35 Green Fruit Names – Identification, Facts, Photos

Green fruit names can help you easily distinguish between the numerous sweet and sour types available on the market. This is important because growing and eating green fruit is a great way to add nutrients to your diet. We’ve picked out 35 green fruit names that will grow well in containers or vertically, and they’re perfect for courtyards, small gardens, or balconies. You can decide which ones will do best in your area below.

1. Avocados

Along with having a green fruit name, avocados are arguably one of the prettiest green fruits on the market. They look fantastic on the tree, and they come packed with vitamin C, folate, monounsaturated fat, potassium, and other nutrients. These trees will grow best if you’re in a warm, subtropical or tropical climate, but you can also find varieties that do well in cooler climate zones. If you don’t have the space to grow a full-sized avocado tree, you can plant a dwarf variety in a big container on your patio.

Avocados by Jack Kennard / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

2. Breadfruit

Breadfruit is a grapefruit-sized, tropical fruit that has a green leathery skin covering it with bumps, and this is where the green fruit name comes in. When this round green fruit starts to mature, the skin will turn to a greenish-yellow color before going to brown. Breadfruit has pale, soft, and sweet flesh that comes with a surprising starchy texture and a very mild flavor that tastes like a potato. It will get between 4 and 12-inches in diameter.

Breadfruit by Philip Tellis / CC BY 2.0

3. Caribbean Guava

Guava is a green fruit name that grows in an oval or round-shape as a tropical fruit with bright red flesh and deep green skin. When it’s unripe, it’ll be green, like most fruits. As thai fruit starts to mature, the skin can turn red, yellow, or stay the green hue. It can be sour or sweet when it’s mature, and it can get between 1.5 and 4.5-inches long, depending on which cultivar you have.

Guava Pastellilos (Turnovers)-1 by Emily / CC BY-NC 2.0

4. Cempedak

This green fruit name refers to a fruit that is present on a tree. It has a yellowish-green skin with oblong, juicy flesh. The growing season will peak around the middle of June each year. You can eat this fruit ripe, raw, or you can cook it and add it to curry-based dishes to bring out your spices.

Cempedak by umami / CC BY-NC 2.0

5. Chayote

This green-colored fruit looks like a traditional pear, and it is closely related to your squash plants. You’ll get a very thin green skin that covers a white to light green flesh. It has a very mild flavor profile, and many people choose to use it like a vegetable in dishes with simple salt and pepper seasoning. You can bake, mash, stuff, pickle, or fry this vine-growing fruit.

Chayote by Joan Nova / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

6. Cucamelon

This green fruit name is native to Central America, Mexico, and parts of South America. The original name is sandia manzana, and this translates into English as the apple watermelon. When you grow it, you get a cucumber-like shape with bumpy skin that looks very close to honeydew. If you open it, the flesh inside is bright white, and it has embedded seeds. It offers a very sweet taste that is similar to a traditional cucumber with notes of pear and apple.

Cucamelons! By poppet with a camera / CC BY 2.0

7. Cucumber

When people hear cucumbers, they don’t think of a green fruit name. Instead, they believe it’s a vegetable. However, botanically speaking, cucumbers are actually berry fruits that grow on vines. They’re cylindrical, and they have a crisp, light green flesh with a very mild flavor profile. Some cucumber varieties offer a more bitter taste, and most long green cucumbers have slightly ribbed, smooth skin. Short green cucumbers usually have spiky, bumpy skin.

Cucumbers by Jim, the Photographer / CC BY 2.0

8. Custard Apple

The custard fruit or apple is a very odd green fruit name as it’s leathery with a thick and bumpy skin. It loosely looks like a cone-shaped apple. The bumps on the skin look like overlapping scales or knobby warts. However, it’s an edible fruit with creamy flesh that you eat by scooping it out of the skin. If you choose to eat this fruit raw, you have to remember that each individual black seed in the flesh has toxins, so they can be very poisonous.

Custard Apple by Subash BGK / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

9. Durian

Durian is a type of tropical fruit tree that comes covered in brown or green thorny skin. This green, large, spiky fruit can get up to a foot long and weigh anywhere from two to seven pounds. Depending on the cultivar you pick out, the spinked rind will cover the interior flesh and come in red or pale yellow coloring. The scent of this green fruit is very controversial because when some people hear this green fruit name, they say it has a pleasant or sweet smell while others say it smells like rotten onions.

Durian by Karen / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

10. Feijoa

This is a green, round fruit that has smooth skin and grows to roughly the size of an apple. The fruit is juicy, sweet, and sour all at one time. If you travel to New Zealand, you’ll hear this green fruit name mentioned often as it’s native to this area. It’s also called the pineapple guava, and most people won’t eat it raw. Instead, they use it to make jam, juice, or liquor.

Feijoas by Vicki / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

11. Gooseberries

As the name suggests, this is a type of berry that is small with an oval or round shape. It also has a very, very tart taste to it. You can get yellow or red gooseberries, but they’re usually a very light green color with transparent skin. The flesh on these berries is very soft, and they usually have several tiny seeds per berry. It’ll grow on a smaller but very thorny bush, and the berries are ready to go when they’re roughly 0.5-inches in diameter.

Gooseberries by fsse8info / CC BY-SA 2.0

12. Green Apples

Green apples are one common green fruit name that many people know. Some apple types will develop red shades on the skin as they ripen, but there are many apples that stay green when they’re ripe and ready to eat. Generally speaking, you’ll get a very waxy skin with a white, crunchy flesh.

Apples are actually a type of pome that grows on apple trees. Green, round apples usually have a much more tart taste to them than red apple types. Since these apples are much less sweet, a lot of them are ready to eat straight off the tree or popular for cooking uses. The crunchy, fresh flavor you get pairs very well with savory, salty dishes like mature cheese or you can use it to add a fresh taste to a sandwich.

Grannys by Jeremy Brooks / CC BY-NC 2.0

13. Green Grapes

This green fruit name refers to green, small berry fruits that grow in large bunches on vines. Most people refer to green grapes as white grapes. A grape usually has a slightly elongated shape, but you can also find round varieties or ones that are ovoid shaped. The most common types of grapes eaten throughout the United States are the Thompson Seedless variety.

Green Grapes by Quinn Dombrowski / CC BY-SA 2.0

14. Green Mangoes

As a dietary staple in Asican countries, this green fruit name will crop up in candies, ice cream, and juice. This juicy, large fruit comes from the Mango tree, and you get a sour-sweet flavor profile that perfectly balances the juiciness that you get with each bite. The green mango is usually between three to six inches long at full maturity, and you can eat it raw or add it to dishes for texture, flavor, and color.

Green Mango by Philip Roeland / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

15. Green Oranges

Green oranges taste just like traditional oranges do with a slightly tart and sweet flavor. Oranges will develop chlorophyll as they mature on the tree. When the temperatures drop and get cooler, it causes the chlorophyll to die, and this gives you the traditional orange coloring. However, a sudden rise in temperature can turn the skins green, as quickly as overnight. If you were to go to a place near the equator with consistently high temperatures, you’ll see ripe oranges that are green.

Green Oranges by M.G.N. – Marcel ON OF / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

16. Greengage Plums

As the name suggests, this fruit has a greenish hue to the skin. You may hear it referred to as the true medlar, and you will harvest it in September. When you bite into this plum, you’ll get a strawberry-like, fresh flavor, and it’s very common to use it with other fruits like apricots, plums, and peaches. You can find this green fruit name in most stores in the fall months because it’s very popular to use as a base for jellies or jams.

Greengages by su-lin / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

17. Green Star Fruit

This is an exotic green fruit name that comes with five or six very pronounced ridges on the fruit’s edge. It’s usually green before it’s ripe, and it’ll slowly turn a yellow hue as it ripens. The best time to eat this fruit is when it’s yellow with small, faint, green patches on it. However, it’s safe to eat green star fruit when it’s yellow or green. When you cut the fruit into slices, you’ll see a star shape. This is where the name originates from.

Starfruit Fields by Adam / CC BY-SA 2.0

18. Honeydew Melon

Honeydew is a round, large, green fruit that has a pale greenish-yellow skin and a light green flesh that is very sweet. This melon is oval-shaped to round, and it measures roughly six to nine inches in diameter. The inner flesh is very pale, and it surrounds clusters of brownish-yellow seeds that are easy to scoop out.

This fruit also has a much higher water content than a lot of fruit, and water makes up roughly 90% of the fruit’s makeup. This is one of the sweetest melons you can buy, and they don’t have that musky aftertaste that you can get with yellow cantaloupe. You can eat them by themselves, in smoothies, or in fruit salads.

Honeydew2 by Julia Julia / CC BY-SA 2.0

19. Jackfruit

Jackfruit is a very large green fruit with a spiky skin. This tropical sweet green fruit name will grow in big clusters on the jack tree, and it has close ties to the breadfruit we touched on earlier. As it matures, it’ll take on an egg shape that looks like a big mango, and the greenish-yellow color will slowly turn a brown color as it matures. When they’re mature, the fruit is roughly four inches long, and it tastes like bananas or pineapple while giving off a pleasant, sweet scent.

Jackfruit by oinonio / CC BY-SA 2.0

20. Jocote

Jacote is a plant that will produce deep green fruit with big pits in the center. The leaves look very similar to the lime leaf, but they can grow on other trees like sapodilla very easily. The fruit’s flavor will vary, but it’s usually very lightly sweet with soft plum hints. One common way many people choose to eat this fruit is to fry it in bacon grease or oil. You’ll find it eaten throughout Central America and in other tropical regions around the world.

Jacotes by fireskia / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

21. Limes

Limes are citrus fruits that grow in a round shape with a deep green coloring. It offers a very sour taste when you eat it, and they’re usually slightly bigger than a golf ball when they’re ready to eat, measuring 1.2-inches in diameter. The green rind is thin, and it covers the citrus segments that are a light green color. When you compare the taste of limes to lemons, you’ll find that limes come with a more bitter flavor.

Most lime varieties, including Key limes, come with a smooth green skin that will take on a yellow tinge when it ripens. Limes are a very popular pie ingredient or used in Indian cuisine in chutneys.

Limes by Peter Reid / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

22. Marang

This green fruit name refers to a fleshy fruit that has a reputation for having a luscious texture with a very sweet taste. This is the only member of the Ebenaceae family that will grow on small trees or shrubs, and it ends up with a very rich green coloring with a refreshing taste. It’s also a healthy addition to your diet. If you roast the seeds, you can eat them and get a sweet taste too. Once you open the fruit, you have to eat it very quickly or the taste will vanish due to oxidation.

Marang by Zack Lee / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

23. Mexican Sour Cucumber

Even though this green fruit name would leave you to believe that it’s sour, the Mexican miniature watermelon is sweet when it’s fully ripe. This oval, green fruit looks like a small watermelon and only gets as big as grapes. It’s part of the cucurbit family, and this means that it grows on vines. You may hear this green fruit referred to as the Mexican Sour Gherkin, Pepquinos Cucamelon, or Mouse Melon.

Mexican Sour Cucumbers by thebittenword.com / CC BY 2.0

24. Noni

This is a tropical yellowish-green or green fruit that comes in an oval shape with very bumpy skin. Typically, this fruit will measure between four and seven inches long. As it starts to mature, the fruit will give off a very strong odor that smells a lot like mature cheese. When it’s ripe, the flesh has a bitter taste and a stronger smell. When you roast the brown seeds, you can eat them too.

Noni Fruits by Scot Nelson / CC0 1.0

25. Osage Orange

This green, round fruit comes with a very bumpy skin on it. Osage oranges are slightly larger, and they clock in at around baseball size, roughly four to five inches in diameter. The rough surface of this fruit is a greenish-yellow color that encases a yellow, juicy flesh. Although many people claim this type of orange tastes a lot like a cucumber, it’s rarely used to eat.

Green osage oranges aren’t actually related to the citrus fruit. Instead, they’re part of the mulberry family and grow on shrub-like trees. You may hear this green fruit name being referred to as the horse apple or the hedge apple.

Osage Orange by Steve Soblick / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

26. Papaya

Papaya are very juicy, sweet fruits that are very common in people’s diets in tropical regions throughout the world. The most identifiable feature of this green fruit is the skin. You’ll see green stripes with an orange skin, and it has a long history of use as a natural dye for clothing and fabric. You may find some papaya varieties used to make juice or preserve, and you can eat other types fresh. It’s best to eat this fruit during the summer months when it’s in season to get the best taste. In the northern hemisphere, you can find it all year-round in supermarkets.

Papaya by ~jar[} / CC BY 2.0

27. Pears

There are currently thousands of varieties of pearse, and a lot of them come with a green, smooth skin with light red hues and a very distinct shape. Pears usually have a bulging, wide base before it tapers off to the stem end. When your pears are ripe, the flesh is white, juicy, and soft with a very sweet taste. The pear variety you have will determine the flesh’s texture. Pears that are great for poaching will come with a firm, crisp flesh while other varieties seem to melt in your mouth because they’re so juicy and soft. The sweetest green pears are usually Comice pears.

Pears by UnconventionialEmma / CC BY-NC 2.0

28. Persian Limes

In the Persian Gulf region, each summer, lime season kicks into full swing. This green fruit name refers to something much smaller than traditional limes. You can use this type of lime a lot in cooking since the sour flavor will balance out sweeter notes. You can also use it in beverages like iced tea or lemonade, and you can add it to eggs or meat dishes. This green fruit name is also commonly called the true lime.

starr-090224-3528-Citrus_latifolia-fruit-Laulima_Farms_Cafe_Kipahulu-Maui by Forest and Kim Starr / CC BY 2.0

29. Pomelo

This popular fruit tree produces oval-shaped, large fruit that is yellow or orange in color. You may hear it called the tree grapefruit due to the grapefruit-like flavor and the size. It has hard, thick skin with a fleshy pulp on the interior. You can find it growing in tropical climates throughout the world, including in Australia, Africa, and Southeast Asia. It works well as a dessert component because of the citrusy sweet flavor, and you can eat it raw or use it for preserves and marmalade.

Pomelo by Amy Ross / CC BY-ND 2.0

30. Sour Green Plums

These plums are round drupes that have a tart, firm, green flesh that gets covered by a deep green, shiny flesh and there is a white pit. These plums are usually much too sour to eat fresh. So, many people use the green and red varieties to create relishes, sauces, and compotes. You can also add them to stews to get a sour note.

Sour Green Plums by Dan / CC BY-ND 2.0

31. Soursop (Graviola)

Soursop is a tropical fruit with a pear shape that has green, spiny skin that encases juicy, pure white flesh. When you get near this fruit, you’ll get a sweet pineapple-like scent. It tastes like a combination of strawberries and apples with a citrus overtone. They can get up to 12 inches long when they’re ready to harvest. This prickly green fruit is a staple in the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, and tropical areas in South and North America. You can grow them in planting zone 10, or in southern Florida without an issue.

Soursop by Ken Bosma / CC BY 2.0

32. Sugar Apple

Sugar apple is a green fruit that is very sweet. Many people choose to use the juice from this fruit in various dishes, and it’s popular as a topping for cupcakes, cakes, ice cream, and other desserts. It’s a very versatile food choice, and it comes packed with helpful nutrients like beta-carotene, vitamin C, magnesium, iron, potassium, and manganese. It has natural sugars too, so you shouldn’t eat a lot in one sitting.

Hocking’s Green by Conall / CC BY 2.0

33. Sweet Green Oranges

The sweet green orange is a very unusual citrus fruit because it has orange flesh like you’d find in a traditional orange but a rind like a lime has. The thick, bright green skin covers the orange segments. This green fruit name actually refers to a hybrid that tastes like a traditional tangerine. In warmer areas, this fruit will keep the green coloring until they ripen. However, in temperate climates, the rind will turn partially orange and partially green, or they can even be 100% orange.

The Green Garden: Oranges by John ‘K’ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 

34. Ugli Fruit (Jamaican Tangelo)

This green fruit name matches how it looks as it’s a very strange looking option that has a light green, bumpy skin that turns yellow as it gets ripe. It’s roughly the size of a grapefruit, and it has a pear shape. The flesh is very juicy, but it’s more sour than an orange but sweeter than a traditional grapefruit. You may hear this fruit referred to as the Uniq fruit, and it’s a hybrid of the pomelo and tangerine. So, it makes sense that it’s also called a tangelo.

Ugli Fruit by Steve Schroeder / CC BY-NC 2.0

35. Zucchini

Botanically speaking, zucchini is technically a green fruit instead of a vegetable, and it’s popular in savory dishes. This is a green summer squash plant that grows on a vine and has very dark green skin. It can get between 6 and 10 inches long, and you can grill, boil, steam, or bake it.

Zucchini by Ting Chen / CC BY-NC 2.0

Bottom Line

These 35 green fruit names feature both common and uncommon options that you may find in your local grocery store. You can also add many of them to your garden for a touch of interest this spring.