Tree Tomato Juice: Tamarillo, Tomate de Árbol

Name: Tree Tomato Juice (Tamarillo, Tomate de Árbol)
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Ingredients: 4 tree tomatoes (tamarillo) (ripe, deep red or orange and slightly soft; also sold as tomate de árbol); Sugar, to taste (it needs more than you expect: the fruit is genuinely tart); Milk, optional (see the notes: milk softens the acidity); Water

Tamarillo blended with water, milk or both, sweetened to taste and strained. Known in Colombia as tomate de árbol and sold internationally as tamarillo, it is tart and faintly savoury, which is why it takes sugar and why milk suits it. Five minutes, serves five.

Total: 10

JUMP TO RECIPE

Tree tomato juice is tamarillo pulp blended with water, milk or both, sweetened and strained. It takes five minutes and the only technique involved is scooping the pulp out of the skin.

In Colombia it is an everyday juice, on the table at lunch alongside lulo and blackberry.

Three names for one fruit

This causes more confusion than it should, so it is worth listing them.

Tamarillo — the commercial name, and what you will see on the label in a US supermarket or greengrocer. New Zealand growers coined it in the 1960s.
Tree tomato — the literal translation, and the older English name.
Tomate de árbol — Colombia and Ecuador, where most of it is grown and drunk.

It is an egg-shaped fruit, deep red or orange, on a small tree in the same family as tomatoes and potatoes. Which explains the flavour.

What it actually tastes like

Tart, and oddly savoury for a fruit. There is a clear tomato note underneath, and something closer to passion fruit on top of it, and the whole thing is sharper than the colour suggests.

Very few people eat it raw and plain. What it is good for is exactly this: blended, sweetened and diluted, where the acidity becomes refreshing instead of aggressive.

Which also means it needs more sugar than you would expect, and how much varies a lot with ripeness. Taste it before deciding.

Water, milk, or both

This is the real choice in the recipe, and it produces two quite different drinks.

With water it stays sharp and thin, closer to a lemonade, and it is the better option in real heat.

With milk the acidity drops away and it turns creamy and mild, almost a milkshake. This is how it is most commonly served in Colombian homes, and it is the version people who dislike the fruit plain tend to like.

A mix of the two is what this recipe assumes and it is a reasonable place to start.

Scoop, do not peel

The skin is bitter and tough and it does not break down in a blender, so it has to come off.

Peeling a tamarillo is fiddly. Cutting it in half and scooping the pulp out with a teaspoon takes seconds and leaves every bitter part behind, which is why the recipe says to do it that way.

Straining is not optional

Tamarillo carries a surprising number of small, hard, flat seeds, and a blender will not touch them.

Skip the strainer and the juice is gritty in a way that no amount of sugar hides. Thirty seconds of blending and one pass through a sieve is the whole difference between a good glass and one nobody finishes.

Choosing them

Deep red or orange all over, with no green left at the shoulders, and giving slightly under a thumb like a ripe plum. The pulp should come away from the skin without a fight.

An underripe tamarillo is hard and sour past the point of being enjoyable, and unlike some fruit it does not improve much on the counter. Buy them ripe.

Other Colombian juices

Lulo juice — the other tart one, and the most Colombian of all.
Blackberry juice — mora, the everyday one.
Soursop juice — the creamy one, and best with milk too.

Tree Tomato Juice FAQ

Tree tomato, tamarillo or tomate de árbol?

The same fruit. Tamarillo is the commercial name used in the United States, New Zealand and international trade; tree tomato is the literal English translation; tomate de árbol is what it is called in Colombia and Ecuador. If you are shopping in a US supermarket, look for tamarillo.

What does it taste like?

Tart, and more savoury than most fruit. There is something tomato-like behind the sweetness, which is where the name comes from, along with a note closer to passion fruit. It is not a fruit most people would eat plain, which is why the juice takes sugar and why milk suits it so well.

Water or milk?

Both are normal. Water gives a sharper, more refreshing juice. Milk rounds off the acidity and makes it creamy, which is how it is most often drunk in Colombia. A mix of the two is what this recipe assumes and is a good starting point.

Do I have to strain it?

Yes. Tamarillo is full of small hard seeds, far more than the fruit's size suggests, and they do not break down in a blender. Unstrained juice is gritty and unpleasant. Thirty seconds of blending and a strainer is all it takes.

How do I know if it is ripe?

Deep red or orange all over, with no green at the shoulders, and it should give slightly under a thumb like a ripe plum. The pulp should scoop out of the skin easily. Underripe tamarillo is hard and aggressively sour, and it does not ripen well once picked.

Why remove the skin?

It is bitter and tough, and it does not soften in the blender. Halving the fruit and scooping the pulp out with a spoon is quicker than peeling it and leaves the bitterness behind. Every part of the fruit you want is inside.

📖 Recipe