Behold: the Mangosteen

I have fielded a few questions regarding the mangosteen, namely, qu'est-ce que c'est? I feel it to be a kind of community service to enlighten readers of this blog as to the true nature of the mangosteen for it is truly an extraordinary fruit. Unfortunately I think its relative obscurity is a function of its price in markets outside the growing region.

Exhibit A.
Mangosteens en masse.
Purplish fruit, a bit smaller than a tangerine (the green numbers on the right), but larger than a grape.

Exhibit B.
Scale photograph.
Nothing makes sense without a standard reference point. I chose the queen of hearts because Queen Victoria died with her appetite for mangosteens unsated.

Exhibit C.
The Heart of the Mangosteen.

The flesh of the mangosteen is quite hard and to pierce it, a forceful prod with the thumb and a strong set of fingernails are required. If you’re lucky, your thumbnail will be stained scarlet.

Once the skin is off, the flesh of the mangosteen is revealed in its nondescript glory, resembling nothing so much as an undersized bulb of garlic. If things are as they should be, the flesh is opaque and as firm as a ripe peach. But what, I suspect you wonder, does it taste like? My friends, I can do no better than this: a mangosteen tastes like a mangosteen.

Other points of interest
Mangosteens and mangos have nothing in common but the letters m-a-n-g-o and a place in a tropical fruit basket. The botanical name of the mangosteen is Garcinia mangostana whereas the mango is uncommonly known as Magifera indica. Obviously.

The grandmother of a friend who I consider a Great Authority on Many Things warned him against guzzling too many mangosteens in his youth on account of the heat in the stomach that they could induce. I have eaten many mangosteens in the one sitting and haven’t found the heat in my stomach to be any more noteworthy than that hanging heavily in the air around me.