I know I ought to be blogging about Taiwan and Japan, but this weekend Sean found mangosteens on sale at the Chinese grocery store. Banned from importation into the U.S. until 2007, I'd read about the tropical fruit online but never seen it or tasted it fresh. (By the way, I have had canned mangosteen which was fairly gross and I can now report tastes nothing like mangosteen at all.) To eat, cut the leathery skin until you can pull off a hemisphere and then use your fingers or a small fork to ease out the white segments. The fruit is very soft (softer than any other fruit I can think of) and there's not a lot to eat (the larger segments have big seeds that you spit out). The descriptions of its flavor that I'd read said citrus. After eating one, it is really hard to describe. Sweet and citrus-y, yes, and it has a vague kiwi flavor but sweet and mild, with no acid-y tang. It was really good and I can see why people love them.
2 comments:
OH YUM. I love mangosteen. My grandma used to carry me as a toddler to buy them and we'll eat in a Taoist temple. I still remember the advice : don't get the stain on your clothes, they are impossible to get off.
I heard that about the stains, but they weren't messy and it was pretty easy not to. I forgot to mention, however, that they were incredibly expensive -- something like 20 bucks for a bag of 8!
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