"mangosteens" news and stories

I have a friend who spent a chunk of her childhood years living in Indonesia. Of all the things she missed about life in the tropics, the mangosteen was the thing she longed for the most. When they finally became available in the US she was delighted and indulged in a few to satisfy her craving of many years. Having tasted one recently, I can understand why they haunted her for so long.

Thanks Dayna, for adding this gorgeous picture of some mangosteens to the Slashfood Flickr pool!

Source

The mangosteen is known as the "queen of fruits." It is a tropical fruit that has a citrusy, peachy flavor and grows in sections, much like tangerines, though they are not actually citrus fruits (they are classified as arils). Each section of the Mangosteens comes in a thick, purple rind, but the fruit itself is nearly colorless.

Although the mangosteen is sometimes considered with the class of functional foods known as "superfoods," along with blueberries and acai, it really doesn't fit into the category. It does not have anywhere near the antioxidant content of those foods and no studies exist that support the claim that mangosteens play a healing or preventative role in any illness/condition.

It is extremely difficult to find mangosteens in the US, although there is one company attempting to grown them on US soil. If you want to give them a try, your best bet is to travel to South East Asia to look for fresh ones or to look at specialty grocery stores for freeze-dried mangosteens, like the pictured bag that I found at Trader Joe's.