Truly Exotic Fruits

The Fruits of Thailand:  Part I dealt with fruits which although exotic are pretty common at least in California.  The next three fruits I got from my neighborhood mega fruit stand, which happened to be a fruit truck are not common in the USA at all.  As a matter of fact, I have never seen any of these three fruits in the United States.

Mangosteen

I used to drink the canned mangosteen drink which was saturated with sugar once in a while.  In San Francisco’s small Asian markets by the coconut water you could usually find a few cans.  It is more like sugar water than a actual fruit juice as Mangosteen has a taste which is sweet and tart at the same time.

Mangosteen juice and pup is marketed in the USA as your typical “Super Food.”  A natural fruit which is high in antioxidants, mangosteen is seasonal in Thailand available 3-4 months out of the year.  A company which markets mangosteen juice, claims that the real antioxidants are actually found in the pulp which is very bitter and not usually eaten but who knows?

Mangosteen are purple and round with these round green leaves on top.  To eat them you only have to cut a line a few centimeters long on them, I usually use my key, then you can rip half of the outer shell off to expose the delicate white brains!

The inside of mangosteen kind of looks like a white orange but I see it more as a brain sticking out of the skull.  Thais offer you a small fork in restaurants to scoop out pieces of the fruit but I just grab the while thing and pop it in my mouth.

The mangosteen fruit is VERY juicy.  It tastes bitter at first, then sweet, then bitter again.  There are 1-4 seeds amidst all the pulp some big and some small.  You can spit it out, or be like “Weird Al” Yankovich and just eat it!

Rambutan & Longan

I had never heard of either Rambutan or Longan before I aimlessly began walking the streets of Bangkok looking for some sweets.  The rambutan looks vaguely similar to a  sea anemone and the small, brown round longan looks like a little brown nut which comes on a branch.

They don’t very appetizing on the outside but both have their own sweet rewards on the inside.  They are both seasonal fruits which grow in hot environments and according to wikipedia the longan is a near threatened species.

To me they taste very similar and have almost the exact texture.  I have read that both are similar to lychee fruit which I have had but am soon to find here in Bangkok.  The taste of both is sweet.  I can’t really describe it any other way, there is no tartness, bitterness, saltiness, etc.  just sweet.

They say the longan has a more pungent taste which may be true but they pretty much taste the same to me.  The reason I like the longan better is because the seed separates from the fruit almost completely.

See in the picture, the rambutan (top) fruit has the outer part of the seed stuck to the fruit.  It doesn’t really change the taste at all or hurt your teeth but I think it makes rambutan a little less enjoyable, biting on a chunk of seed.

The seed may be healthy as it appears to be similar to an almond but until I know it’s free of any deadly poisons I will throw it away.

Getting to the Rambutan & Longan Fruit

Both fruits are easily peeled with the hands, the rambutan is the easier of the two.  To open a rambutan grab the fruit with both hands with your thumbnails touching each other.  Dig your thumbs into the outer shell and simply tear the skin away from the inner fruit which comes out easily.  The Longan has a tougher, smoother skin which takes some serious strong nails to dig in.  I usually bit a little tear in the skin and peel it off.  Like a cherry, the seed is easily separated from the fruit.

Both fruits have very little juice.  The texture is hard to explain.  I would say it’s like the ultra-preserved cherry which is in most canned fruit cocktails.  Both fruits are good for snacking on and taste especially good when chilled.

Read about Fruit more Common in America.

Stay Tuned for More about the Fruits of Thailand

Fruits Common to the USA

I just went across the street and spent I really can’t speak for the rest of the USA but being from California I can tell you that many fruits I eat here in Bangkok on a daily basis are readily available in supermarkets.  There are a couple major differences.

Fresh fruit is very convenient.  I already blogged about the yummy Thai oranges which are usually juiced. I have yet to find a street in Bangkok without at least 1 (there are usually 2 or 3) fruit stands.  From my apartment I have to walk about 5 meters to the nearest!  You go there, point to the fruit you want which is usually chilled and sliced and they put it in a little plastic bag with a skewer so you can eat it while you’re walking down the street.

These fruit stands are open from early in the morning (I can’t actually tell you if this is really true because I usually wake up around 2pm but I assume to be true) to late in the evening.  I have gotten fruit around 11pm but most of the food stands in the street are closing down by then.

The price is also very nice.  The little pre-sliced bags of fruit cost 10 baht (29 cents) each!  All 6 bags of fruit which you see above cost a total of $1.74!

Types of Fruit Readily Available

I’m not sure about the seasonal aspects of the fruits but the most common fruits I see are papaya, watermelon and pineapple.  There is also canetloupe, mangos and Thai guava to name a couple.  I will give a quick rundown of how the fruits taste as certain fruits are more likely to be sweet and ripe while others are often unripe.

Papaya

When I first moved to Bangkok I didn’t really like papaya.  It may have been because I never had good papaya in the US.  I remember papaya to having a pumpkin-esque after taste in the US.  I can tell you in Thailand I have eaten papaya every day for the past 3 months and I have only had a couple of poor tasting bites.

Watermelon

I’ve yet to see any fruit stand without watermelon.  It is fresh, sweet and delicious most of the time.  It comes sliced without the rind.  Sometimes you can find yellow watermelon which tastes the same.  Sometimes the watermelon is de-seeded and sometimes it has the seeds which you can spit out in the street if you like.

Pineapples

Pineapples are pretty much in every fruit stand as well.  The slices come ready to stab with a skewer and be eaten.  I had pretty good luck with pineapples as they are almost always ripe, sweet and tasty.

Mangos

Mangos taste different every time you get them.  Sometimes you will find them hard with a little bitter taste to them.  I think this is how some people like them.  I actually like them hard sometimes as they are not as sweet.  The soft mushy mangos are absolutely delicious in the Thai dessert mango sticky rice which is so delicious it is going to get its own blog entry.

Thai Guava

I learned in my Thai language that the Thai word for guava is ‘farang’ which also means foreigner!  I put 2 + 2 together and figured that guavas were not native to Thailand which is true, they originate from the tropical Americas but have been in Thailand since the 17th century and are available year round.

I’ll admit, up until now I had no idea what this green fruit with a white hard inside was.  I thought guavas were pink on the insdie and I figured it was some kind of apple.  I have had some Thai guava which was very bitter and some which is sweet.  The Thais sprinkle salt? which is avaiable at the fruit stands on the guava.  I like the sweet kind better as it is very crunchy.  WARNING:  Don’t eat this stuff fast unless you want to visit the dentist.  The little seeds can sometimes be very dangerous for the ole’ molars!

I’m not too sure how ‘common’ this type of guava or guava in general is in the US but I decided to put it on this page because I had heard about it before.  Part II will be devoted to some of the fruits I have recently discovered and had never heard of before I moved to Bangkok.

The Fruits of Thailand:  Part II

Eat your Greens

When I came to Thailand for the first time I saw the green these ground green fruits on street stands.  There are so many delicious fruits on the street stands ( which I will blog about later) that I never bothered to ask what the fruits were.  Even if I asked what they were, I would no doubt hear a Thai phrase which I couldn’t understand anyway.

Well it turns out, these green fruits about the size of small apples are one of the most common fruits in America, they just look different.  In Bangkok they taste a little different.  They have a wide variety of tastes, some sweet, some tart and they always seem to be ripe.

Green Juice ?

The juice is sold more often on the streets of Bangkok than the fruit.  The juice sometimes is very sweet and sometimes has a little tang to it.  It is sold in containers of around 400ml for 20 baht (58 cents) and 40 baht on the street, usually chilled.  It is quite refreshing on a hot humid day walking down the streets of Bangkok.

What exactly is this Tasty Green Fruit

I figured if I was going to blog about something as mundane as a normal household fruit for every American I would leave it a mystery for a bit.  The last hint about this fruit and juice is, the juice can kill you!

Have you figured out what this mystery green fruit is yet?

Oranges!