Day 55: Fruit and Spice Park of Miami-Dade County.

Our last full day in Miami we decided to checkout another county park that is on our side of town. Florida has some very interesting and creative county parks that are very worth visiting if you are looking for something not along the mainstream. Today’s stop, Miami-Dade County Fruit and Spice Park.

Located 10 miles to the south east of our campground, the fruit and spice park is home to over 500 different species of botanical gems. The tropical climate at the park is one that can be found no where else in the U.S. and is the reason why it is ideal for this unique garden to be right here in south Florida.

The garden sits on nearly 40 acres of land and is for educational purposes more than production. Visitors pay 8 dollars to visit the park but are not allowed to pick anything off of the trees. Most of the harvest is used to produce some unique products that the park sells at the gift store or for research only.

Inside the park office, there are all kinds of products from around the world made from tropical fruits in its local region. Here is a little lychee treat that I use to enjoy as a kid living on a tropical pacific island. Yum.

There is also a small tray of fruits that the park staff have gathered for visitors to sample. Coconuts, papayas and kumquats are just some of the fruits that you might have tasted but we certainly have never even heard of some of the other delicious treats on the sample platter.

Although picking fruits off of the trees are prohibited, if you visit the park during the right time of the year, you are free to pick up any fruits that have fallen to the ground and consume it at your leisure. Unfortunately our visit was no where near harvesting season so instead of filling our stomaches with tropical fruits we had been expecting to do, we instead patronized the Mango Cafe on the park grounds for a quick lunch.

The Fruit and Spice Park is easily toured on foot and visitors are welcome to do so. If you wanted a guided tour, there is a hour long tram tour included in the entry fee that runs several times a day to take you through the park.

The park is set up by geographical regions of the world starting with South America, Africa, Asia, Australia and finally, the Mediterranean. Our tour guide really knew his stuff and sounded like he had been a part of the park staff for a number of years. Aside from just the depth of knowledge, he even seems to know each plant on the park grounds at a very detailed level.

Even though we were not technically allowed to pick fruits from the tree, we were given a permission to taste some of the fruits and spices when it was appropriate.

In the South American green house, which recently suffered some hurricane damage, Ava was saddened to see the despair the ‘Chocolate Tree’ was in. Sorry Ava, no snickers bars today.

Here Ava is getting a good whiff of the leaves from a Lemon All Spice tree. It is pretty incredible how much of the flavor comes right through the oils in the leaves.

This little spiky fruit from the Annatto tree has little pods inside of it as you crack it open. The little pods on the inside have an orange stain that is used for a lot of products ranging from Velveeta cheese to lipsticks.

This giant sausage like fruit comes from a tree in Africa. It is named, the sausage tree.

This section of the park might also be part of the reason why we might not want to just pick anything off a tree and pop it in your mouth. Results might not be satisfactory.

Finally, we found some trees with a decent amount of fruits ready for a little harvesting. With the guide’s permission, we helped ourselves to some delicious kumquats right off of the tree. Where Marlene and I went to college in Santa Barbara, there are kumquat trees in lots of the surrounding neighborhoods. Marlene remembers just walking around with her friends on the weekend picking and snacking away at them. I think she probably should have spent less money on beers and more on food so she didn’t have to resort to gathering wild berries for sustenance. But that’s just me.

Ava on the other hand could not get enough of kumquats. If she works hard in life, one day she could follow her mama’s footsteps in rummaging the neighborhoods of Isla Vista, CA as a college coed.

For now, she has to settle for her dada’s home cooked meals. Being it is our last dinner in Miami, we decided to finally sit outside at the picnic table.

Tomorrow, we are headed north to see an old friend. See ya!

over and out,
dan