(Garcinia mangostana – Family Guttiferaceae)
Mangosteen
mangoustan/mangouste (French), Mangostane (German), mangostana (Italian), mangostán (Spanish), mangostao (Portuguese), manggis (Tamil), mingut (Burmese), mang khut (Thai), manggis (Malay/Indonesian), manggostan (Philippines), shan zhu (Chinese)
Mangosteens, despite the name, are not related to the mango. Their pearly white flesh looks very much like the litchi, but they are not related to them either. They are close relatives of the mamey, however.
Mangosteens are the fruit of a small tree native to Malaysia and Indonesia, where they are cultivated, as well as in parts of Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Central America. Vietnam once had the largest mangosteen orchard in the world.
The trees are very slow to grow, whether from seed or cuttings, and take fifteen years before bearing fruit. The tree also demands exacting climatic and soil conditions, so few in the Western World want to bother with it despite it being an extremely beautiful tree with luscious fruit.
To remove the fruit and the leaves from the tree, a knife must be used.
The fruit is about the size of a mandarin orange, round but slightly flattened at each end. The smooth, thick, tough rind is a rich reddish-purple, with splashes of yellow.
Inside, five to seven snow white segments, lying loosely within the rind. These segments are translucent and divided by an inedible pith.
The texture of the mangosteen pulp resembles that of a well-ripened plum ,only more delicate, melting in the mouth. The flavour of mangosteens is too fragrant and delicate to be impaired by cooking, so they are best eaten raw or added to fruit salads.
There are many other wild and cultivated mangosteens of this species, with some providing sweet fruits; while others supply tart seasonings, medicines, dyes, artist’s pigment called gamboge, substances used for tanning leather, and timber.
Other Garcinia species are as follows:
G. atroviridis: Asam gelugur (Malay and Indonesia), som khaek/som mawon (Tailand), is the size of a large apple, very sour, vertically ribbed, and yellow to orange in colour.
G. cochinchinensis: It is found in Vietnam, South China and Indonesia. It is plum-size, with reddish or reddish-yellow fruits of an agreeable flavour.
G. dulcis: It grows wild in the Philippines, but is cultivated in Malaysia. It has yellow fruits about the size of an orange. They are sour but still eaten raw or cooked with sugar and made into jam.
G. globulosa: Asam kandis is common and sometimes cultivated in Malaysia and Indonesia. It bears grapefruit-size fruits whose sweet pulp is eaten raw.
G. nigrolineata: Kandis jantan (big kandis) has orange fruits like the G. globulosa, but larger and sweeter.
G. hombroniana: Manggis hutan (jungle mangosteen), from Indonesia and Malayasia, is a species bearing fruit with a flavour like a slightly sour peach when it is eaten raw.
G. prainiana: It is sometimes cultivated in West Malaysia as “cepu”. It has fruits the size of a plum, acidic, but edible.
G. indica: Kokam is from a tree of the Asian tropics which produces round, purple fruits the size of a small orange, and has a variety of uses. The best known is from southwest India, where kokam butter is made from the kernels. The fruits are also used in making semi-medicinal foods.
