What is the sweetest fruit?
Among fresh fruits, mangoes, grapes, lychees, cherries and figs are some of the sweetest. Dried fruits like dates are even sweeter, because drying concentrates their sugar.
Sweetness depends on the amount and type of sugar in a fruit. Fruits contain glucose, fructose and sucrose, and fructose tastes the sweetest. Ripe mangoes can contain about 14 grams of sugar per 100 grams. Grapes, lychees and cherries are also high in sugar, while fresh figs can be very sweet when fully ripe.
Dried fruits contain far more sugar by weight because most of their water has been removed. Medjool dates, for example, contain about 65 grams of sugar per 100 grams. Raisins, dried figs and prunes are also very sweet.
Sweet but healthy
Even sweet fruits are healthy in normal amounts, because they also contain fiber, vitamins, minerals and water, which slow the absorption of sugar. Health experts recommend eating whole fruit rather than drinking fruit juice, which has less fiber. Ripeness strongly affects sweetness, as starch turns into sugar.
Did You Know?
The Carabao mango from the Philippines was once listed by Guinness World Records as the sweetest mango in the world.