Mangosteens

One of my new goals it to try a new fruit/vegetable each week which should last quite a while. When I go to the grocery store, I always see all sorts of bizarre looking fruits & veggies and I have no idea what they are. I am sure most of them are probably not that "bizarre," but I definitely didn't see anything like these in my local Harris Teeter back home.

Whole Mangosteens

First up is the Mangosteen. I just bought a pack of these and then when I got home I looked up online how you're supposed to eat it. Apparently it is the national fruit of Thailand and has been nicknamed the "queen of fruits" because Queen Victoria offered 100 pounds to anyone who brought her fresh mangosteens.

The "petals" are supposed to tell you how many sections there are,
but that didn't really seem true for the ones we had.

Mangosteens are about the size and color of a purple plum but with a pretty tough skin on the outside. The way you eat them is by cutting all the way around the fruit through the skin and the spongy layer inside--but you have to be very careful not to cut into it too far because you don't want to cut the edible fruit inside. The internet is a wonderful thing, I wonder how many of the fruits I would have ruined before I figured out what to do.The white part on the inside is the part you eat. The size and texture of the sections reminded me a little bit of mandarins. They have a very mild slightly citrus taste. Both Paul and I liked them.

Amazingly, this was my first try at cutting one open...
it was also my best.

I don't think they'll become a regular at our house, mainly because it was quite a bit of work for not a lot of edible fruit. However, I think we may get them every now and again for some variety.

The remnants