Mexico is a well-known country in the cooking world for its wide variety of colorful and nutritious fruits and vegetables.

Besides their fruits exports to are also contributing to the world with countless Mexican Fruit Recipes, these recipes are often prepared in top notch restaurants but can be made at home just as easy

In the United States, the importation of Mexican fruits topped at $286 million in 1990 including oranges and orange juice, mangoes, grapes, fresh and frozen strawberries, and limes. Nearly half of the U.S. lime consumption is imported from Mexico.

Mexican Jicama Fruit Salad

• 1 jicama (1 1/4-1 1/2 lb.)
• 1 small cucumber, unpeeled
• 2 cups fresh cubed pineapple (1-inch)
• 1-cup red seedless grapes
• 1 cup mango or papaya, peeled and chopped
• 6 strawberries cut in halves
• 1/8 cup fresh lime juice
• 1/4 cup sweetened coconut, flaked
• 3 tablespoons honey

Combine juice and honey in a bowl. Combine all the fruits and chill at least 30 minutes. Toss honey and juice with fruit before serving.

Mexican fruit recipes can be served with salty meals or used to prepare dessert recipes, but fruits are also the base to prepare shakes and other beverages. Some fruits, like jicama and mango, are commonly consumed alone as healthy snacks, although in Mexico these fruits are commonly sprinkled with pulverized chili, lemon, and salt to taste.

Mexican Sweet Temptation Pineapple
Ingredients

• 1 pineapple
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup rum
• 4 tablespoons butter

• 2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 egg yolks beaten
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Slice horizontal wedge from pineapple, lifting top and removing fruit carefully. Mix rum and sugar. Cut pineapple into small chunks and add the sugar mix. Return fruit chunks to pineapple and top with butter. Cover pineapple with foil and place it on a baking sheet. Bake at 350º Fahrenheit for 20 minutes. Serve warm with chilled custard sauce

Sauce Ingredients

Combine in saucepan milk, salt, sugar, and cornstarch. Cook over low heat for 15 minutes or until smooth and thick. Add to egg yolks small amounts of cooked custard, mixing and pouring into the remaining custard over heat. Cook custard for a few minutes and remove it from heat. Add vanilla and chill.

Mexican Nochebuena Fruits and Vegetable Salad
Ingredients

• 2 bananas sliced
• 2 oranges
• 3 medium beet roots, sliced
• 3 cups shredded lettuce
• 1/3 cup pomegranate seeds
• 1/4 cup chopped peanuts
• 1 can pineapple chunks, (8 oz.)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon anise seeds
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 water chestnuts, drained
• 1 lime wedged

Drain and reserve liquid from pineapple. Separate oranges into sections and place them in bowl alongside sliced beets, bananas, pineapple, and chestnuts. Mix pineapple liquid with lemon juice, 2 tablespoons sugar, and salt. Pour juice over fruit and allow standing 10 minutes before draining well. Place fruit over a lettuce bed, garnishing with peanuts, lime wedges, and pomegranate seeds. Mix 1 tablespoon granulated sugar with anise and sprinkle over salad to serve.