Mangosteen
 
 

Mangosteen

Mangosteen. A lof of people have heard of this tropical fruit, but know little about it. Basically, this fruit grows in tropical countries, such as Vietname, Thailand and then Philippines. Its scientific name is Garcinia mangostana, and grows on an an evergreen tree.

The mangosteen fruit itself is quite finicky. It absolutely needs the environments available in the coutried mentioned, such as high atmospheric humidity, plenty of precipitations, as well as moderate temperatures. Thus far no one has successfully grown and cultivated mangosteen in any other climate or region. This results in the scarcity of the fruit that simply makes it all the more desirable.

You may sometimes hear of the mangosteen called the "Queen's fruit". This is dues to a historical event, when Queen Victoria herself offered a reward for whomever was able to bring her edible mangosteen. The reward was never claimed.
 
 
 
 

Mangosteen

A matured mangosteen tree can reach the height of up to 80 feet. The fruit are about 2 or 3 inches in diameter. The mangosteen skin is soft, easy to break apart, and is usually dark purple in color. The flesh of the fruit is a brilliant white, and in sections like an orange with up to 8 segments and 5 seeds. As far as taste in concerned, the mangosteen is exceptionally sweet and tangy, reminiscent of various other fruits. Mangosteen is becoming well-known to be a very powerful antioxidant.

Amzingly, this highly sought after fruit cannot be imported fresh into North America. This is due to the risk of accidentally importing Asian fruit flies with the mangosteen. Therefore, any mangosteen we can consume in the Western hemisphere will be canned, processed or in juice or pill form. Obviously though, nothing can be quite as tasty as the fresh mangosteen!