All About Noni

Noni is a bucket list fruit for some fruit adventurers, and a staple food in cuisines around the world. Botanically known as Morinda citrifolia, noni has a number of notable nicknames - beach mulberry, Indian mulberry and, more commonly, cheese fruit to name a few. Noni gets its funky moniker from its distinctively powerful and pungent aroma that rivals even the durian! But don’t let this fruit’s smelly reputation keep you from experiencing its unique flavor!

The earthy, composty fragrance of very ripe noni carries into its flavor, with a hint of citrusy sourness. The harder the flesh of ripening noni, the more astringent and sharp the flavor typically is. When fully ripened, the stinky-sour cheese flavor and fragrance is at its peak! 

As noni ripens, the fruit turns from hard, bumpy and green into a creamy yellow, then white fruit with smooth, translucent skin that resembles an oval-shaped potato. Inside, noni fruits have white flesh and many dark seeds inside that are edible. Because they have a somewhat woody texture, some noni fruit fans choose to spit them out.

Noni fruit and juice are known to be used for nutritional and medicinal uses, but we’re here for the flavor! It’s commonly prepared as a fresh or fermented juice, eaten raw as a snack, or incorporated into sauces, curries, creams and meat and vegetable dishes.

Noni grows natively throughout Southeast Asia, Australia and throughout tropical areas of the Pacific. They grow on trees that bear fruit year round. The leaves of the noni tree are edible and can be enjoyed cooked or raw.

The noni plant, or Morinda citrifolia, grows natively throughout the Pacific throughout Southeast Asia, Australia and Hawaii. The noni fruits grow on trees with large, shiny green leaves that grow up to 30 feet tall. The tree bears noni fruit throughout the year!

Luckily for fruit fans, noni fruits are available year-round!

FruitStand is proud to partner with small, specialty farmers to bring you exceptional quality noni. To be the first to know when FruitStand is shipping noni harvests, join our email newsletter!

Whether noni fruits are certified organic or not will depend on the farm where it was grown. At FruitStand, we only partner with the best specialty farms for exceptional quality of produce. When each harvest is available, we'll tell you whether the fruit is considered organic or conventional.

Noni and soursop (or corossol fruit) are two fruits that don’t get a lot of attention in the United States. At first glance, they can look very similar. But they are, in fact, different fruits.

Both the noni and soursop are green, oblong fruits with a green, bumpy texture depending on the state of their ripeness. Cut either fruit in half and you’ll notice white flesh and many dark seeds. However, the immediate difference you’ll experience is the pungent odor of the noni that is not present in the soursop.

These fruits differ substantially in flavor. The soursop is known for its sweet, custardy flesh. Whereas noni fruit’s flavor is described as sour and fetid in an oddly satisfying way, with a numbing effect on the mouth and tongue.

Still curious about noni fruit? Send us your fruit questions, recipes and snapshots any time on Instagram @Fruitstandcom!