Posted by Ed Levine, May 20, 2008 at 8:45 AM
Ever since 2003, when the late great R. W. " Johnny" Apple Jr. wrote about his unabashed love of the once forbidden (at least in the U.S.) mangosteen, I've been hankering to try one. This is what he wrote that got me so excited: "No other fruit, for me, is so thrillingly, intoxicatingly luscious, so evocative of the exotic east, with so precise a balance of acid and sugar, as a ripe mangosteen.... I'd rather eat one than a hot fudge sundae, which, for a big Ohio boy, is saying a lot."
When Johnny Apple says that he would rather eat a mangosteen than a hot fudge
sundae, that's a powerful statement.
Fruitmeister David Karp (the New Yorker once called him the fruit detective) reported last year that the mangosteens were at last coming to the U.S. This year I had read that they were available at Agata & Valentina and Dean & DeLuca in New York, and at Kings Super markets in New Jersey, but I have to admit that the Serious Eats mangosteens came in the mail from the exotic fruit sellers Frieda's Produce. Freida's ships irradiated (that's the only way they're allowed in this country) Thai mangosteens anywhere and everywhere there is a mangosteen lover.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, August 21, 2007 at 4:05 PM
Looks like Di Bruno Bros. in Philadelphia has gotten its hands on a shipment of mangosteens.
In the coming weeks, Di Bruno Bros. (1730 Chestnut Street; 215-665-9220) will carry a very, very limited supply of the fruit, at an intriguing/slightly frightening price of $45 per pound (the average mangosteen weighs about a third of a pound).
That's about $15 a 'steen, for those of you slow on the math tip. [via Don Luis]
Earlier: Mangosteens in the U.S., The Mangosteens Are Coming
Posted by Robyn Lee, August 17, 2007 at 2:45 PM
I'm somewhat glad that I don't know what mangosteens taste like; otherwise I might shell out $11 just for one piece of the fruit primarily grown in Thailand. Gersh Kuntzman only indulged in two pieces at a gourmet greengrocer in Brooklyn, lest he wanted to refinance his house. Although Kuntzman happily tore into his $45-a-pound fruit, his wife was less impressed:
"Face it, at $45 a pound, this mangosteen should come in a limousine with a chauffer who also cleans our kitchen. Besides, the joy of eating a mangosteen is eating it in Thailand. Imagine sending a Bagel Hole bagel to your brother in North Carolina. It’s not even worth the bother."
I think I'll skip out on trying a mangosteen stateside for now—it gives me all the more reason for me to visit Thailand.
Of course, if you do want to try them Stateside, shipments of Puerto Rico–grown mangosteens started arriving on these shores earlier this month. (Those grown in Thailand are banned from the U.S. because of concerns over insect infestation.)
The season is short, and only two outlets have distribution deals—Melissa's World Variety Produce in Los Angeles and Baldor in New York City.
Photograph from DiemThuyen on Flickr
Posted by Ed Levine, June 27, 2007 at 1:59 PM
The Mangosteen is coming. I had one in Vancouver, B.C. a couple of years ago, and it was lusciously delicious. The late Johnny Apple would be so happy. Here's a tiny portion of what he wrote about his craving for mangosteens in the Times in 2003. I will certainly toast Johnny when I taste my first mangosteen in New York.
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