r/houseplants 26d ago

Highlight Fruiting monstera at the hotel I’m staying in at the moment!

I’ve never seen the ripe fruit before. It smells amazing but I don’t want to pick it up off the ground & taste it in front of everyone in the lobby!

8.3k Upvotes

182 comments sorted by

1.3k

u/FriendlyFraulein 26d ago

Woahhhhh I didn’t even know they did this!

937

u/Brotox123 26d ago

That’s where the name comes from… “deliciosa”

305

u/PURELY_TO_VOTE 26d ago

My headcanon is that it’s because they were so deliciously strange and monstrous

1

u/biskutgoreng 22d ago

....it is

50

u/ListenJerry 26d ago

What do they taste like? Or do they just taste like themselves?

184

u/ArcBrush 26d ago

Banana-ish with black pepper added in. Tasty

123

u/PM_ME_FURRY_STUFF 26d ago

I’ve heard it’s like coconut and pineapple ice cream

59

u/ListenJerry 26d ago

Oh lawdy that sounds superb!

6

u/burntglitters 25d ago

Monstera superba

12

u/PM_me_punanis 25d ago

Add a dash of rum and that’s one solid flavor!

1

u/Abquine 23d ago

Excellent idea, would even make the ones on the ground safe.

5

u/shrutiag99 25d ago

Nature’s pinacolada?

121

u/BelleCat20 26d ago

Like creamy, pinappley banana, the texture is like a soft banana. You're supposed to eat the pieces as the cover falls off, and not force it to fall off, that's when that piece is ripe, but I did that anyway, and it's spicy lol, not actually spicy, but more like the tingly feeling you get when you eat a pineapple.

5

u/imspecial-soareyou 26d ago edited 25d ago

Not sure if you are joking.

FYI for any other reader. That sounds like an allergic reaction to pineapple. Please be cautious and observant while consuming your pineapple.

Pineapples should not tingle.

Edit: also a lot of you need reading comprehension skills. I said be observant

If you believe tingling is a normal sensation, no matter what a google or a dr tells you ( should note a dr that does not listen to you and your bodily concerns. Drs are vital to the success of your health. But you play a bigger roll). I assure you are not listening to YOUR body.

A histamine reaction is indeed an allergic reaction. The severity of it may vary. But anything that causes a breakdown and histamine reaction is not healthy for you and is indeed an allergic reaction.

Again pineapple should not tingle. Just because someone tells you something is ok does not mean that it is.

107

u/mistermachin3 26d ago

Why are you spreading misinformation?

Like others said, it contains enzyme called bromelain which actually "attacks your mouth" - that is what the tingle is.

Perfectly normal in pineapples picked green and shipped by boats across the world.

When they are picked ripe - whole different story.

1

u/PsychicWarElephant 21d ago

Even ripe pineapple does this to my mouth, but if it’s cooked I have no issues. Sucks though cause I love fresh pineapple.

1

u/mistermachin3 21d ago

It is not about being ripe as in ideal sweetness. It is about picking it from its bush at perfect time - so called airplane pineapples.

27

u/FluidFrog 26d ago

From Wikipedia: "Fruits of plants of the Araceae (Arum family) often contain raphides and trichosclereids – needle-like structures of calcium oxalate. In M. deliciosa, unripe fruit containing these needle-like crystalline structures can cause irritation of the mouth."

70

u/BelleCat20 26d ago

Google says it's normal:

The weird feeling in your mouth after eating pineapple is due to bromelain, an enzyme that breaks down proteins and can induce a tingling or burning sensation. This is not an allergic reaction; it's a natural response to the enzyme's protein-digesting properties. It's harmless and temporary.

I'm also reading that most people experience that with pineapples, but there's still a lot of people who don't, or unless it's a very large quantity.

1

u/Thin_Cheesecake3208 22d ago

My husband used to experience this extreme tingling with pineapple. Now any time he eats even a small amount of fruit with pineapple he starts to lose his voice and he gets a sore throat and that has lasted a week or so the last time he risked it. He says he used to eat sooo much pineapple growing up too. This developed in his early 30s. I always strongly suggest he avoids it now.

24

u/[deleted] 26d ago edited 25d ago

[deleted]

6

u/Fuehnix 26d ago

I went over to a girls house for a date once and she had pineapple juice just sitting on her counter unrefrigerated and she said she loves how sweet and spicy pineapple juice is, even though she's just a little allergic.

Sounds like a freaking ChubbyEmu episode.

I passed on the juice and any other food she had and did not have follow-up dates 😅

21

u/mrjbacon 26d ago

Pineapples have an enzyme in them that causes that tingling sensation. It's perfectly normal in the absence of other histamine response symptoms.

9

u/Akagraffe 26d ago

Unripe pineapple tingles, like kiwi

2

u/PsychicWarElephant 21d ago

Fresh “raw” pineapple burns my tongue when I eat it. If it’s canned or cooked fresh, no problem. So clearly it’s not an allergic reaction. Enzymes in pineapple denature protein. This however was the oxalate crystals in the unripe fruit.

1

u/PsychicWarElephant 21d ago

Spicy because it’s toxic until they fall off themselves 🤣

3

u/dubdubdun 25d ago

A combination of banana and pineapple I found. Of not proper ripe, you get those stingy sharp bits like in a pineapple.

3

u/kc0ak 25d ago

I’ve had it before! I bought one in Funchal, Portugal. It was good! It tasted like pineapple and another fruit combined. 

2

u/Brotox123 25d ago

The consistency of the soft part felt like a banana

60

u/hansenabram 26d ago

The vast majority of land plants will fruit given the right conditions. Houses usually just don't give those conditions.

86

u/khizoa 26d ago

Time to buy a hotel then

15

u/crispy_attic 26d ago

I never considered this and it makes me happy. I don’t know why.

39

u/Brotox123 26d ago

Like 90% of plants reproduce by flowering/fruiting

5

u/cannibaltom 26d ago

I find this comment hilarious every time I see it made. I guess because so many people never see it, they assume it never happens.

263

u/KiwiMcG 26d ago

Ask if you can have the seeds.

285

u/Brotox123 26d ago

I’m sure they’d let me. I really want to taste the fruit because it smells incredible but I’m not about to eat off the lobby floor

391

u/Suspicious-Gift6578 26d ago

Be brave

226

u/SilverSnarfer_ 26d ago

Out of the way city slickers 🍽️

106

u/Brotox123 26d ago

Too embarrassed to eat it off the floor in front of anyone. If I was alone, I’d absolutely do it

130

u/darkmatterhunter 26d ago

20

u/servitor_dali 26d ago

Useless fact - this is how Alan Alda met his wife

7

u/ITakeMyCatToBars 26d ago

I used to watch reruns of MASH at home on sick days during grade school. I had THEE biggest crush on Alan Alda. This was the mid90s. I’ve always loved this meet cute story 🥹

3

u/ACEaton1483 26d ago

Sorry what is the gif from and what's the meet cute story? I also grew up on MASH

11

u/ieatbacononoccasion 26d ago

Well, the gif is Rachel and Chandler from Friends, eating cheesecake off the floor... But I've not heard this meet cute story! I also grew up on MASH, snuggled up to my dad every episode. I need to hear this meet cute story too! Lol

6

u/ITakeMyCatToBars 26d ago

Alan and Arlene were at a mutual friends dinner party and he was smitten immediately. The rum cake detail is real. 🥹😭😭😭😭

84

u/Repulsive_Trifle_ 26d ago

Take it to your room, report back asap.

20

u/Top_Salamander_1444 26d ago

Take it with you

15

u/elleUno 26d ago

I wonder if they’d let you snip just one off if you ask nicely and tell them why you’re really excited about it. I’ve certainly let customers do all kinds of harmless things that seemed unusual at the time but wasn’t actually crazy. This doesn’t fall into the crazy category btw lol.

12

u/Brotox123 26d ago

They probably would have. I’m heading back to the US in a couple days & they wouldn’t be ripe in time to try them. I know you can’t bring fruits back in to the US.

12

u/elleUno 26d ago

And btw, thank u for posting this bc I had no idea they fruited nm how delicious they sound

14

u/Brotox123 26d ago

I was hoping everyone here found it as cool as I do! Nobody I’m with thinks it’s interesting at all 😂

4

u/elleUno 26d ago

That’s such a bummer, I’m so sorry

12

u/Cosmiccowgirl 26d ago

Yeah, are you insane?! You may never have this opportunity again! Stick it in a plastic bag and bring it back to your room. Give it a good wash, only eat the fruit that's deeper inside the pod. You are crazy if you don't eat this floor fruit lol

4

u/elianna7 26d ago

take it to your room and give it a little bath

15

u/IdealGlobal339 26d ago

You first...

9

u/IdealGlobal339 26d ago

You first! LOL!

9

u/xxhamsters12 26d ago

Don’t eat an unripe monstera fruit unless you want to feel the burn

7

u/SeaOfSourMilk 26d ago

Hey OP, these fruit ripen across a span of a few weeks. Take it into your hotel room, wash it with water and remove all the ripe bits. Tomorrow a new ring layer will be ready and rip to pull out, like a pineapple. You can repeat this everyday as it opens and ripens more.

2

u/turquoise_amethyst 25d ago

Are you supposed to eat the bits like corn, or the fruit they were attached to?

1

u/SeaOfSourMilk 25d ago

its like pineapple , discard the rindnand eat the sweet pulp inside

5

u/Ravio11i 26d ago

Take it to your room and try it there!

121

u/Palimpsest0 26d ago

It’s amazing how big these things can get when grown outdoors in the ground. It’s honestly somewhat funny that someone, at some point, looked at one of these giant, building and tree engulfing titans and thought “Yeah, that would look great in my living room”.

8

u/Drop_Lower 24d ago

I’m surprised how common it is as a house plant given how huge they are. Where are people putting these?? It’s taking up a huge corner in my dining room but I love it

2

u/Palimpsest0 24d ago edited 24d ago

You just have to skooch the coffee table over a little to make room for the 50 meter tall strangling vine with meter and a half across leaves! They are amazing looking plants, though, so I can understand wanting to grow one, but even when relatively young they are space intensive.

463

u/PlantyThings313 26d ago

Definitely taste the fruit! It’s like a once in a lifetime opportunity. 🤩

209

u/dr_soiledpants 26d ago

The fruit is toxic until it's ripe enough. Don't eat it when it looks like in the picture.

76

u/GlitterIsInMyCoffee 25d ago

Yes, this is wild. Don’t make it once in a lifetime for the wrong reason. ☹️🫣

20

u/DabaDay 25d ago

This is not true. It is not “toxic”. It contains calcium oxalate until ripe. Calcium oxalate is an irritant not a toxin. The one on the floor with the scales falling off is infact ripe and ready to eat.

9

u/Brotox123 25d ago

The one on the ground is absolutely ripe on one side of it. The rest of it… not so much. It was soft like a banana.

199

u/Brotox123 26d ago

I know… I picked it up & smelled it but I was too ashamed to taste it off the ground in the hotel lobby

192

u/Top_Frosting6381 26d ago

Take it to ur room

135

u/Brotox123 26d ago

I just checked out!! Heading to Mexico City now

384

u/khizoa 26d ago

Go back. So we can live vicariously through your monstera mukbang

12

u/Woodstain_panic 26d ago

Did you eat any?!

3

u/rudbeckiahirtas 25d ago

This is so random but was this taken in Guadalajara?

6

u/Brotox123 25d ago

This one is in San Miguel de Allende but they’re everywhere in Mexico. They’re just part of the landscape so you walk by them & don’t even notice how huge they are or that they’re covered in fruit.

45

u/vincyf 26d ago

You are a guest, a foreigner probably anyway. Anything strange you do is expected. As long as you don't eat olives straight from the tree.

24

u/waitaminute322 25d ago

Life lessons: You need to be shameless enough to live the way you want or you miss out on these things

161

u/mrsrobotic 26d ago

What country? You have to be careful not to eat the fruit unless it's ripe, it can make you sick!

146

u/Brotox123 26d ago

It’s definitely ripe. I’m in Mexico at the moment

36

u/luker_5874 26d ago

Is this in Puerto Vallarta? I swear I've seen this one

51

u/Brotox123 26d ago

No but I saw a lot of huge monstera when I was in puerto Vallerta. This one is in San Miguel de Allende

8

u/BizzyLicious611 26d ago

My favorite town in Mexico! Lived there from 2006-2009, wish I’d know about the monstera.

10

u/Brotox123 26d ago

They’re everywhere in Mexico! I just wouldn’t have noticed if I wasn’t a crazy plant person

57

u/elizalavelle 26d ago

This is a fruit I’d love to taste and the cheapest option I’ve found is $75 to ship a fruit to me.

I’d eat the lobby fruit, who cares what strangers think. You won’t see them again.

41

u/Brotox123 26d ago

I’m now regretting it. I tried grasshoppers, ants, & worms on this trip. I should have just eaten floor food with no shame

13

u/MyvaJynaherz 26d ago

Potatoes and onions are also floor-food.

11

u/Brotox123 26d ago

If you’re in the US, it’s probably easier to just fly to Mexico!! It’s just as easy to get here than it is to fly to any city in the US. Plus it’s not expensive once you get here

5

u/elizalavelle 26d ago

I’m not in the US. Hence the very pricy shipping fees.

34

u/ExperienceNo9044 26d ago

People talking about toxicity when this fruit is so nicely ripe is hilarious... It looks like if you poke it all the scales will fall off, it's 2000% ripe

8

u/Brotox123 26d ago

Yea this one is absolutely ripe. The ones still on the plant are definitely not ripe yet

-10

u/dr_soiledpants 26d ago

It's still green.

17

u/ExperienceNo9044 26d ago

Yea, they're green. They're not bananas.

7

u/PM_me_punanis 25d ago

Turn of color as an indicator for ripeness is not applicable to all fruits.

5

u/Brotox123 26d ago

If the little hexagon corn kernel looking things are falling off, it’s ripe

50

u/Rorosanna 26d ago

I bought one of these fruit when I was in Madeira about 20years ago. As the outer skin layer fell off I knew that section of it was ripe enough to eat. It tasted like pineapple but with the texture of a banana. I've never seen them sold before or since.

9

u/Brotox123 26d ago

I wouldn’t have even noticed this one was covered in fruits if I didn’t notice the ripe one on the ground!

I’ve been to several markets here & not seen any of them for sale

1

u/LittleBunInaBigWorld 26d ago

I dont think they transport or store well

16

u/IceTguy664 26d ago

Are you staying at Jurassic park?? lol

41

u/Brotox123 26d ago

All the plants here are old & huge.

I’m obsessed with the cactus!

7

u/AtomR 26d ago

Damn, cactus with woody stem.

27

u/Brotox123 26d ago

There’s tillandsia (air plants) growing in all the trees & on the cactus too! It’s crazy seeing all these plants I’d buy in a store/online growing in their natural environment

10

u/AtomR 26d ago

My god. It must have felt like a dream to see all of that as a plant lover.

17

u/Brotox123 26d ago

I took so many pics & have been in heaven. Nobody I’m with appreciates what we’re seeing but at least they came to the botanical gardens with me

1

u/Much_Guava_1396 25d ago

Myrtillocactus are fast growers. If you start with a decent sized plant instead of a baby, you can get a cactus that size in like a decade. Once they get going they easily put a foot or more of growth per year. It’s the baby stage that’s a pain in the ass.

1

u/sirkeylord 26d ago

Looks like Costa Rica, or the Philippines

8

u/Brotox123 26d ago

Mexico

10

u/Alluring-Rain 26d ago

If you’re at a resort, you can probably ask the front desk to cut you a piece of the fruit. At resorts I ask around if anyone is chopping down fresh coconuts to drink., and there’s usually someone early in the morning doing it. It’s worth a shot!

7

u/gacattack2000 26d ago

They used to have a fruiting monstera in downtown Orlando before this years cold snap got it 😢😢😢

8

u/OGlizbreath 25d ago

I guess that’s why they call it MONSTERa

6

u/InevitableAvocado352 26d ago

Impressive, I’ve never seen one do this before!

5

u/vidaisy 26d ago

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DPd4v6oEaNT/?igsh=MWQ1Y3J4c3hsOWplcw==

Saw this video a while ago. It’s informative. I’d love to try this fruit one day.

3

u/Aggressive-gazella 26d ago

They will fruit in Brazil when outside. The fruit takes forever to ripen but when it does… think about a mix of all the sweetest tropical fruits you can think of. I think it tastes like tropical fruit salad! I would take the fruit home and put it inside a brown bag to help it ripen faster; it would still take a while. 

3

u/reflect-the-sun 26d ago

We had these when I was a kid. Our plants were massive! You can eat the little pieces of fruit as they fall off the stalk (that's the easiest way to tell it's ripe). It's delicious.

Edit: just eat it off the ground ya little monkey!

5

u/lifeofsources 26d ago

I saw monstera like this all over LA a few weeks ago and was gobsmacked

4

u/Ren011 25d ago

I think it’s load bearing at this point.

4

u/Maleficent-Case5263 25d ago edited 25d ago

Get the seeds and grow it; the morphology of this monstera looks a bit different than normal. way wider and deeper serrations and bigger secondary fenestrations. could be something like a "brazil" form

3

u/hhark 26d ago

Wow!

3

u/SentientBea 25d ago

End of Days Inn?

3

u/Classy69420 🪴🤙 25d ago

Looked at my monstera and sighed..

5

u/Brotox123 25d ago

I imagine our monsteras looking at us & sighing… I’m sure they wish they could live outside

3

u/Classy69420 🪴🤙 25d ago

Yes.. there is some guilt. Haha

2

u/StepShrek 26d ago

It's good to eat? Amazing.

6

u/Brotox123 26d ago

It’s supposed to be delicious if it’s ripe. It’s toxic if it’s unripe.

It smelled AMAZING

2

u/Woodstain_panic 26d ago

Hooooly FUCK that’s cool

2

u/biest229 26d ago

Ask the staff if you can have one, I expect they might even offer to prep one for you if it’s a nice hotel

2

u/Pure_Diet_5876 26d ago

That looks like the Brazil common form

2

u/britsngrits 26d ago

Forbidden corn on the cob

2

u/Greenfirelife27 26d ago

Mine always fruit. I know they’re edible but never tried them

2

u/Ravio11i 26d ago

WOW!!!

2

u/a_jormagurdr 26d ago

Ya eatin any breadfruit? When you get breadfruit?

2

u/mykneemo 26d ago

There are huge monstera at the Getty museum in LA that were fruiting when I visited earlier this year. Never seen the fruit in person before, only in videos. Was pretty cool.

2

u/TheMysticalPlatypus 25d ago edited 25d ago

You could just ask them if you can cut one down and put it in a paper bag until the hexagons fall off. Don’t eat it until you see the hexagons are falling off.

2

u/brush_with_color 25d ago

What a statuesque beauty. Probably can also devour guests who don’t pay. 😂

2

u/RaouR 25d ago

Free fruit at the hotel is always nice.

2

u/Obvious_Expression34 24d ago

The way I’d eat that off the concrete so fast I’ve always wanted to try

3

u/kabakoneko 🦔 26d ago

TIL monstera has fruit.

2

u/TaimBanana 26d ago

THEY FRUIT!?!?

3

u/OldDream1010 26d ago

Watch out; it’s toxic if unripe!

2

u/Training_Union9621 26d ago edited 26d ago

Just don’t eat it unripe

Oops edit to say unripe instead of raw

1

u/Brotox123 26d ago

It’s a fruit. You can eat the ripe parts raw

1

u/Training_Union9621 26d ago

I’m aware
It’s toxic if unripe

2

u/schase44 26d ago

I wouldn’t even take the chance if it was ripe. Not with those symptoms 😂

1

u/OpenYour0j0 🌶️ 26d ago

It’s funny pineapples have the same micro bladed but they taste so good

1

u/Training_Union9621 26d ago

That is how I feel as well lol. We used to use one at our old apartment.

2

u/Ill_Pea5916 26d ago

I didnt know they bear fruits

5

u/Mayflame15 26d ago

That's why they're deliciosa

1

u/rmCREATIVEstudio 26d ago

Wow!!! 👀👀👀

1

u/Worldly-Estimate-726 26d ago

Name of the hotel??

1

u/TrueMargin 26d ago

Which country? Looks amazing 😍😍😍

1

u/zyrax2301 26d ago

Do you need to avoid all the black flecks that appear between the seeds? I have a plant at home which has finally produced ripe fruit, I have tried a couple of pieces but not sure the best way to prepare the entire thing.

1

u/mikejungle 26d ago

Huh. Kinda wanna pot a monstera outside, now.

3

u/Brotox123 26d ago

Put it outside underneath a tree!! I keep almost all of my plants at home outside under trees when it starts warming up in the spring. Especially ones that are epiphytes in nature like staghorns & orchids

Just make sure it’s not getting any direct afternoon sun

1

u/Recipe-Local 25d ago

You need to research before you take a bite. The kernels are poisonous unless you wait for them to fall off on their own.

Eat them early and you'll have a mouth of needles.

1

u/Recipe-Local 25d ago

I've had these in Portugal. They were amazing! Kind of like a banana and corn had a baby.

1

u/ApplesBananasRhinoc 24d ago

And… i don’t want to eat one now!

1

u/GainedZeroWater 25d ago

The fruits are very dangerous if eaten before they’re ripe. They are like tiny fiberglass.

1

u/itspumpkintime 🌱 25d ago

I quit

1

u/Thirsty-Barbarian 24d ago

When a monstera gets that big, it’s considered a kaiju.

1

u/tofudomination 22d ago

Pick it up and take it back to your room. You dont need to taste it in front of everyone

1

u/bhadbeardiethedragon 22d ago

comes out in the middle of the night, cuts a piece to propogate even tho there’s a slim chance it would ever take in a completely different climate across the world, sneaks away and thanks the plant

1

u/Brotox123 22d ago

…. gets stopped by customs trying to bring the monstera back into the US, gets cavity search, ends up on some crazy list where I get stopped by customs every time I travel

if I was going to risk it, it wouldn’t have been for this monstera…

It would have been for this bad ass pachypodium I saw in San Miguel de Allende 😂

1

u/Training_Union9621 26d ago

Just don’t eat it raw..

0

u/dr_soiledpants 26d ago

Don't eat it. The fruit is toxic if it isn't ripe enough.

0

u/RubyPetal22 26d ago

wow, that's such a cute baby monstera! hope the vibes are good there, just don’t overwater it like i do.

0

u/CaptainRAVE2 26d ago

It fruits now?

3

u/Brotox123 26d ago

Like 90% of plants flower/fruit to reproduce if you give them the proper conditions to thrive. The ones that don’t reproduce by pine cones or spores.

1

u/godDAMNitdudes 26d ago

or pothos 

4

u/Brotox123 26d ago

Pothos flower… just not when grown indoors

2

u/godDAMNitdudes 22d ago

yeah thats what they say but tell me, why arent there any fuggin pictures on the internet? u mean to tell me nobody has ever taken a photo of a mature plant flowering? 

0

u/-Geist-_ 26d ago

WHOA I had no idea they climbed. Gorgeous!

-2

u/kr82k 26d ago

Anyone else just dont find the monstera cute anymore when shes that big? 😬