Mangosteen - how to open this heavenly fruit

[helent]

Hello,

I am now living in Vietnam and recently tried mangosteens.  They were so delicious I could hardly stop eating them.   No wonder Queen Victoria offered a knighthood to anyone who could bring her a ripe mangosteen!  They are also just beautiful with the little white pillows of fruit surrounded by thick maroon skin.  It is surprising that something so nondescript on the outside could be so incredible inside!  It is a terrific surprise. To serve is a trick:  the skin is leathery and if you cut it with a knife you almost always cut into the white flesh a little, which darkens with age and spoils the beauty of it.  However, if you hold it between your hands with the stem at the top, and firmly press your two hands together where the fleshy part is below your thumbs, it will simply crack open and there will be no cutting necessary!  The fruit will be perfect.  Then using a fork or spoon or your fingers, life out the little white pillows in sections and enjoy.  So fresh,refreshing, sweet and fleshy.  Yum!

Helen

 

[chefedb]

Although never have eaten one have seen one. I understand they are delicious. My fruit maven  tells me  They were illegal to import into The US because of all the pest and caterpillars that came with them. Now however the USDA has granted them access if they are first irradiated to kill off everything.

Hawaii  is starting to grow them but not on the main islands.I do know they are sold by the bag and are cheap. They are white fleshed with purple leather like skin. Homepathic medicines have used the juice for years. It must be pasteurized however.

 

[donmoocao]

I just returned from a summer vacation from Vietnam and mangosteens are definitely my favorite fruit.  There are so many good fruits that I love when I visit: longan, rambutan, lychee, dragonfruit, pomelo.  If you're feeling adventurous try soursop, sapodilla, custard apples, jackfruit, and durian.

 

[critical647]

THE king of all fruits in my own opinion.  I love mangosteens and eat them by the kilo whenever I go to Thailand.  Americans really don't know how much they are deprived of good tasting produce.