In the United States, produce is readily available in supermarkets. Generally, there are signs with the names of each type of produce and you can just walk up and grab whatever fruit or vegetable you want.
In many Latin American countries, on the other hand, produce is found in produce stands where you will need to tell the employee what you want. This can pose a problem if you are not up to speed on your produce vocabulary. Chances are you learned how to say the easy stuff like apple and banana, but what happens when you want to make eggplant parmesan and cannot order the main ingredient?
Here is a list of some words for fruits and vegetables in Spanish you probably didn’t see in your textbook.
Fruit names in Spanish | Las frutas
1. la fresa / la frutilla – strawberry
2. la sandía / el melón – watermelon
3. la piña / el ananá – pineapple, ananá is only used in Argentina
4. el damasco / el albariquoque / el chabacano – apricot
5. el durazno / el melocotón – peach
6. el pelón – nectarine
7. el arándano – blueberry
8. la frambuesa – raspberry
9. la cereza – cherry
10. el aguacate / la palta – avocado
11. las uvas – grapes
12. el plátano / la banana / el guineo – this means either plantain or banana, depending on the country. The best way to find out is to go to a market and ask.
13. la ciruela – plum
14. la toronja / el pomelo – grapefruit
15. la lima / el limón verde – lime
16. el limón – lemon
17. el melón – melon, this is a generic term for most melons, since specific words such as honeydew and cantaloupe are not used.
18. el mango / el mangó – mango, notice that in Spanish some countries such as Puerto Rico put the accent on the O, changing the pronunciation.
19. el coco – coconut
20. la guayaba – guava
21. la acerola – tropical cherry or Caribbean cherry
22. la quenepa / el mamoncillo – honeyberry
23. la manzana – apple
24. la papaya / la lechosa / la fruta bomba – papaya.
25. la chirimoya / la guanábana – soursop
26. la pana / el panapén / el pan de fruta / el mapén – breadfruit
27. la naranja / la china – orange, china is only used in Puerto Rico
Vegetables names in Spanish | Los vegetales o Las verduras
28. el zapallo / la calabaza– squash, although calabaza may instead mean pumpkin
29. la berenjena– eggplant
30. la espinaca – spinach
31. la batata – sweet potato
32. la remolacha / la betarraga / el betabel – beets
33. el repollo – cabbage
34. el apio – celery
35. el nabo – turnip
36. la lechuga – lettuce
37. la coliflor – cauliflower
38. el pimentón / el morrón / el pimiento – bell pepper
39. el pepino / el pepinillo – cucumber
40. el tomate – tomato
41. los espárragos – asparagus
42. la cebolla – onion
43. la seta / el hongo / el champiñón – mushroom
44.el maíz /el choclo – corn
45.el cebollín /el verdeo – spring onion, scallion
46. la papa – potato
47. la zanahoria – carrot
Do you have any other fruits and vegetables in Spanish to add to the list?
Check out these other English Spanish articles.