concord grapes right off the vine, living here, and there are seeds. I just eat the seeds. That’s got to be good for the old intestines!
It’s the texture of the seeds that I just… *shudder*
I feel like I should slice them up in salad, where I’m expecting all sorts of different textures?!
Weirdly, I’m not a big fruit eater! I love a good, crisp apple. Berries are hit or miss for me- I love them when they’re good, but sometimes they’re sour or mushy. My son LOVES mango, and sometimes when I cut one up for him I’ll eat a little, and it’s so good (as long as it’s not a stringy one!!!) I guess that’s my problem with fruit- it can be so good, or so disappointing. Oh and I love pineapple- it doesn’t give me a stomachache but it irritates the inside of my mouth.
I hate preparing mango so I never really consider it as an option for favourite fruit. I mostly avoid it!
And YES. Good fruit can be an out-of-this-world experience, but it can also be positively dreadful. Plus, it’s expensive. So I always feel pressure to find good fruit but, of course, looks can be deceiving! I also think it depends where you live. Apples are pretty good where I live because we live in a part of the world that is known for apples. But citrus fruit can be very Meh.
Top 5: Raspberries (lifelong fave of mine), Cherries, Peaches (but only one month in summer from local orchard), golden kiwi, Cosmic Crisp apples
Bottom 5: Bananas (I can only eat if they’re green), Cantaloupe (used to taste much better when I was a kid), Oranges, Figs, Pineapple (I dislike the last three due to their texture)
Weirdest I’ve tried is probably Durian, which I didn’t think was bad at all. Another weird one is Starfruit, which is a waste of time and money!
Golden kiwi…hmm. Don’t think I’ve ever heard of/hate that?
GREEN Bananas? Though I used to like to eat very underripe pears, but now I can’t stand them that way!
Fun Question!
Rainier cherries are my favorite fresh fruit. I would probably also be happy to eat a jar a maraschino cherries too. (Because I have the tastes of a kid).
I agree with you about good strawberries and peaches! They rock!
I loathe pineapples, grapefruit, and any kind of orange. Also coconut. Is coconut a fruit?
Bananas must be green, ripe ones will get tossed or made into banana muffins. When life gives you mushy bananas, turn them into yummy carb filled treats, right?
I love sweet cherries, but I cannot STAND maraschino cherries. My mom used to use them a lot when I was a kid and I hated them.
What a great question…is coconut a fruit??
Another green banana fan. I like mine with just a handful of spots. It needs to be sweet, but not too mushy. Once they’re brown – game over. But I love banana muffins, so everyone wins 🙂
I could eat my weight in watermelon. We experimented this past summer to see if they’d grow in our garden setup, and they did – we just missed the correct time to pick them, so the chickens got them. (They might love watermelon more than me, LOL!). So we are going to grow more + a different kind that will be easier to tell ripeness next year and I am so excited! 😀
Raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries – I am a berry eating girl.
I fell in love with fresh cherries this year.
And within the last few months, I’ve actually started eating grapefruit! I always hated it, but something changed and I’ve been able to eat them in my fruit bowls now.
Hated fruit: bananas. Absolutely cannot stand even the smell of them, LOL. Kiwi is also just ick. Honeydew is just weird to me, and I don’t do mango or passionfruit or those type flavors either.
Good watermelon is a delight and I can eat SO MUCH OF IT.
Passionfruit just looks so weird and slimy, but I love the flavour in things like sparkling water…
Fun question! My top 5 fruits are strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, cherries, and dates. The Medjool dates at Costco are my favorites. My bottom 5 fruits are coconuts (I looked it up, and yes, they are fruits. And even the smell of coconut turns my stomach.) cantalope, pears, seeded grapes, and blackberries. The Costco triple berry blend has those big woody blackberries, and I can’t stand them!
You answered the question! Hooray. I don’t mind coconut in something but I don’t like when it’s the “star” of the show. Like a chocolate bar filled with coconut. ICK.
Blackberries are too tart and seedy for my taste!
I do not like much fruit, so this will be short.
1) Tart apples. Pink lady and granny smith’s!
2) mild apples- Gala, a orchard picked red delicious,.mackintosh.
3) banana
4) mandarin oranges. They’re in season now and I can eat two in a row.
5) grapefruit as a treat. With sugar. Because I have the palate of a five year old.
Bottom five: mango, pear, sour grapes, raisins, prunes. Any fruit that’s too juicy or too sticky displeases me.
I do enjoy a good mandarin orange this time of year!
I eat my grapefruits with some honey drizzled on.
I’ve never heard of this before, but it makes sense!
I love berry season – raspberry, strawberry, blueberry. Love cherries and I do like cantaloupe.
I do not like blackberries, honeydew and can’t get near a fresh grapefruit, although I do like the flavour in canned water.
The most interesting fruit I’ve eaten is jackfruit – it has a bit of a rubbery texture and to me tasted like cantaloupe.
I’ve never had jackfruit! Your description of it is not making me want to try it 🙂
Top Five 1) Cherries (by far my favorite) 2) Blueberries 3) Raspberries 4) Grapes (I mean, mostly because they are they only edible fruit for about six months of the year) 5) Oranges
Bottom Five 1) Bananas (I do not like the texture and they are SO MANY calories for like three bites) 2) Apples (I have bad teeth and they are very hard to eat) 3) Watermelon (texture and it tastes like nothing – of course you have to add salt or you might as well drink a glass of water) 4) Pineapple (do I need to mention it’s a texture thing?) 5) Kiwi
I think we have learned that I am a snot about mushy and stringy fruits!
Cherries are SO GOOD.
It is insane how many calories are packed into a little banana. That’s why I can make banana muffins and add like no sugar. They are soooo naturally sweet!
Hey, the palate likes what it likes!
Oh, I love a divisive top 5 / bottom 5! They really make me think about myself, haha. Like, why do seeded grapes give me the ick but I love in season cherries so much? Or, why do I have a preference for crisp red apples over green? PS: salted watermelon and feta my favorite summer breakfast!
I think the pit in cherries is so firm and so the cherry sort of slides off of it, but a seed in a grape is IMPOSSIBLE to eat around.
Salted watermelon twins for the win <3
So agree with you on cantaloupe! It always reminds me of a mediocre hotel breakfast buffet.
Right? I find it either super tasteless and hard, or it’s sickly sweet and soft. Blergh.
Is this the most difficult Top 5 / Bottom 5 you’ve ever done, Elisabeth?!?! It might be!!!
Let’s see, Top 5: 1. Definitely raspberries. 2. Mango. 3. Blueberries. 4. Apples, because they are so versatile. 5. Plums. But I also adore kiwi fruit and strawberries. And I really enjoy citrus fruits; although I don’t really, like, eat limes or lemons I use them to flavor things all the time. Give me ALL the citrus fruit. I also love grapefruit, as a flavor and as a breakfast food. I buy a lot of seedless grapes and enjoy them; interesting that they aren’t on my top five. I love pomegranates but they are such a pain to eat that they can’t be in the top 5. Cherries are good, too.
Bottom 5: Of course my number one most hated fruit is a tomato, but that is a botanical fruit and I sense you are discussing culinary fruits in this post. 1. Bananas – I hate everything about them. You can have my lifetime allotment of bananas and oatmeal, Elisabeth. 2. MELON. I do not like melon of any kind. 3. Raisins. NO THANK YOU. Actually, the only dried fruit I like is dried cranberries, everything else is a yuck. 4. Anything (besides kiwi, strangely) with fuzz, like peaches or apricots. 5. Tropical fruit, like guava or papaya. Pineapple is okay, though (and, obviously, mango).
I LOVE tomatoes, but I will admit I wasn’t considering “veggies” fruits.
I love oatmeal and bananas, too. When you come to visit me, I know three things to strike from the menu.
I LOVE a good raisin. But I HATE dried cranberries. But then I dislike cranberry in just about any form.
Well, not sure if I’ve ‘splained my situation here, but I grew up without eating much fruit – like hardly any. My mom was a picky eater, and after a sister puked up a banana she had to eat – my mom opted to never make us eat anything. So, I’ve not been exposed to a ton of fruit. For instance, I’ve NEVER eaten a fresh peach. I like canned peaches. (I’m trying to envision your facial expression right now). I hate bananas, but I’m not opposed to the flavor or baked banana bread. (GF) I hate cantaloupe and I really don’t like watermelon at all. To me it tastes like water with a tiny weird fruity flavor infused.
I love strawberries and raspberries and cherries (just ate my first fresh cherry this summer, but love black cherry yogurt, etc). I like red grapes. My mom did buy green grapes growing up, and I tired of them. I love Honeycrisp apples, but don’t eat them often because it’s not recommended for my SIBO. I like blueberries if they are mixed in my oatmeal or yogurt, but I do NOT like eating straight blueberries. Bake them in a muffin? Yes, please.
Our kids love fruit and they eat a wide variety.
I hope you make one of your goals for 2026 to try a fresh peach. A good one is SUCH A DELIGHT!
I don’t tend to enjoy blueberries on their own, but in a fruit salad or with cottage cheese, YUM!
I love good strawberries, good cantaloupe, good grapefruit. All will break your heart if you don’t get a good one. The one that breaks my heart the most often, though, is apricots. They can be SO GOOD, but usually are either under or over ripe. Sob. I only get really good cantaloupe maybe once a year, always at the Farmers Market. I’ve never had a good one from the grocery store, so I’m not surprised that you don’t like them. Come to California in late August, and we’ll go to the Farmer’s Market and get a good one and see if that changes your mind or not. (It may not, of course.)
I love watermelon both with salt and without. I don’t like sugar on my grapefruit. Raspberries are really pretty good even when they’re not at their best, so they win. Blah on blackberries, I don’t care for them. I went to a farm stand once where I was told the blackberries there would change my mind, but no, they still tasted like blackberries. (Yeah, you may not even like California cantaloupe in season…)
I’ve never had a fresh apricot (but I do love dried ones).
I think that’s what I like the most about raspberries: they rarely disappoint. Most other fruit will. I think raspberries (and bananas) are the least risky fruit out there.
I LOVE watermelon, have always HATED pineapple and maraschino cherries.
About grapefruit: keep your eyes open for something that looks like grapefruit but is called Mello Gold or Oro Blanco (2 similar varieties). They are sweet sweet sweet and might be my favorite citrus fruit. No, wait, that is a Washington navel. Wait, no, Sumos are out of this world!
I almost don’t eat fruit at all any more because of the sugar. It breaks my heart. I wonder if I am “pre-diabetic” because I wore out my pancreas in my youth, living on fruit, bread, and cheese (and peanut butter, of course).
Maraschino cherries are definitely a yuck for me (but my kids always liked getting them at the bottom of a Shirley Temple!)
A Washington Navel? Mello Gold?? Never heard of these things. Maybe only in California???
I’m sorry you aren’t able to enjoy fruit anymore. It is delicious, but definitely a challenge for someone struggling with their sugar/insulin levels 🙁
Phil hates all melons! I’ve made fruit salad 2 times in the last couple of weeks and always included cantaloupe. To be fair, he bought one of the cantaloupes. He just eats around it.
Top 5:
– raspberries
– cherries
– watermelon
– blueberries
– perfectly ripe, sweet strawberries
Bottom 3:
– seeded grapes. Hate them!
– red delicious apples. Why are these still grown? Who eats them?
– plums – great in theory but messy to eat with all the dripping of juice
I can’t come up with any more fruits I don’t like. It’s hard to even list something I like a bottom fruit!
Seriously – WHO EATS RED DELICIOUS?? Ugh.
You are so funny!
I have a banana daily, and if I see that my daily ration is unavailable, I declare: Must.Go.To.Banana.Store ASAP! (Grocery store)
I used to love grapefruit (with just a little sugar), but I haven’t had it in years.
I can eat cantaloupe if it’s perfectly ripe. I rarely buy it, but I will have it if it’s served to me. 🤣 BTW: I call it “Can’t-Elope, because I’m married”
Can’t-Elope. That is hilarious. There have to be some good meme’s about this, right??
I have a friend who says that every day is better if it involves a banana 🙂
Waaait a minute – how can blackberries have too many seeds but not raspberries? They’re both on my meh list because of that. Also because if you get a sour black- or raspberry, it’s more shocking to the system than, say, a tasteless strawberry. 🙂
I find the seeds in blackberries so much bigger!!!???
LOL. Ok. I’ll buy that for now. 🙂