Human Flower Project
Rome, ITALY
London, ENGLAND
Christchurch, NEW ZEALAND
Friday, June 26, 2009
Kings, Queens and Mangosteens
As the mercury rises, the Local Ecologist unpacks an array of tropical fruit. Plug in the blender!
Inside a fresh mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana). Queenly? Try it and see.
Photo: Georgia Silvera Seamans
“So precise a balance of acid and sugar,” that’s how R.W. Apple decribes mangosteen, the southeast Asian fruit that “can’t get a visa.”
My friend L.I. sent me Apple’s story before I left for Singapore and Malaysia and Hong Kong. Busy as I was before the trip (my husband was graduating and families were in town), I did not read the article till my return. Now I can agree.
My husband fell in love with the “queen of fruit” in Malaysia and Singapore. (Singapore used to be a part of Malaysia.) The taste! But magosteen is interesting in other ways, too, most notably its inner math—the number of lobes on the bottom of each mangosteen corresponds to the number of segments in that particular fruit. My friend’s dad proudly disclosed this to us with several mangosteens.