I love finding fruits in the market that I have never tried before. This past week, I discovered these soft-spined beauties and bought a bag of 12 (only Q5 for the bag … which is about $ .70 … can’t beat the price!)
I thought they might be Lychee Nuts, but the man who was selling them told me that they were called Rambutans … and that he brought them in from Izabal … the province that is just south of Petén. As soon as I returned home, I headed for the computer and google to find out about them.
Rambutan in Indonesian, Filipino and Malay literally means hairy caused by the ‘hair’ that covers this fruit, which I discovered is related to the lychee nut, as well as Longan and Mamoncillo. It is native to Indonesia and South East Asia. The outer skin is peeled exposing the fleshy fruit inside which is then eaten. It is sweet and sour to the taste.
We ate around the seed for the first one we tasted, then discovered that the seed has its own crunchy almondy taste/texture that really added to the flavor of the fruit itself. Later, I read that it is bitter and inedible (I’m glad I didn’t read that first or I might have been influenced not to try eating them).
I found them, once, in a market in Barcelona. They were ugly/pretty and delicious – but not cheap!