…to eat for the rest of my life, it would be the mangosteen.
I’ve had this fruit as a child in Asia but never had it again in Canada. I don’t actually remember whether the fruit wasn’t available or whether it was available but was prohibitively expensive. Anyway, I got another taste of the fruit when I was an undergrad in London when I found a small basket of them at a small local Thai shop. They’re sold by weight and damn the things – the skins are extremely thick and heavy! So much is thrown away to get to the sweet, juicy flesh. I still remember that one tiny fruit cost me 75p and that I still remembered the flavour and I loved it.
Now I’ve found slightly more affordable packs of the fruit at Oriental City where 6 mangosteens sell for about £2. They can also be found in Chinatown but I prefer the quality of the ones at OC. Do try them if you can find them – perfectly ripe ones are a delight to eat and slightly less ripe ones have a slight tang to them. Many have compared their flavour to other fruit but I think they’re unique.
Mon, 20 Aug, 2007 at 04:24
I was going to write a post about mangosteen too! They truly are the queen of fruit. But my gosh, 2 quid for 6? I’m going to eat as many as I can here before I go back to London… :S
Mon, 20 Aug, 2007 at 09:17
Lol. Me too! I had them a few months ago & took the pics but they never progressed from the memory card. It has been a mighty busy summer!
Oriental City is great for things like this. I am moving near there next month which I am quite excited about. Such a shame that it will close shortly after.
Mon, 20 Aug, 2007 at 20:41
supercharz: Eat as many as you can now! Especially since it’s the season for it too!
eatlikeagirl: Yes, Oriental City will be sorely missed. :(
Tue, 21 Aug, 2007 at 20:26
I’d love to try them fresh, since in the US, we can only get them canned. They have amazing healing properties, especially in the skin, so people are bottling and selling it as the new cure-all elixer.
Tue, 21 Aug, 2007 at 21:54
I have yet to try a mangosteen – I’ve been seeing them all over the blogs! I also like the question “If you had to choose one fruit…” – did someone ask you that or did the mangosteen inspire the question itself? :)
Wed, 22 Aug, 2007 at 01:44
I’ve never eaten one, so I dunno. But they must be good if you could choose them over cherries or blueberries. One of those two would be my first choice, but I can’t decide which :)
Wed, 22 Aug, 2007 at 09:57
How do you choose ripe mangosteens? I bought one as they are very expensive here in The Netherlands, but it’s taste didn’t stand up to the hype which made me think it was not ripe enough…
Wed, 22 Aug, 2007 at 11:00
they are by far the best fruit iv ever had……iv just came back from thailand and i lived on that fruit……i carnt belive how expecive they are in england as i could by 10-15 of them for 50p when i was away……
Wed, 22 Aug, 2007 at 16:11
Mangosteens just became available in the US for a ludicrous sum- the equivalent of £5-6.
Wed, 22 Aug, 2007 at 16:17
£5-6 per pound, I mean.
Wed, 22 Aug, 2007 at 17:37
It looks like a plumb with a head of garlic in the middle, that’s crazy!
Wed, 22 Aug, 2007 at 18:45
Yes, crazy! Please for those of us who would not know what to do with the thing, explain how best to cut, peel, and eat. Is that red outside part inedible? And you eat the “garlic” in the middle?
Wed, 22 Aug, 2007 at 20:04
figswithbri: I’ve heard the same things about the mangosteen skins…unfortunately, it was said by a man trying to sell the juice via a pyramid scheme! So um…I’m skeptical, to say the least! :) I have seen mangosteen juice (from the white part, not the red skin) but it tastes nothing like the fruit itself!
Hillary: The fruit inspired the question!
dovelove: Oooh, I do love cherries. But I’ll still take mangosteens over them!
charlotte: I choose dark, relatively heavy ones that aren’t squishy. But sometimes I get it wrong!
james: Yeah…I understand. But they’re even MORE expensive in the US!
SgtHowie: Eeps! That’s high. I even read over at Serious Eats that one place in Philadelphia is charging $45 a pound!
jeremy: Hey, it does!
Kiki: I slice round the equator of the fruit and then twist the two halves to end up with what you see above. Then I scoop out the “garlic” and eat that! Sometimes there’s a large seed inside a segment and sometimes there’s not. The red outside part is the skin and it’s quite terrible to eat.
Thu, 23 Aug, 2007 at 00:00
The easiest way to eat a mangosteen is to squeeze it along the axis, top (green stem) to bottom. The shell will crack open easily without a knife.
Thu, 23 Aug, 2007 at 04:13
They’re about 30p for a kilo here in Thailand. :) Longan and Lumyai are also that cheap.
Thu, 23 Aug, 2007 at 19:56
pumpkinpie: Thanks for that tip! Going to try that next time!
cee: Wow. Yeah, that’s cheap! I definitely want to visit Thailand one day!
Sun, 26 Aug, 2007 at 02:08
I never appreciated mangosteen when I was in Malaysia, since they were easily available. Now that I am away…I wanted to have them so much…same as Rambutan. :)
Sun, 26 Aug, 2007 at 21:10
I totally understand, Rasa Malaysia. When I was a child, we’d have rice for dinner a lot. Never appreciated then – I wanted noodles or bread! But now, rice please!
Mon, 15 Oct, 2007 at 17:18
Ahh, the mangosteen. It’s almost going to be available here in the U.S. I miss eating this sooo much!
Mon, 15 Oct, 2007 at 22:55
veron: I hope they´ll be affordable when they´re available! Gosh, I miss them already too!
Wed, 9 Apr, 2008 at 13:41
I just bought a mangosteen where I’m living on Taipa Island, Macau. Yes, the white fruit is exquisite! Sweet and tangy. When I saw it I got very excited because of the craze in the US. I looked up the health benefits on google and found that the sweet white part is relatively nutritionless, but that the bitter red rind has many antioxidants.
My question is: how the heck do you recommend eating the bitter red rind? It’s awful by itself.
Thu, 10 Apr, 2008 at 22:35
Hi chicagorose! Gosh, um… we don’t actually eat the rind. That seems to be a newfangled US idea.
Wed, 27 May, 2009 at 08:04
[…] If I Had to Choose One Fruit… – That would be the mangosteen! I adore its luscious sweet-tangy flesh. […]
Tue, 23 Jun, 2009 at 06:09
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Mon, 14 Jun, 2010 at 07:07
[…] never had the fruit fresh before, you know. But I’ve been sold that it’s goooood from this post […]