That’s what mangosteen has been called. Until this year, the only way to try the fresh tropical fruit was to travel to Southeast Asia, where it originated; or to get your hands on others grown in Hawaii or Puerto Rico.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture once banned the importation of mangosteens and other fruits from Thailand because of the concern that they might harbor fruit flies that could infect citrus trees in the United States. Thailand, though, agreed to irradiate its shipments (a method that kills pests with radiation). The first shipments now have arrived in the United States, just at the peak harvest season of the fruit.
You’ll pay a dear price for them, too. At 99 Ranch markets, the tangerine- to orange-sized fruit with a dark purple exterior are $8.99 a pound. And finding them is not always easy, either. At 99 Ranch in Cupertino last week, I came up empty-handed. But my trip to the 99 Ranch on Hostetter Road in San Jose a few days later netted me the goods.
So are they really the most amazing fruit you’ll ever taste? I was dubious. I had tried frozen mangosteens in the shell from an Asian market, and wasn’t impressed. I also had tried a mangosteen juice beverage that was just ghastly.
Of course, I had to get the mangosteen open first to get to the edible white flesh inside. And that was no easy task. While a just-picked mangosteen is very soft and easy to open, the ones I had purchased were a challenge. According to a very useful Web site, appropriately enough called Mangosteen.com, the longer a mangosteen sits after harvesting, the more its skin hardens as it loses water. So store any uneaten ones in a partially closed plastic bag in the refrigerator to cut down on moisture loss.
On my first attempt at opening a mangosteen, I used a meat mallet to crack the shell open. On my second attempt, I found a serrated knife also will do the trick if you make a shallow cut all around the equator, then twist the halves apart.
Inside is a soft, slippery white, round fruit that has segments much like an orange. The smaller segments have no seeds; the larger ones do.
The texture is like a lychee, but the flavor is not floral like that. Rather, it’s sweet, but with a beguiling tang reminiscent of tamarind.
So was it worth the price, and all the effort?
You bet.