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What Fruit Has the Most Vitamin C?

The guava is the fruit with the most vitamin C.

More Info: A normal size serving of guava contains 165 milligrams of Vitamin C, 50% more than its nearest fruit competitor, the papaya.

As such, the guava also easily exceeds the recommended daily diet dose of Vitamin C. That 165 milligrams represents 183% of the daily recommendation for men and a whopping 235% of the daily recommendation for women. The only thing missing perhaps is a proper U.S. PR campaign by guava growers to educate the American public as to the fruit's Vitamin C ranking.

Citrus Family, Other Fruit

Oranges are third on the list of fruit with the most vitamin C, with 60 milligrams per standard serving. Other citrus fruit with good Vitamin C content include grapefruit (40 milligrams) and tangerine (25 milligrams).

The other common produce that yield a healthy Vitamin C intake include strawberries (50 milligrams of Vitamin C for a half-cup), cantaloupe (35 milligrams) and mango (30 milligrams). Surveys by the U.S. Department of Agriculture have shown that American adults generally exceed the daily recommended diet intake amount of Vitamin C.

Africa's Miracle Fruit

There is one fruit that, though not widely available, is worth hunting down in specialty shops. The baobab pod contains on average six times the amount of Vitamin C as a standard serving of orange. As such, that would place it even ahead of the guava, with 360 milligrams per serving.

The baboab is commonly referred to in Africa as the upside-down tree. Tribes that live among these trees ascribe much more than Vitamin C power to the tree's pods. It is believed locally that these trees protect villages from evil spirits. Given the sacred nature of these trees, African tribes only allow specially trained climbers to retrieve the prized fruit. The shell of the baobab pod is incredibly hard to crack, and its pulp-like interior is often used as an ingredient for smoothies and cereal bars.