durian durian

After three months of laziness, almost abandon this blog. I, finally, start my blog again. Gimme a big loud clap....
Ok, I'll make my return with, what I think, most fascinating fruit. It's not healthy, load of carbs from large amount of sugar and fats, strong odor. Some say its odor is so unpleasant and unbearable, some say it's tasty smelly. After you eat durian, its odor can still with you for half a day. People can tell you've eaten it when you burp hehe....
Durian normally comes out from May to Aug or probably until late Sep. In Thailand, it comes with 2 famous varieties, Chanee (gibbon in English) and Monthong (golden pillow, let's see if you can sleep on it.) Chanee is more yellowish, less flesh and less sweet than Monthong. Monthong is more popular because it's sweeter, more flesh and creamer taste. The one I tried (on May, don't worry, pictures don't stale) was Monthong.

Look! What a lovely golden pillow, try to blow it to your friends. As you can see, you must be very highly skill to crack it down. The thorns can be extremely lethal. So don't mess with durian sellers while you're in Thailand. Normally, the seller cracks its shell and put its flesh into a foam box for you. But as for this one, I asked her just to rip the shell, so I can took the pictures of a whole. See how sacrifice I was just to make this blog :p

This is what you'll see after you crack it down. The yellowish flesh is what we're going to eat. After a few crack, with pre-ripped from the seller (thank you, seller, otherwise you'd see yellow flesh with my blood stained around) I torn it down apart ha!



I was going to save half of it for the next day, but I could not resist..... ended up eating them all. Need some exercise to blow up calories.
Ah! and in Thailand, we believe that durian must not be eaten with alcohol. Rumor is that it can be fatal. I never dare to try. Finally, what's healthy about durian? Well, no, we've been told that people with obesity and high blood pressure should avoid durian. Just solely personal pleasure though!!

See what's left......

Mangosteen

Mangosteen, this is my favorite fruit. I can eat 5 kgs non-stop. Too sad it's only available for 2-3 months from April - July. At its peak, it can cost as low as 20 Baht per kilogram. I bought this one for 25 Baht/Kg from Phayao market yesterday.
Mangosteen has hard deep purple shell with soft inner shell. As you can see, it has 4 small petals on top, look like crowns, so we called in "Queen of fruits." The hardest part of eating mangosteen is how to remove its shell without bruising its soft white flesh inside. From my experience, there are two ways to open it, the first one is to use a knife by slitting its rind in the middle and open it.


The other, which I used, is to pull a branch(? I don't know what to call it in English) in the middle of petals. After you pulled that branch, the rind will be easily crack down and then you can see white, soft, sweat & sour flesh.



Not only its flesh is tasty, containing calcium, phosphorus, iron and some vitamins (that what I heard of, but not confirmed), but its rind is also used to heal bruises and wounds, fresh or blister. Mangosteen's rind has substances called Tannin, Xanthone, and Mangostin. Tannin help a wound to heal faster, Xanthone acts as an anti-fungus substance to prevent skin disease and ringworm, and Mangostin is anti-bacteria substance. It also used in cosmetic such as acne soap and facial wash. Anyway, I don't care how many benefits it has, the best part is the white sweat flesh. And by the way, don't eat its seeds, it's not edible.

Longkong

I ate this fruit several weeks ago, just one day after my first blog. I was just too lazy to post a new one... Anyway, here I am. Longkong is a tropical fruit, grown mostly in southern of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. It's in the same species of langsat. In fact, they are very similar, except langsat's skin is more yellow, smoother, and its seeds are more bitter. Longkong used to be an expensive fruit, however, in recent years, its price came down. Now it's very affordable at around 30-50 Baht per kilogram. That day, I went to a fresh food market in Lampang province, and bought longkong (1/2 kg), mangosteen (3 kg), and rambutan (1 kg). I ate them all within 2 days hehe. Unfortunately, because of my laziness, I only took the picture of longkong.

Longkong has abundant of vitamin B, phosphorus, and I think it may have some vitamin C because it's sour. After peeled out the skin, you could see translucent meat inside. The meat is sweet, tasted little sour, soft, and slimy. If you find small seeds inside, you can also eat them. But the bigger the seeds, the bitter they taste.

Buying longkong is somewhat like buying lottery. Sometimes you get a very sweet one, sometimes very sour. Normally, I'll buy only a small amount, not over 1 kg, so if it come out bad, I'll not be so disappointed. Luckily, this one is acceptable, tough not the best. But I finished them within 5 minutes anyway. Mangosteen and rambutan were so good that I didn't want to waste my time taking their photos. I promise to go for mangosteen next time (aka queen of fruit, in Thailand, we left the king for the most lethal fruit on earth, durian!!)

My frist blog woo hoo!!

Firstly, this is my first blog. My sister told me a week ago about starting my own blog. I had no idea what to write. After viewing my sister's blog, I noticed that she is obsessed with cupcakes, cakes, cookies, and high calorie foods (yes! she looks bigger and bigger every time I see her.) And then voila! a blog about fruits, Thai grown fruits. In Thailand, fruits are abundant, and cheap.

Let's start with one of the most expensive, Japaneses melon or muskmelon. Though we called it Japanese melon, but it's organically grown in Thailand. This's the one you may find it in Japan, but lots cheaper here in Thailand. I bought it from a supermarket. I told you, it's expensive, so you will not find it in local markets.

OK, here's the price. It's 87 Baht/Kilogram (1.12 $/Lbs.) This one is roughly around 110 Baht (3.14USD.) Why it's so expensive? Because it's organically and hydroponically grown. Hey!! don't raise your eyebrow, I live in a country where a lunch is around 2$ and a can of coca-cola is around 42 cents. So this is EXPENSIVE!!

Melon is healthy, even though it has somewhat high calories from it sweetness. I heard somewhere that melon has as high sugar as sugarcane. However, it has high vitamin A, C, folate, and potassium which are good for your skin and unary system.

I bought it on Saturday, and put it in the fritz. Expecting a sweet, refreshing snack during Sunday afternoon where the temperature probably reach 41 degree Celsius (105.8 F.) WTF, why don't Americans use metrics system like the rest of the world so I won't have to convert between kilogram and pound, celsius and fahrenheit!!

After halved it, you'll see lots of seeds. The sweetness is around its seeds, you have to scrape them by spoon, but not too much. Slice it to thin slices.

It's now ready to eat!!!!!! 5 minutes later................................

burp!!! I wrapped the other halve for evening hehe.... The left over and equipments used to murder this melon.

Next episode, Longkong (ลองกอง: what is it in English? someone help me!) Typically grown in southern Thailand, Malaya peninsula, Indonesia and the Philippines. Sweet, sour and slimyyyy...............