Exotic fruits you need to taste! - Mangosteen #1

Asia is filled with strange, exotic fruits that I've never seen before in my life! Most of them I can't even name. My travel mates have a hard time with me when we go past the fruit markets. ALWAYS, when I find a new fruit, I need to buy it, taste and if I'm lucky and the salesman speaks english I also ask about the english name and how they use the fruit traditionally at their homes. That reaserch can't be wasted so today I will tell you about exotic fruits you need to try! Every day I will post another fruit that is interesting for me. Just for you to know- they are exotic for me because I live in Poland! If you are from Asia maybe you grow them in the garden :)

Most of them I've found and tasted in Thailand. Sometimes you can buy them in the supermarkets (depending on when you are from), but to try most of them you would have to visit the country when they grow!

Because describing taste can be really difficult, I used my travel-mates to help me witch that. I prepared smapling for them: gave them the fruits I wanted to use in the article (bought at a local fruit markets) and observed carefully their reactions. Some of them were hilarious!

Mangosteen

Many people say it's the tasties fruit of South East Asia. It is really perishable commodity so in Europe or US its prices are enormously high! It's impossible to store Mangosteens for a long time and hard to import them as well. There is a legend saying that Queen Victoria (who especially loved them) offered 100 pounds reward for anyone who would deliver her that fresh fruit. Under hard, purple skin you can find soft, white flesh. Mangosteen's taste can be described as sweet, citrusy, a little acidoulous. The scent is strong, similar to peach or nectarine. It is often called "the Queen of the fruits". Mangosteen contains a special kind of antioxidants- xanthones that have a proven antiinflammatory effects and ability to prevent hearth diseases. Thai people claim that it also treats first stages of Alzheimer's disease and boosts immunity.

Have you ever tasted Mangosteen? Maybe they grow in your backyard? :D Tall me in the comments section ! Thanks for reading, next posts about exotic fruits are coming soon! :)