Forbidden fruit...

They tell me Summer is coming to a end. But for the steady decrease of my favourite fruits, I wouldn't believe them, what with the weather still getting to a staggering 36/37 C and 50% + humidity. Today I think it actually reached 90% for a good hour before we finally got a thunderstorm. And two days ago, the Paper's headlines actually read "Nanning Experiences Hottest Summer Since 1956."

Good -- I didn't miss it. I was really planning for my first year in China to be the hottest Summer in, like, FOREVER.

So without further adieu, this post is more or less an ode to two of my dearly beloveds that I won't be seeing for much longer. Alas, they are already becoming harder and harder to find and aren't really by any means freezable so I'm getting as much as I can of them before going into the famine...ah Winter.

Let me introduce you to two very under-rated, and almost completely if not entirely unknown fruits to the west: the Mangosteen and the Rambutan (also known as a Thailand Lychee). In fact, the Rambutan is so unknow that the dictionary on our Mac here, doesn't even recognize it as a word and doesn't even give me an alternative spelling.

The only thing Mangoes and Mangosteens share in common is the first five letters of their names. Known in South-east Asia as the Queen of the fruits (a noble title seeing as how the King of the Fruits belongs to the smelliest, most awful fruit possibly known to man, the Durian), its the small apple shaped looking fruit in the middle of the above photo. When you manage to get through the thick, leathery, dark purple skin, you get to the amazingly sweet, white sections inside. I first fell in love with this fruit when in Malaysia about five years ago. My house-mates and I used to buy huge bags of them and sit there gorging ourselves between classes. I found out the other day, that Mangosteens have been on America's banned import list up until recently according to the New York Times, but I've never seen them in Australia either so both countries appear to have been missing out all this time. You can however buy the juice, with is pretty pricy being as its considered a super-fruit (right up there with Acai berry and Noni juice) and it costs an arm and a leg...and here I sit, eating them by the bagful again (I don't mind rubbing that in -- you really don't know what you're missing!).

And then there is my exotic friend, the Rambutan. These at least I know you can get on the odd occasion in Australia but usually, they're very expensive. Rambutans are cousins with Lychees. When we were kids, we used to refer to Lychees as 'eye-balls' due to their soft, almost transparent like flesh and the hard black pit inside. Rambutans are sweeter than Lychees (the reason I like them better no doubt!) and prettier with their crimson skin and long, reddish, green tendrils. They look good in my fruit bowl.

I have to admit, it has been my upmost pleasure to broaden the horizon of Jason's taste-buds this Summer. I guess I'm weird but I really like nothing better than walking the isles of the many markets here and discovering a fruit or vegetable that I've had before that he hasn't. Pineapples, mangos, lady-finger bananas, guavas, longans -- now the American's are going to dispute me on the pineapples and mangoes I know but I stake my ground. You haven't really had a pineapple or mango until you've had one naturally ripened and hand-picked from a local farm! The taste completely different. On the other hand, I'd never had peaches or berries like I did in California and do I ever miss that!

To me, heaven will be a garden where I can get all my tropical and non-tropical fruits all together, all year round -- fruit salad anyone?

Rachel -- 10th of Sept, '09