All Exotic Fruits Explained

From a fruit that literally breaks down raw meat, to a berry that rewires how your taste buds work for up to an hour — these aren't exotic curiosities. They're some of the most widely eaten foods on earth, and most people don't know half of what's going on inside them.

In this video: papaya's meat-dissolving enzyme, why dragon fruit only gets one night to be pollinated, what passion fruit actually has to do with religion, the segment-counting trick inside mangosteen, why fresh lychee almost never leaves Asia, the Brazilian tree that fruits directly from its bark, what coconut water actually is at a biological level, and the West African berry that makes lemons taste like candy.

We break down the science, the history, and the food culture behind 18 fruits from across the tropics — including ones you've probably walked past in an Asian grocery store without knowing what they were.