the mangosteen fruit

i have seen all the other fruit trees bearing fruit but not the mangosteen. now, i know why. the mangosteen only starts to bear fruit when it is about ten years old. the trees that i see growing by the roadsides are definitely not more than five years old.

the mangosteen is the size of a mandarin. the outer skin is up to 8mm thick and rich in tannic acid, which makes the fruit insect resistant.to open the fruit, cut through the skin only, and lightly pull and twist the fruit apart. experienced mangosteen eaters use their thumb to pry out the dried flower parts (sessile stigma) and then break the fruit open.

about a third of the fruit is edible and this part consists of 4 to 8 white to pinkish juicy segments. the precise number is indicated by the remnant flower parts on the front of the shell.a greater number of segments reduces the chance of seeds. seeds can be boiled or roasted and eaten. the fruit's taste is delicate, sweet-acid, and the pulp seems to melt in the mouth.the fruit will keep for a few days without refrigeration. storage at 10ºC is ideal and extends shelf life to about 20 days. refrigeration causes cold damage. to minimise this, wrap fruit in newspaper and store it in the upper part of a refrigerator, but away from cooling coils. freezing the fruit whole is also satisfactory.trees are very slow growing and rarely fruit before they are ten years old.

additionally, the cultural requirements are stringent, further reducing the supply of fruit. the fruit has to be harvested by hand.

care must be taken to keep the latex or juice of the mangosteen away from clothes. once stained, it is very difficult to remove the dye.

the fruit is going at $3.00 a kilo at sheng siong supermarket and about $4.00 a kilo at most other fruit stalls. when buying the fruit, if given a chance to pick and choose, i will go for the smaller fruit with more segments.

when i first started eating mangosteen, i remember paying five to ten cents for a fruit. today, each fruit costs about thirty cents.

the mangosteen finally started bearing fruit in 2008. however, like most of the fruit found growing at lim chu kang, the mangosteens did not get to see the light of the day; they were harvested even before they were ripe.