I have wanted to eat a mangosteen for a long time, because author and all-around awesome lady Justine Larbalestier frequently and passionately sang their praises at her blog.
I finally got a couple this summer at my produce market, with stickers informing me they'd flown all the way from Thailand. (Sorry, ozone! I won't do it again!) They have very hard outsides, and white, pulpy, squishy insides (or at least, this is how mine were by the time I ate them). I wasn't so much a fan of the texture of the innards; it made me think of aliens, but the flavor and the juice were lovely. Sort of pineapple-y.
My parents thought by the name that it must be a half-breed fruit, the lovechild of mango + something else. Nope. It is its own fruit.
I have a bunch of other obscure tropical fruits to eat on my life list (which I have been needing to rewrite for a while...the items are nice, but not all of them still compel me). Odd me.
Do they have mangosteens where you live, slash, do you have a favorite odd fruit?
This is also an item on my life list.
ReplyDeleteI am a fan of passionfruit.
Q - Not for the same reason, is it? :) Mmm, passionfruit...I had my first only last year.
ReplyDeleteMy idea of mangosteen has been rather damaged by some friends who are part of a multi-level marketing program and try to convince anyone who comes near that it is a cure for cancer, the common cold, world hunger... haha. The juice is delicious though.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to the life list remix :)
Kelsey - Oh really? Ahaha. Mmm, I'd love to find their juice in a box...
ReplyDeleteAvocados all the way, although they are not really that odd. Mangosteens sound spiffy!
ReplyDeleteEmma - 1) It had not occurred to me until just now that avocado is a fruit 2) I think it is one of the most delicous things on earth.
ReplyDeletefunny, i grew up eating all those fruits in your list. the perks of being an island girl. haha.
ReplyDeleteIt's not really an odd fruit, but I can never get enough of mangoes. When they're just ripe enough that you can kind of peel their skin away and it falls off, but it isn't too mushy or syrupy... ohhhhh so good.
ReplyDeleteFor odd fruit, I can't go past a nice custard apple... it has to be ripe so it's sweet and smooth, but not so much that it gets too soft and starts going grainy near the skin or brown around the seeds... and star fruit are fun to eat (I think they're also known as carambolas or something like that)
ReplyDeletegeekspawn - I love dried mango and mango on tarts and such, but I don't think I've ever had a perfectly plain perfect mango. Yet.
ReplyDeleteAfthi - Custard apple, hm. I've not heard of it!