Rambutans

Rambutans

     When I was a child, on special occasions, my mother would purchase lychees and I remember the excitement of getting some. The joy of getting some was more exciting than eating them. I remember eating a few and that would be enough for me until the next time, but I still looked forward to them.
     Every now and then, my mother would mix it up and buy longans. I remember liking these better than lychees, as I explained in a previous blog entry. The lychee and the longan are relatives.
     Another relative is the rambutan, a fruit I didn't grow up with, but nevertheless caused excitement when I found them at the Seattle Supermarket recently. Despite having showy and hairy skins, their edible fruit inside looks rather boring and very similar to other fruits mentioned.

The rambutan sliced open with fruit and pit

The fruit is bigger than lychees and I'm sure some art project can be done with the skins since they are so dramatically showy. Inside the white-ish fruit is a grayish, woody pit which is inedible. The outer bark of it sticks to the fruit no matter how careful you are. I eat around those areas, but I'm sure there are people who don't care. They're not cheap either and you don't get that many.
     All said and done, they are tasty. I like them better than lychees, but I like longans better. You can get them canned too.
     I don't want you to believe that I'm some sort of authority on rambutans especially since I didn't grow up with them. Even when I think about these fruits, I think of some place exotic like Southeast Asia, definitely not the non-exotic Sinospheric world I was raised in. However, I enjoy adventure I was rewarded with a new and pleasant experience.