4. Ackee
One funny-looking fruit, ackee is a member of the soapberry family. You may be more familiar with its sister fruit, lychee, but ackee is a pear-shaped fruit native to tropical West Africa, and it needs to ripen fully before consumption. And this isn’t one of those you-need-to-wait-because-it’s-hard deals; you need to wait for it to ripen because it contains toxins that can literally kill you, which is why importation of the raw fruit is banned in the U.S., according to the FDA. If you are curious about ackee, though, you can buy it canned and frozen. This is your best bet—especially since it killed 23 Jamaicans and sickened 194 in 2011, according to a report from the Jamaica Observer.
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