Mangosteen Season

It is mangosteen season now!!! Yes, this dark purple fruit, with white segment flesh, is yummy!! They are extremely sweet!! The white segments of the fruit is the edible part. I recalled bringing some mangosteen to friends in northern China. A Swedish colleague started peeling and eating the fruit before I realized it. He even ate the purple internal skin of the fruit. So now I make it a point to inform first timer who try this fruit that only the white segments are edible.

How to choose mangosteen that is ripe? Usually I would press the skin. If it is a bit soft, then the fruit is considered ripe. If it is very hard when you press it, then it is not ripe yet. Avoid buying this. Another interesting tip is to check at the bottom of the fruit and you will see something that looks like the shape of a flower. In the photo above, most of this flower shape at the bottom have 6 petals. That means the fruit has 6 segments. I always prefer to choose fruit that is medium in size. Reason being the flesh would be medium or small and thus there would not be any seed in the fruit. Big segment always come with big seed that you need to discard, instead of swallowing it. From my past experience, swallowing those seeds will cause terrible constipation!