We have mangosteens!
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord in Heaven! We have mangosteens!
I read a post on MarketManila sometime ago, which mentioned the fact that mangosteens had become available in the United States. I got excited then, but I pretty quickly forgot about it and moved on to other amusements. (Hello, ADD.)
Anyway, Bill recently found an online store that sells them. Apparently, there are two legal sources of mangosteens that are available in the US: Thailand (irradiated ones) and Puerto Rico. Yes, Puerto Rico. I guess some enterprising entrepreneur figured out that the climate in that Caribbean territory of ours mimics that of Southeast Asia pretty closely.
We received our shipment day before yesterday (8 smallish fruit for $34.99 plus shipping - FedEx 2-day required). So, yeah, it's very expensive, but well worth it for something so good. It was an excellent coming-home treat after our Tahoe trip.
We're eating them s-l-o-w-l-y. Only two mangosteens a day. Must savor the flavor.
I'm too lazy to take pictures, but trust me when I say they look really good both inside and out. Deep brown-violet outside, pearly white inside. No bruises on the "meat" whatsoever.
Mangosteen! Mangosteen!