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Cultivation of exotic vegetables has started picking up in Himachal Pradesh, India, where farmers are looking to diversify their agriculture to make the most of their climate and soil conditions. Popular choices among the region's farmers are asparagus, broccoli, lettuce, colored capsicum, celery, Chinese cabbage, Brussels sprouts, European carrot, parsley, leek and snow peas.

While these vegetables are standard in the west, they are considered exotic for Indian farmers who have not traditionally grown these type of European and Oriental crops. The average altitude of the region, which is 2000 to 2500 meters above sea level, and the accompanying climate and soil conditions actually make it just right for growing these vegetables, and farmers are happy to experiment and diversify since there is a high demand for these vegetables in the country.

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We all know of tomatoes and bananas; but what about the cherimoya? Here are a few exotic fruits and vegetables that are actually good for you. As I mentioned earlier a cherimoya is an exotic fruit that is shaped like a heart. The fruit, when ripe, can be cut open to reveal a white creamy texture ready to scoop out and eat. The tomatillo is a vegetable that is best in cooking sauces.

They also look like green tomatoes. The Meyer Lemon is a wonderful fruit that isn't as sour as the traditional lemon. This super food is rich in vitamin C and is used in all sorts of ways. It can be cooked into desserts, squeezed over salad, and even put into drinks. Check out these exotic produce at the grocery store.

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Oddee.com has named pomegranate as the most popular and trendy exotic fruit at present. This exotic fruit is native to India and is cultivated and naturalized globally due to its popularity. Known to possess amazing health benefits including cancer fighting super power, it is packed with antioxidants. Having gained popularity even among the stars, the juice of this exotic fruit has even made it to the red carpet.

Other weird and popular fruits included in the websites top 10 list of exotic fruits include the dragon fruit, fruit of a cactus species, which looks somewhat similar to a kiwi in texture owing to the black crunchy seeds. The horned melon is another exotic fruit that is popular in the US, commonly known as blowfish fruit and looks like an oval melon with horns. Star fruit, rambutan, ackee, mangosteen, Buddha's hand and urucu, were other exotic fruits in the list, coming from different parts of the world ranging from Indonesia to Africa.