Fruit Maven » purple http://fruitmaven.com Your guide through the wild world of fruit. Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:21:01 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 Purple Mangosteen http://fruitmaven.com/2010/02/purple-mangosteen/ http://fruitmaven.com/2010/02/purple-mangosteen/#comments Thu, 11 Feb 2010 23:24:22 +0000 Fruit Maven http://fruitmaven.com/?p=1609 If you own a t-shirt that says “Queen Bee” and people bring you gifts in hope of gaining your approval, then this is the fruit for you! sliced-mangosteen
APPEARANCE 5 out of 5 stars

People! Fruit doesn’t get much cooler than this. The bottom of the hard, leathery skin has a flower. The number of petals on the flower will match the number of bright white segments of flesh inside. Hazzah!Plus it has the cutest little stem.

AROMA 5 out of 5 stars

Smells like sweet, slightly acidic, tropical flowers. Divine.

TEXTURE 2.5 out of 5 stars

Thick exterior shell that was soft in spots and quite hard in others. I’ve read that they are pretty soft when picked from the tree and harden over the next few days. Flesh is soft and stringy, somewhat slimy with each segment having either a tough center or a seed.

TASTE 4 out of 5 stars

Very sweet, slightly bitter and medicinal. Kind of tastes like mature fruit punch.

OVERALL 4.13 out of 5 stars

If I had to guess, I would say these are probably amazing when picked perfectly ripe, right off the tree, because there is a lot of potential here. They have an extremely interesting and exotic flavor but the texture and difficulty of cutting into them is a big drawback for me. The fact that the flower petals match the number of segments inside is just phenomenol. A vase full of these for Valentine’s Day would make my heart explode. Ba-bye red roses, there’s a new diva in town.

FRUIT

Mangosteen

VARIETY

n/a

PEAK

Summer/Winter

GROWN

Unknown

PROVIDED BY

Specialty Produce

NOTES

This is a high maintenance and sexy piece of fruit. It also goes by the name “Queen of Fruits“, which is about as pretentious a nickname as you can get. Apparently Queen Victoria used to offer one hundred pounds to anyone who could bring her fresh Mangosteens. When I bought some of these at the asian market last week, the woman stopped in the middle of ringing up my items, held up the bag and looked me straight in the eye, “You know these cost $14 right?” “um…yes.” “You still want them?” “Oh yes, I plan to sell them to Queen Victoria.”

WHERE TO GET THEM

When in season, you can buy Mangosteen at some asian grocery stores and online here. If you get them online, a small amount will go to support the Fruit Maven. So thanks in advance!

]]> http://fruitmaven.com/2010/02/purple-mangosteen/feed/ 5 Frederick Passion Fruit http://fruitmaven.com/2010/01/frederick-passion-fruit/ http://fruitmaven.com/2010/01/frederick-passion-fruit/#comments Tue, 12 Jan 2010 23:00:33 +0000 Fruit Maven http://fruitmaven.com/?p=1368 If you always wanted to pick your nose and eat the boogers (we will just pretend you don’t do this every day in private), then this Frederick Passion Fruit is the fruit for you! Frederick Passion Fruit
APPEARANCE 1.5 out of 5 stars

Extremely wrinkled, purplish, greenish, reddish oval fruit about the size of the palm of my hand (I know you don’t really know how big that is, just guess). Bright yellow goo (flesh) with dark seeds.

AROMA 5 out of 5 stars

Exotic and heady. I want to bathe in this smell.

TEXTURE 1.5 out of 5 stars

Gelatinous and seedy with a good amount of juice. Extremely odd texture compared to most fruit.

TASTE 4 out of 5 stars

Pretty tart, in fact I would say it comes dangerously close to being sour. Tropical and pineapple-y and lemon-y and delicious.

OVERALL 3 out of 5 stars

This is one instance where my structured rating system sort of fails me. I largely rate on snackability and this one is pretty low as far as that goes. Plus it looks hideous, has an extremely odd texture and is lobbying for the “most annoying seeds of all time” award (other competitors: Wonderful Pomegranate and Cocktail Grapefruit). However, it tastes completely amazing. I’ve never had anything like it and I want to sprinkle a little bit of it into everything I am drinking, pour it on top of ice cream, dip cookies in it, spread it on grilled cheese sandwiches and – oh my it is just delicious. I am smitten.

FRUIT

Passion Fruit

VARIETY

Frederick

PEAK

All Year (intermittent)

ORIGIN

South America

GROWN

Vista, CA

PURCHASED

Farmer’s Market

NOTES

I am struggling to write notes on this because seeing the word “Frederick” next to “Passion” reminds me clearly of Frederick’s of Hollywood. But the interesting folklore about passion fruit is all about how the flower is a representation of Christ and the Crucifixion Somehow it seems inappropriate to talk about both of these things in such close proximity. Oh well–too late now.

WHERE TO GET THEM

You can buy Passion Fruit at some standard grocery stores and local specialty stores and online here. If you get them online, a small amount will go to support the Fruit Maven. So thanks in advance!

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