That tour of Thai Town

[rachelmanija]

The mangosteen is my holy grail of untasted tropical fruit. They don't grow in the US. When I've traveled, I've missed the season. I have been looking for mangosteens for something like 20 years, with no luck.

Today, in honor of Anthony Bourdain, I had the morning glory stems and ground pork with olives at Ruen Pair, then walked across the way to my favorite Thai sweet shop, Bhan Kanom Thai. It was their 20th anniversary, and I got a free tote bag. And there, for the first time in my life, I found mangosteens.

Thanks, Tony.

Comments

[recessional]

I think I am very ok with the idea of adopting Carrie Fisher and Anthony Bourdain as venerated ancestors. *ponders*

[estara]

I've been calling her Saint-Carrie-of-Telling-It-Like-It-Is. I endorse your idea, although Anhony Bourdain wasn't on my radar at all, not being from the US.

[recessional]

I'm not from the US either. :)

[ironed_orchid]

Very timely. I hope you liked them, I haven't had mangosteen in ages.

[asakiyume]

I had a mangosteen for the first time in Colombia! I'm going to post about it. High fives, mangosteen success!

spork of vicarious fooding

[yhlee]

I've always wanted to try a mangosteen--go you! Will you tell us about the taste?

Re: spork of vicarious fooding

[rachelmanija]

Sort of like a tart peach. The texture is somewhere between a lychee and a custard apple.

Re: spork of vicarious fooding

[yhlee]

Mmmmmmm.

Well, I will have to look for it at some later juncture in my life. =) Thank you for the description, Rachel!

Re: spork of vicarious fooding

[thomasyan]

Do you have an H Mart near you? There's one we go to, and we've seen mangosteen the past few years.

Usually, the leaves (?) On the fruit have started to turn brown or are brown. I forget if we've ever gotten them with green leaves, but we saw pictures a friend took, and she had scored a haul with green leaves.

I think the price is like $12 per pound, maybe as low as $9 when on sale. We fun indulge too often, but in memory of Bourdain seems very appropriate.

Re: spork of vicarious fooding

[yhlee]

I'm in Baton Rouge, so no, but I'm not in a hurry.

Re: spork of vicarious fooding

[sholio]

I was just going to ask what they tasted like!

I've had mangosteen flavored drinks, but I'm not sure how that compares to actual mangosteen, and it was long enough ago now that I can't even remember what it tasted like in the first place ...

Anyway, I'm glad you finally got to try it! :)

Re: spork of vicarious fooding

[genarti]

I was going to ask too -- I've heard that they're delicious, but never had the opportunity to try one for myself. That sounds great!

Also, Anthony Bourdain was only somewhat on my radar, which I had been vaguely meaning to fix for ages and am now rather less vaguely intending to fix as soon as reasonably possible. But I really love the idea of honoring him by treating oneself to food discoveries.

[monanotlisa]

Oh! I had them in Australia. <3

[starlady]

Cheers, Tony.

[eglantiere]

<3

[emperorzombie]

Yay mangosteens! I am thoroughly enjoying mangosteen season. Were they imported, or have they managed to grow them in the US?

[rachelmanija]

Imported at a jaw-dropping cost.

[via_ostiense]

Mangosteens are fucking delicious. I hope you enjoyed it!

[gwyn]

Oh my god, you found fresh actual mangosteens??? I am filled with envy. When my friend went to live in Thailand years ago, he would send me rapturous letters about them, and all I was ever able to find here were mangosteens in a can with heavy syrup, or as flavoring in sweets. I've longed to try them, but I doubt I will ever be where they grow (I mean, I can hope, but that kind of travel is hard for someone with increasing disability).

I'm so happy for you!

[pameladean]

That is so narratively satisfying that it's almost scary.

P.

[rachelmanija]

I had to buy a lot and they're very perishable, so I took some to the farmer's market today and gave them to my favorite fruit vendors. One said she was going to take it back to the guy who owns the orchard and see if he could get them to grow here.

I said, "No one's ever been able to get them to grow in the US."

With a determined gleam in her eye, she said, "Steve is a GENIUS."

So if she's right about Steve, maybe this will end with mangosteens growing where they have never grown before.

[pameladean]

That would be awesome. I hope her faith in Steve is well-placed.

It's a grand effort either way.

P.

[ivy]

Hah. Good luck, Steve!

Exotic fruit

[carbonel]

I'm very fond of rambutan, mangosteens, and lychee. I'm not sure they're all that closely related, but they all have that exotic/tangy/inedible peel commonality for me.

I also love loquats, which I first encountered in Israel. The Hebrew term is "shesek," and it took a while to find the English name. I've only seen them once in the US, in a street market in New York. They seem to be much more common in the UK.

Re: Exotic fruit

[thomasyan]

My wife has relatives in California. They planted some loquat seeds in case they would take. They did! We got to eat some of the fruit when we visited air half a year ago.

[thomasyan]

I'm glad you finally found them! I just reread your Narnia crossover fic. It was excellent.

Did you have any trouble opening up the mangosteen? I think the first set we ever bought had partially dried out, so the shell was rock hard. My wife said gently pressing should suffice to crack it. Hah! That was true for later, fresher purchases. But this set, maybe I wedged between two wooden cutting boards and applied more and more of my weight. Picking mangosteen shells out of mangosteen pizza turns out to not be one of my favourite activities.

Also, there was this yellowish stuff that some had and freaked me out. Multiple purchases later I finally googled or something and reassessed that that is the color of the sap, and probably okay to just pick out or rinse off, rather than some exotic mold to cower from.