one filipino dish a week

The Girl brought home one very nice surprise the other day. Mangosteens! It has been over a decade since I’ve had mangosteen. It has only been in 2007 when the FDA lifted its ban on the import of mangosteen. There has been a ban on import of mangosteen to the US because of the fruit flies they attract. The Asian fruit flies are feared to wreak havoc on the crops, especially without natural predators. The ban was lifted with the condition that the fruit is irradiated. Great! I wish I knew that before I ate some.

These mangosteens came from Thailand same as the large amount of mangosteens that you get in the Philippines. But from this CNN article it seems like we might soon be getting mangosteens from Puerto Rico.

These came from Thailand and bought in NYC’s Chinatown. That’s quite a ways and with today’s energy costs it was a pretty penny to buy this small bunch of mangosteens. These were $7/lb and this 2lb bunch only had 11 mangosteens. I savored every last bit of the luscious white meat.

What does it taste like? It’s sweet with a little bit of a sour tone. The white meat is creamy and smooth. It’s just heavenly. The thick outer skin however is very bitter and when you’re not looking and you accidntally bite into them… not a pleasant situation. So only eat the meat. Irradiated or not I devoured them. This was truly a little taste of luxury.

Eat Filipino Food!