Monstera Deliciosa Makes Fruit?
The short answer is yes. A mature and happy monstera deliciosa plant will produce fruit. Can you eat the fruit? It depends. This mysterious fruit is edible when fully ripe. The fruit is NOT edible before it is ripe due to its high content of oxalic acid. Please don’t eat an unripe monstera deliciosa fruit; it can reportedly cause painful throat irritation.
This post will detail each important step in monstera fruit consumption:
How to grow a monstera deliciosa plant
How to get fruit from your plant
When to pick the fruit
How to eat monstera deliciosa fruit
How to Grow Monstera Deliciosa
The monstera deliciosa is a tropical plant that thrives in hot, humid environments. Internet wisdom suggests growing it in zones 10-12. However, with minimal protection (i.e., covering with a blanket during freezing temperatures), I successfully grew large, happy monsteras in zone 9B in Tampa, Florida. I found this plant to thrive well with moderate neglect, as my post on neglected gardens details.
The monstera deliciosa will thrive in full sun or partial shade. My most productive monstera in Florida was planted under a live oak tree and received sun about half the day. Monsteras can also fruit in containers. If you have your planters indoors, use a grow light or window positioning to ensure adequate light. Plant in well-draining soil and water when the soil is dry. As noted above, well-established in-ground plants will thrive even with little water. No fertilizer is needed; this plant can thrive with poor-quality soil.
Growing Monstera Deliciosa Fruit
Many gardening centers offer juvenile monstera deliciosa plants. These plants may have several solid leaves that are not yet fenestrated. With patience, you can eventually coax them into fruiting. A young monstera should start to produce fenestrations, or holes, in its leaves by about 3 years. This is important, as these plants will not fruit prior to the development of fenestration. If you lack patience, I recommend obtaining a mature cutting from a gardening friend. My largest monstera deliciosa plant in Florida came from a cutting, and it fruited within one year. However, it should be noted, that some patience is still required, as monstera fruit takes around a year to ripen.
Below is a picture of a monstera deliciosa flower bud. It first looks a bit like an ear of corn. Then it will open into a white flower with a scaly white fruit at the center. Finally, the flower petal will fall off and a green scaly fruit will be left. Very few visible changes will occur on the fruit as it ripens.
When to Pick Monstera Deliciosa Fruit
Multitudes of posts provide details on growing monstera deliciosa plants. Many give information on how to eat the fruit safely. However, I have never seen a post with conclusive information on an important middle detail- when to pick the fruit!
Around a year after the first fruits appear, your monstera should produce new flowers. When this happens, your wait is almost over! Pick your monstera deliciosa fruit once the new flowers on the plant open, displaying their new white scaly fruits. The green fruit will not yet be ripe at this point. However, you want to protect it as it ripens or someone other than you will likely eat it first. You don’t want that to happen after a year of waiting. Pick the monstera fruit by cutting the green stem below with a pruning shears or a serrated knife.
But Wait… I Thought You Were in Iowa
At this point you may be confused about the timing of this blog, given my recent post about moving to Iowa. Let me explain. A few weeks before our move, my monstera plant had thrown out new flowers. I was thrilled, knowing this meant I could enjoy one last harvest. The night before Little Grump and I flew out, I cut some fruit and asked Mr. Grump to bring it with in his car. I wasn’t sure the fruit would do well in my suitcase on the plane.
Not surprisingly (given everything going on), Mr. Grump forgot my fruit. I was quite sad about this, and reached out to a plant-loving neighbor. She offered to sneak to the monstera plant in the dark and cut fruits for us both. The fruit arrived nicely in the mail, with just a few black scales. This is good news for those of us in the Midwest. Monstera deliciosa fruits can be sent via postal mail with little to no ill effect.
I placed the fruit on a wooden table in my sunroom and waited. Just a few days later, the scales began to peel off. This meant that the fruit was ripe enough to safely eat.
How to Eat Monstera Deliciosa Fruit
The monstera deliciosa fruit ripens well in a sunny location, such as near a window. You will also find that a paper bag works nicely, so long as you don’t forget the fruit is there. I prefer ripening the fruits on a flat, open surface so I can watch for peeling scales. There is no need to peel the scales yourself; they will fall when ready.
The monstera deliciosa fruit ripens gradually. Eat only the portions that were below scales that fell off naturally. Although you can use your fingers to gently nudge the scales, do not apply any force.
Then the fun begins. Grab a spoon and eat the fruits of your labor. Monstera deliciosa fruit has a pleasant tingly feel, similar to what I experience when eating a sour pineapple. The texture is soft. The taste of my fruits was a combination of banana and pineapple. Yours may produce other fruity notes as well, such as strawberry.
This exotic fruit can make you popular at parties… or with neighbors at least. I shared a monstera deliciosa fruit with my new Iowa neighbors recently, and they seemed intrigued. A couple days later, they brought us a watermelon and we chatted about gardens for a while. I consider this a good development. Plant friends are the best!
Want to buy our fresh produce? You can find us at the Orange City, IA farmer’s market this summer (2023). We plan to have fresh vegetables, fruits, mushrooms, and herbs available this season. We’ll also be selling extra produce at our road market stand in Alton. Feel free to reach out if you’re looking for anything in particular! We can be reached at [email protected].
Have you grown or eaten monstera deliciosa fruits? Feel free to let us know in the comments below!
