Rambutan is an easily recognizable tropical fruit due to its unusual, "hairy" rind, originally grown only in Indonesia. The delicious, refreshing pulp of the fruit was to the taste of many, and rambutan began to be cultivated in other hot countries - Thailand, Cambodia, India, Ecuador, Australia and even in the southern states of America.
What is rambutan like
Rambutan fruits are easy to distinguish from other fruits. They are small, round or oval, red, brown or yellow, but always with a skin covered with flexible, fleshy thorns. It is for the unusual skin that the fruit got its name - in Malay "rambut" means hair. Under the thorny skin of rambutan, there is a tender, juicy pulp, similar in consistency and taste to slightly sour grapes. The flesh of the fruit is translucent, snow-white or slightly pink, inside the fruit there are small seeds that, depending on the variety, can be either sweet or bitter.
Why is rambutan useful?
Rambutan fruits are healthy food. In Indonesia and Malaysia, it has long been used to treat a number of diseases, including diabetes and hypertension. The fruit was often the only effective remedy available for diarrhea and fever. A great advantage of these fruits is their saturation with liquid, which is so necessary for the body in hot climates. In addition, rambutan contains vitamin C, niacin, iron, calcium, manganese and phosphorus. Fruits are rich in fiber, while they are low in calories - this makes them an ideal snack for those who are losing weight.
How to choose and store rambutans
When buying rambutans, choose fruits with bright skin and bright thorns. Avoid fruits with cracked skin, darkened thorns, or skin spots. Rambutans ripen only on a tree; if they are picked unripe, this cannot be changed. Fresh fruits can be stored for up to 7 days by covering the container with cling film. Fruits, like grapes attached to a bunch, last longer than those removed from it.
How rambutans are cleaned and eaten
Fruit is very easy to peel. First, remove the peel from the fruit. To do this, you can simply squeeze the rambutan until the skin cracks. You can cut it or find a "seam" and tear the shell along it. The elastic, slightly slippery flesh of rambutan simply slips out of the rind.
You can just eat rambutan flesh, without everything. Some people prefer to consume fruits without seeds, as they contain some amount of tannins and alkaloids. On the other hand, the harm from eating fruits along with seeds has not been proven.
Rambutan is added to fruit salads, cocktails, salsa, yogurt. Jellies and jams are prepared from them, canned. They can replace fruits such as lychee or mammachillo.
