Thai fruits - Mangosteen (2)

Mangosteen - Queen of thai fruits (2)



Legend, geographic origins and culinary applications:

There is a story, possibly apocryphal, about Queen Victoria offering a cash reward to anyone who could deliver to her the fabled fruit. Although available in cans and frozen, mangosteens are rarely sold fresh in Western countries except in some Asian grocery stores (and Tesco).
Without fumigation or irradiation as whole fruit, mangosteens are illegal for importation in commercial volumes into the United States due to fears that they harbor the Asian fruit fly which would endanger US crops. Private small volume orders from fruits grown on Puerto Rico, however, are being filled for American gourmet restaurants who serve the aril pieces as a delicacy dessert.


In the future, new irradiation techniques may allow importation of this delicacy. Products derived from the mangosteen are legally imported into the United States, such as juices, freeze-dried fruit and nutritional supplements. The fresh fruit is also available in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Colombia , the Philippines, and Chinatowns of Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia.


Mangosteen is cultivated and sold on some Hawaiian islands, although presently not exported to the continental United States where it is banned as an insect host (see above). However, Hawaiian growers are working with a Honolulu irradiation facility for future export to the United States mainland. Mangosteen is grown in Central Africa, particularly the Democratic Republic of the Congo where it is a popular delicacy. An ultra-tropical tree, the mangosteen must be grown in consistently warm conditions, as exposure to temperatures below 40°F (4°C) will generally kill a mature plant.


Before ripening, the mangosteen shell is fibrous and firm, but becomes soft and easy to pry open when the fruit ripens. To open a mangosteen, the shell is usually broken apart by scoring it with a knife; one holds the fruit in both hands, prying gently with the thumbs until the rind cracks. It is then easy to pull the halves apart along the crack and remove the fruit, taking care with the purple, inky exocarp juice containing pigments that are an avid dye on skin and fabric.


From wikipedia

"Queen of thai fruits "