This Candy Escape in Florida Is a Tropical Fruit Paradise — and It is Simply 1 Hour From Miami

Simply an hour south of Miami, Nora Walsh finds a candyland of tropical fruits ripe for selecting.

Veinte Cohol bananas are a small, fast-growing selection with a creamy texture and citrusy tang. They’re hardly ever discovered exterior of the Philippines. However on the Fruit & Spice Park, a botanical backyard in Homestead, Florida, I got here throughout a small grove of them, able to be picked. 

“We’ve 40 banana varieties,” mentioned Philip Romero, a information on the park. “These are extra flavorful than your typical store-bought Cavendish banana. Everybody loves how petite they’re.”

The Fruit & Spice Park was began in 1944 by Mary Heinlein, a gardener who needed to indicate that the clay-rich soil and local weather on this a part of South Florida — a area generally known as the Redlands — might develop tropical fruits from around the globe.

In the present day the backyard, which is run by the Miami-Dade County parks division, grows greater than 500 types of fruits, greens, spices, herbs, and nuts. And maybe simply as essential, Homestead has seeded a neighborhood of farmers, grocers, restaurateurs, and even winemakers. Positioned about an hour’s drive from downtown Miami, the world is a juicy bazaar for uncommon produce.

I started my fruit loop on a sunny Saturday final spring, zipping across the 37-acre park in an electrical golf cart. Crops are organized by area; Romero and I began within the Americas, pulling as much as an eight-foot-tall Brazilian grape tree, identified for the gumball-size purple berries that develop straight on its trunk. Romero plucked one for me to attempt: it tasted like a grape, however with the tartness of an apple and the spiciness of cinnamon. 

As we wove via the park, Romero continued to level out a staggering number of tropical-fruit crops: breadfruit, carambola, dragonfruit, guava, hog plum, loquat, lychee, monstera, mulberry, papaya, ardour fruit, star apple, tamarind. When the 45-minute tour got here to an in depth, Romero needed me to pattern another factor. First, he gave me a wedge of gamboge, a yellow fruit from Southeast Asia that made my lips pucker. Subsequent, I tasted just a few pink berries native to West Africa, then bit into the gamboge once more. This time the gamboge tasted candy. “That’s why the berries are referred to as Miracle Fruit,” Romero mentioned with a smile. 

With the sweetness nonetheless lingering on my tongue, I drove south towards the Everglades, watching the flat panorama shift from small, family-owned farms to new city homes and gated subdivisions. The agricultural estates that stay — locations like Berry Farm and Paradise Farms — provide guided excursions and promote produce. 

After about quarter-hour of driving, I arrived at Robert Is Right here, a fruit stand began by Robert Moehling in 1959 — when he was all of six years outdated. After I visited, Moehling was certainly there, working the money register as dozens of consumers picked via heaps of mangoes, eggfruit, papayas, and keenness fruit. There have been additionally cabinets of the farm’s house-made sauces, together with wild pineapple salsa, guava jam, and peach butter. 

I chatted with Robert’s son, Brandon, whereas I waited in line for a smoothie made with guanabana, a prickly inexperienced fruit. It tasted like a cross between a banana and pineapple. “We promote about 2,000 milkshakes a day on the weekend,” Brandon instructed me earlier than giving me a slice of mamey sapote, a football-shaped fruit from Central America. It had a milky texture that jogged my memory of cheesecake, and it tasted like pumpkin pie, with a touch of strawberry and cinnamon. “I believe I discovered my favourite new fruit,” I mentioned. 

My last cease for the day was Schnebly Redland’s Vineyard, which makes wine from tropical fruits like guava, ardour fruit, and pineapple. Set on 30 acres, the property has an eclectic mixture of tiki huts, limestone waterfalls, koi ponds, and, at its middle, a plantation-style mansion with a big tasting room. 

There I met the proprietor, Peter Schnebly, at a round oak bar. “One yr, I had 40,000 kilos of avocados I couldn’t ship to a buyer as a result of they have been barely ripe, so I attempted making wine with them,” Schnebly mentioned as he poured me a glass straight from a metal tank. “It’s our second-best-selling wine at present. The wine business didn’t take us critically at first, however now now we have winemakers flying in from France who ship bottles house.” 

We made our solution to the hangar-size brewery, the place Schnebly introduced me with samples of a tough guava cider, a coconut blonde ale, and a spicy mango and habanero wheat beer. I used to be pleasantly stunned. I left the tasting room with a six-pack of guava cider, three bottles of lychee wine, and a newfound appreciation for Homestead’s abundance of unique fruits — and the individuals who develop them. 

Take Your Choose 

The sunny climate and fertile soil of Homestead, Florida, make for a bounty of fruity points of interest. Listed below are some highlights.

Fruit & Spice Park 

A botanical backyard that grows greater than 500 types of vegatables and fruits.

Paradise Farms

A 17-acre natural farm that hosts excursions and dinners.

Patch of Heaven Sanctuary

An ecological reserve that pairs meditative walks with fruit tastings. 

Robert Is Right here

A family-owned fruit and smoothie stand in operation since 1959.

Schnebly Redland’s Vineyard

A vineyard and brewery that ferments tropical fruits.

A model of this story first appeared within the December 2024 problem of Journey + Leisure below the headline “The Candy Spot.”