Monstera Plant
I have a couple of large Monstera plants in my back yard. Besides producing gorgeous, huge foliage in dark places in my garden, they also bear some of the tastiest fruit I’ve ever eaten. I suspect that’s why it’s sometimes called the fruit salad plant. The fruit is very sweet and has a definite tropical flavour. It’s been described as a cross between a banana and a pineapple which I think is pretty apt.
Monstera Fruit Still on the Plant
To eat it, you harvest the fruit when the end seed coverings (I’m not sure what that cap is called) start to come loose. It takes about a year for the fruit to ripen on the plant so you can’t be impatient.
Monstera Fruit
It ripens from the base. When the caps come loose, you flick them off then eat the soft seed underneath. When you have reached the end of the easy-to-harvest seeds, you put the fruit in a sack and leave it to ripen further. The fruit ripens over several days and you have to eat it progressively. If you try to wait until the whole fruit is ripe, the bottom pieces will be rotten as the top is ripening.
Monstera Fruit, the first strip is ready for eating
It’s kind of inconvenient to eat, it’s very messy, it leaves a bit of a fuzzy/tingly feel in your mouth and on your lips, and the unripe fruit contains high amounts of oxalic acid. All this makes it seem less than desirable, and no doubt explains why you can’t buy the fruit at your local grocery store – but trust me, it’s worth the hassle.
Laura Rittenhouse's Gardening Journal 
What an amazing plant, really enjoyable post; I am going to see if I can grow this as an indoor plant.
I know it makes a great indoor plant but I wonder if it produces fruit inside. From my experience with edibles I try growing inside, it’s not easy. And since this silly fruit takes 12-18 months to ripen, there’s a lot of time for something to go wrong!
Even if you never get any fruit, it’s still a beautiful plant. Good luck!
Amazing! I am quite familiar with Monstera plants (HaHa) but they are definitely green, indoor foliage plants. It is really quite a surprise to hear about what they really are. It’s as bad as kids thinking milk comes from supermarkets.
I suspect that you might have a different variety. I’m not sure all Monsteras produce fruit but mine sure does!
I think yours will be the same as our ornamentals. It is just such an eye opener for me when I see familiar plants in their original environment.
For some reason my reader isn’t giving me your updates! I thought ‘Laura’s been qiuet lately’ so I came to see what was up. Guess I better manually check now.
That fruit is crazy! I’ve never seen anything like it. How fun!
That’s happened to me a couple of times with some blogs. I had to go into my reader and change the updates to “immediate” (again) rather than “never”. I thought I was doing something stupid so it’s nice to know it’s not just me!
That fruit is crazy – and I think I just might finish it off with breakfast. A nice, sweet treat to go with my muesli.
Wow! Nothing like that here in Wisconsin USA. That looks amazing!
Amazing & tasty!
So fun! Sounds delicious! I’ve never heard of a fruit which you eat as it ripens. 🙂
Yeah, that ripening is kind of strange. The whole house smells sweet for days as we eat our way up the fruit. It’s a wonderful welcome home but if you don’t like the smell of tropical fruit, I can see it would be a disadvantage.
Looks absolutely gross and I don’t know that I have that kind of patience. Oh, yeah, and I don’t live in a tropical climate!
Love the post.
When a neighbour first showed me the fruit and gave me one to take home, I figured she was a bit batty. But believe me, the taste makes up for the grossness. Though I wouldn’t complain if it was a tiny less gross 🙂
I know your part of the world is beautiful with the changing seasons and all, but I’m content with my gross fruit and mild winters.