Thailand Culture

Archive for the ‘Thai Fruits’ Category

Thai mangosteen is a popular fruit in Thailand among Thai People. Thai mangosteen has many health benefits. In the US, however, Thai mangosteen is rare. Thai mangosteen juice is easier to obtain than the actual Thai mangosteen fruit. Below is a picture of Thai mangosteen. 

 

Picture of Thai Mangosteen 

What is mangosteen?

Mangosteen is a type of fruit that is dark purple in color on the outside and white on the inside. The outer layer ’shell’ of a Thai mangosteen is hard and has to be cut with a knife to eat. The peel of a Thai mangosteen is about half a centimeter thick or about a quarter of an inch thick and you should not eat this outer part of Thai mangosteen. 

Inside a Thai mangosteen is soft white fruit divided into 5-6 parts. There is a big mangosteen seed inside each part which you cannot swallow. The top part is green with round leaves which you also cannot eat. Some people think Thai mangosteen is hard to eat since you have to do much work before you can actually eat the fruit. For those people, Thai mangosteen juice is available which will provide similar health benefits as Thai mangosteen fruit. 

What does Thai mangosteen taste like?

The Thai mangosteen fruit is soft and sweet but there are some that are sour which most people try to avoid. The older the Thai mangosteen the softer the fruit is and the sweeter (before it goes bad, of course). When a Thai mangosteen is young, the fruit is hard and more firm and tends to tastes less sweet or even sour. 

The bottom of each Thai mangosteen indicates how many parts there are inside. The picture of the Thai mangosteen on the left hand side shows that there are 5 parts inside. Most Thai People love Thai mangosteen which may contribute to their good health.