Mangosteen© Denzil Green
The Mangosteen tree is a tropical evergreen that grows 10 to 25 metres tall (3 to 7.5 metres.) The tree is slow growing: it needs 10 years of growth before it can start to produce fruit, but when it starts, it can often produce two crops a year.
The leaves grow up to 10 inches long (25 cm.)
The Mangosteen fruit is round and flattened at both ends. One end of the fruit will have a scar where the flower was, opposite to the stem end. The fruit will be 2 ¼ to 2 ¾ inches (6 to 7 cm) wide with a thick, hard pale-green rind that ripens to a dark purply-red or purple-brown colour. Inside, the flesh is cream-coloured with only a few seeds: generally just 1 to 2 seeds per fruit. The flesh will be divided into 4 to 8 segments: the number of segments will always equal the number of flower parts contained in the scar at the bottom.
The taste is sweet with a bit of tartness. Some liken it to a combination of peaches and lychees; others think it reminds them of fresh plums.
The fruit will not ripen any further once picked.
Fresh Mangosteen has been outlawed in America [1] owing to fear of pests that might hitch a ride on them (as of 2006.) It is now being grown on Hawaii, with plans to irradiate it according to United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) standards so that it can be shipped to the mainland.
It is not related to the mango at all.
Cooking Tips
The skin and seeds are inedible.
Cut it open to get at the segments which separate from each other easily. The amount of edible flesh in one isn’t actually a lot.
Can be eaten fresh out of hand, or used to make juice or jam from.
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|
Amount
|
| Calories | |
34
|
| Carbohydrate | |
5.6 g
|
| Protein | |
.6 g
|
| Vitamin C | |
4.2 mg
|
| Calcium | |
7 mg
|
| Potassium | |
19 mg
|
Sources
[1] Mintz, Jessica. Finding a forbidden fruit in Chinatown. New York, New York. Downtown Express. 21 October 2003. Retrieved July 2010 from http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_26/findingaforbidden.html