Tamarillo substitutes

The closest reconstruction available in an ordinary supermarket. Use dark red plums, skin on, and a ripe plum tomato or Roma with the skin slipped off in boiling water. Chop both and cook them together exactly as you would the tamarillo.

Best for

tamarillo chutney, jam, aji de tomate de arbol, sauces, chilli and stews

The result tastes fruitier and slightly rounder than real tamarillo, which has a green, almost herbaceous bitterness at the edge that plums do not. It will also be sweeter, so cut the sugar in a jam or chutney recipe by about a quarter and taste before adding more acid. Colour comes out close to right if you use dark-skinned plums.

The single best one-ingredient swap for anything sweet or preserved. Plums have the same soft flesh that breaks down into a thick puree and the same tart-sweet balance, and they set well with sugar.

Best for

tamarillo jam, chutney, crumble and pie filling, poached fruit, compote

Noticeably sweeter and less sharp, and it loses the faintly savoury undertone that makes tamarillo chutney taste like tamarillo chutney rather than plum chutney. The lemon juice is not optional; without it the finished preserve tastes flat and syrupy. For chutney, a tablespoon of tomato paste per pound of plums pulls the flavour back toward the original.

The right answer when the tamarillo is being used savoury, as in a Colombian or Ecuadorian aji, a salsa or a braise. Blanch and peel the tomatoes so the texture matches the skinned tamarillo flesh.

Best for

aji de tomate de arbol, salsa, savoury sauces, braises, soups

Thinner, milder and much less tart than tamarillo, and it has none of the passion-fruit note that comes from the seed pocket. The sugar and lime are there to fake the sweet-sour tension. In a blended aji with chilli, garlic, coriander and lime the difference is small; in a dish where the fruit is the main flavour it is obvious.

If you can get passion fruit, this gets closer to the actual aroma of tamarillo than any other combination, because the seedy centre of a tamarillo genuinely does taste of passion fruit.

Best for

desserts, sorbet and ice cream, cocktails and drinks, sauces for pork or duck, jam

Very close on aroma and acidity, and clearly the best option for anything where the fruit flavour is the point. It is more perfumed and more tropical than tamarillo, so stay near a tablespoon of pulp per cup rather than dumping in the whole fruit. Strain the seeds out if you want a smooth sauce.

Not a flavour match at all, but a genuinely good behaviour match for baked and preserved tamarillo, because rhubarb brings the same aggressive tartness and collapses into a thick, tangy puree.

Best for

crumble and cobbler, jam, pie filling, compote

Tastes green and sour rather than fruity, and it turns pink-grey rather than deep red, so add a few chopped dark plums or a spoonful of raspberry jam for colour. Choose this only if tartness matters more to your recipe than fruitiness. Rhubarb leaves are not edible, so use stalks only.

A pantry improvisation for savoury cooking, where the tamarind supplies the fruity sourness and the tomato supplies the flesh and colour.

Best for

curries and stews, savoury sauces, marinades, chutney

Darker, earthier and distinctly more Indian-tasting than tamarillo, with a molasses note tamarillo does not have. It works well in anything already spiced and badly in anything delicate. Add the tamarind gradually, since a teaspoon can quickly turn into the dominant flavour.