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.