✔ Updated · 45 fruits, sorted by category
Fruits that start with I include Indian figs (prickly pears), ice cream beans, ilama, Indian gooseberries, ice apples and Idared apples.
I is a tricky letter for fruit, so this list sticks to real, verifiable fruits rather than filler: tropical rarities, Japanese citrus, heirloom peaches and melons, and well-known apple, grape and plum varieties. Each entry says what the fruit tastes like and where it grows, and a quick A-to-Z list at the end is handy for alphabet games and quizzes.
Fruits that start with I, from everyday favorites to rare finds. The most popular:
Common Fruits That Start With I
Apples and grapes that start with I. I bake with Idared apples when I find them.
Idared Apple
A bright red apple bred in Idaho in 1942, with crisp, white, tart-sweet flesh that keeps for months and bakes well.
Ingrid Marie Apple
A Danish apple from about 1910, a seedling of Cox's Orange Pippin, with dark red skin and juicy, aromatic, sweet-sharp flesh.
Irish Peach Apple
An early Irish dessert apple from the 1800s, with red-flushed skin and soft, juicy, sweet flesh best eaten straight from the tree.
Isabella Grape
A dark American grape with slip-skin berries and a strong, sweet, musky flavor, grown in the US, Italy and Brazil.
Italia Grape
A large Italian white table grape with firm, crunchy berries and a sweet muscat flavor, grown across Europe and South America.
Interlaken Grape
A seedless green grape bred at Cornell in New York, with small, crisp berries and a sweet, honeyed, slightly foxy taste.
Ives Grape
An old American blue-black grape from Ohio, with soft berries and a sweet, foxy flavor, used for juice and red wine.
Berries That Start With I
Small berries and berry-like fruits that start with I.
Indian Sherbet Berry
Called phalsa in India, small purple berries from South Asia with a sweet-sour taste, made into a cooling summer drink.
Indian Strawberry
A small red berry from Asia, now wild in many countries, that looks like a strawberry but has a bland, watery taste.
Indian Plum
Also called osoberry, small blue-black fruits from the Pacific Northwest with a thin, bittersweet, cucumber-like flesh.
Incaberry
Also called goldenberry, a small orange fruit from the Andes wrapped in a papery husk, with a sweet-tart, tropical flavor.
Citrus That Start With I
Japanese, Chinese, Indian and Mediterranean citrus that start with I. Most are rare in US stores, and I’d love to taste every one.
Iyokan
A large, juicy citrus from Ehime, Japan, with thick, easy-peel orange skin and sweet, aromatic, slightly tart segments.
Ichang Papeda
A cold-hardy wild citrus from central China with sour, seedy fruits and fragrant rind, used like yuzu for its aroma.
Ichang Lemon
A Chinese hybrid of Ichang papeda and pomelo with large yellow fruits and sour, lemon-like juice, grown for cold hardiness.
Imperial Mandarin
An early-season Australian mandarin with thin, easy-peel skin and juicy, sweet, mildly tangy segments.
Interdonato Lemon
A Sicilian lemon-citron hybrid with smooth, thin skin, few seeds and a fragrant, less acidic juice than common lemons.
Indian Wild Orange
A rare wild citrus from the hills of northeast India, with small orange-red fruits and very sour juice, used in folk remedies.
Indio Mandarinquat
A bell-shaped cross of kumquat and mandarin from Indio, California, eaten whole, with sweet skin and tart flesh.
Tropical Fruits That Start With I
The biggest group of I fruits, from India, Africa and the Americas. I tried an ice cream bean once, and it really does taste like vanilla.
Indian Fig
The fruit of the prickly pear cactus, native to Mexico and grown around the Mediterranean, with sweet, juicy, melon-like flesh.
Ice Cream Bean
Long green pods from South and Central America holding sweet, cottony white pulp that tastes like vanilla ice cream.
Ice Cream Banana
Also called Blue Java, a banana with silvery blue skin from Southeast Asia, with soft flesh tasting like vanilla custard.
Ilama
A custard apple relative from Mexico and Central America, with green or pink skin and sweet, creamy, slightly tart white flesh.
Icaco
Also called cocoplum, a small round fruit from Caribbean and Florida coasts, with white, spongy, mildly sweet flesh.
Ice Apple
The fruit of the palmyra palm from South India and Southeast Asia, with translucent, jelly-like flesh tasting like mild lychee.
Imbe
Small bright orange fruits from southern Africa with thin, juicy, sweet-tart flesh, often compared to apricot.
Imbu
A small green fruit from the dry northeast of Brazil with soft, juicy, sweet-sour pulp, made into juice and a dessert called umbuzada.
Indian Gooseberry
Better known as amla, a pale green fruit from India with an intensely sour, bitter and astringent taste, used in pickles.
Indian Jujube
Called ber in India, a small round fruit from South Asia with crisp, apple-like flesh that is sweet and slightly tart.
Indian Almond
A tropical Asian tree fruit with thin, fibrous, mildly sweet flesh around a seed whose kernel tastes much like almond.
Indian Prune
Small red to purple fruits from Southeast Asia with juicy, sour-sweet flesh similar to a tart cherry, eaten raw or in jams.
Imam Pasand Mango
A large mango from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in India, with fiberless, very sweet flesh, prized as a mango for royalty.
Irwin Mango
A Florida mango from the 1940s with bright red skin and mild, sweet, fiberless yellow flesh, also grown widely in Japan.
Stone Fruits That Start With I
Plums and heirloom peaches that start with I.
Italian Prune Plum
A dark purple oval European plum with freestone, yellow-green flesh that is sweet and dense, ideal for drying and baking.
Imperial Epineuse Plum
A French prune plum grown in California with reddish-purple skin and very sweet, juicy, honeyed flesh.
Indian Blood Peach
An heirloom American peach with dark red flesh and a tart, berry-like flavor, long grown in the US South and used for pickling.
Indian Free Peach
A red-fleshed heirloom freestone peach from the American South with an aromatic, tangy flavor that sweetens when fully ripe.
Melons That Start With I
Heirloom watermelons and muskmelons that start with I.
Ice Cream Watermelon
An heirloom American watermelon, also called Peerless, with crisp, bright red flesh and a very sweet, fine-grained texture.
Israeli Melon
Also called Ogen melon, a small melon from a kibbutz in Israel with green flesh that is very sweet, juicy and aromatic.
Iroquois Melon
A muskmelon from Cornell in New York, with heavily netted skin and thick, sweet, orange flesh suited to northern gardens.
Rare & Exotic Fruits That Start With I
Wild fruits that are rarely sold outside their home regions.
Illawarra Plum
A dark purple bush fruit from eastern Australia with juicy, sweet flesh and a pine-like, resinous plum flavor.
Indian Persimmon
A small tropical persimmon from India and Sri Lanka, astringent when unripe and soft, sweet and mild when fully ripe.
Ita Palm
The scaly red-brown fruit of the moriche palm from the Amazon, with oily orange pulp that tastes tangy and slightly sweet.
Icacina
A small red fruit from the West African savanna with thin, sweet pulp around a large seed, eaten as a snack in the dry season.
Botanical Fruits Eaten as Vegetables That Start With I
Fruits in the botanical sense that are cooked and served as vegetables.
Indigo Rose Tomato
A tomato from Oregon State University with dark purple-black skin and red flesh, tasting balanced, fruity and mildly tart.
Ichiban Eggplant
A long, slender Japanese eggplant with thin purple skin and tender, mild, sweet flesh that cooks quickly.
Did You Know?
- The ice cream bean grows in pods up to about 3 feet long, and the sweet, cottony white pulp around each seed tastes like vanilla ice cream.
- The Indian fig is not a fig at all: it is the fruit of the prickly pear cactus, native to Mexico and now grown around the Mediterranean.
- The ice apple is the jelly-like seed of the palmyra palm, sold on roadsides across South India in summer as a cooling snack.
- The Ichang papeda from central China is one of the most cold-hardy citrus species, surviving winter temperatures well below freezing.
Quick List: All 45 Fruits That Start With I
Handy for alphabet games, quizzes and Scattergories. The full list, A to Z:
Icacina, Icaco, Ice Apple, Ice Cream Banana, Ice Cream Bean, Ice Cream Watermelon, Ichang Lemon, Ichang Papeda, Ichiban Eggplant, Idared Apple, Ilama, Illawarra Plum, Imam Pasand Mango, Imbe, Imbu, Imperial Epineuse Plum, Imperial Mandarin, Incaberry, Indian Almond, Indian Blood Peach, Indian Fig, Indian Free Peach, Indian Gooseberry, Indian Jujube, Indian Persimmon, Indian Plum, Indian Prune, Indian Sherbet Berry, Indian Strawberry, Indian Wild Orange, Indigo Rose Tomato, Indio Mandarinquat, Ingrid Marie Apple, Interdonato Lemon, Interlaken Grape, Irish Peach Apple, Iroquois Melon, Irwin Mango, Isabella Grape, Israeli Melon, Ita Palm, Italia Grape, Italian Prune Plum, Ives Grape, Iyokan
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common fruit that starts with I?
The most common fruit that starts with I is the Indian fig, better known as the prickly pear. In grocery stores you may also find Idared apples, Italian prune plums, Italia grapes and Irwin mangoes.
What does an ice cream bean taste like?
The ice cream bean has soft, cottony white pulp around large seeds. It tastes sweet and mild, much like vanilla ice cream, with a hint of cinnamon. The pulp is eaten raw, and the seeds are cooked before eating.
What is an ilama fruit?
Ilama is a tropical fruit from Mexico and Central America related to the custard apple and cherimoya. Its skin can be green or pink, and its creamy white or pink flesh is sweet, sometimes slightly tart.
Are there any I fruits that are citrus?
Yes. Citrus fruits that start with I include the Japanese Iyokan, the Ichang papeda and Ichang lemon from China, the Australian Imperial mandarin, the Sicilian Interdonato lemon, the Indian wild orange and the Indio mandarinquat.
Why are there so few fruits that start with I?
Few common English fruit names begin with I, so most I fruits are tropical or regional, such as ilama, imbe and ice apple, or named varieties like Idared apples. This list includes only fruits that can be verified, rather than invented names.
More fruits by letter:
