M - Mangosteen

Copying what was written in Wikipedia - The Purple Mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana), colloquially known simply as "the mangosteen", is a tropical evergreen tree, believed to have originated in the Sunda Islands and the Moluccas of Indonesia. The tree grows from 7 to 25 m (20–80 ft) tall. The rind (exocarp) of the edible fruit is deep reddish purple when ripe. Botanically an aril, the fragrant edible flesh can be described as sweet and tangy, citrusy with peach flavor and texture.

Mangosteen is typically advertised and marketed as part of an emerging category of novel functional foods sometimes called "superfruits" presumed to have a combination of 1) appealing subjective characteristics, such as taste, fragrance and visual qualities, 2) nutrient richness, 3) antioxidant strength and 4) potential impact for lowering risk against human diseases.

Mangosteen is sometimes known as "The Queen of fruits" in parts of southeast Asia, notably Singapore and Malaysia. It is believed to have "cooling" properties that counteract the "heat" of durians, the so-called "King of fruits".

These mangosteen fruits were from my mom. I loved eating this fruit because of its tangy sweet taste, but sometimes I feel it's not worth the price (this fruit is quite expensive) because only the arils can be eaten, and the fruit is sold by weight. I always feel that the inedible part of the fruit was the heaviest part of it, thus making me "throw" essential part of my money. =)

A little trivia from a blogging friend, to know how many segments of arils inside the fruit, check the bottom part. The number of petal-like crown indicates the number of arils inside.

*** Jenn ***