it's the insides that count

Foodie Friday 017

purple mangosteen

[ tropical ]

Availability: Asia and beyond (?) ...

Instead of just getting stuck with a segment for days on end, I want to be as current as possible and live up to the name as much as possible, hence this food entry just a day late. Better late than never, right?

Regarding local fruits, I enjoy eating almost all of them that I came across through my life (I could stomach durian but is not as crazed with it as my other family members and I can't stand the smell of ciku! langsat is another I haven't had in a while ...) and besides rambutan, mangosteen is my other favourite delicacy that love to eat but unfortunately hasn't consume as much I wanted to in the past. With my mother buying a bunch of them for three weeks running, I could relive its magic all over again and revitalize my love for the fruit! Fruits have different shelf life from one specie to another and even though they would be spoiled just several days after they are plucked off of their trees, it is always a delight to eat them when they are fully ripe and in its prime of delicious and tastiness. This fruit in particular has small parts or 'pellets' inside of it when it is still small and just begin to grow, whereby you can eat them right away without worrying of any seed that could be trapped in your throat. They may be small, but still full of flavours! Man, I'm salivating right now, making me crave one myself! If you've taste it before, you know what I'm talking about.

It's been awhile since I have the fully ripe ones, but the most recent batch always had the small segments on one side while the bigger ones are on the other, giving me the opportunity to quickly eat the former while sucking off the 'flesh'(?) of the seeds of the latter. If you've never tasted it before, it is a delightful combination of sweet and sour that is uniquely mangosteen that would come and go as quickly as the sugar high it induces every time you eat it. The tricky thing is you can't easily know which one is spoiled until you open it up, unlike rambutan where you can see the dark parts tainting its red shell. You can actually tell if you look closely on the surface or you squeeze it a bit and it feels a bit harder or too squishy compared to the usuals. Results may vary but experience would serve you best.

All in all, I hope my recommendation of the fruit here would urge you to seek it out and taste it yourself!

Do you have any other fruits that is your favourite that you might want to recommend to me?

-

a case for the wonderful family tradition:

+ Positives +

sweet and sour natural treat.

? Main contention ?

risky if you're getting a batch of them without knowing how ripe they are ...

- Negatives -

relatively low shelf life.

! Warning !

watch out for the seeds.

j preferred way of eating f

grab a bunch of them and eating them one by one, one after another.

* sense of touch & taste *

sweet and sour from soft pellets of white goodness, definitely would treat your palate well.

 <+> 

natural source of glucose, but as always, please eat responsibly.

RM

depends on where you buy it. please browse around first before buying it. don't buy it from the first stall you come across here, okay?

? Value ?

+ rich taste of sweet and sour + local delicacy - short shelf life = 90% 

--

- wiki -

---

- x -