MimiThis fruit may not seem as attractive like smooth skin fruits, but many South East Asian Fruits have a layer fo thick skin covering the real fruit inside. It may be due to the Weather.
This fruit is native to Southeast Asia and widely cultivated in places like Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, etc. This fruit was a family favorite fruit next to the Mango when we were living in Malaysia.
The Rambutan also grows in some areas of East Africa, India, and South America. In the United States, the best places to try and grow them would be Florida, some parts of California, and Hawaii. They may grow well in Puerto Rico as well.
You can usually find them at local Asian Supermarket, or some large Grocery stores.
This fruit is very easy to eat. The classic variety of Rambutan will be bright to dark red when it is ripe. If they are black or have black hairs they are overripe. In the picture above you can see a few overripe ones.
Wash the fruit and then there are a few ways to open them. Some people will just bite into it to crack the skin and then open them up. Or other people will use their fingers to crack them open. The easy way to open this fruit is just run a knife around the middle of it just deep enough so it slits the skin.
Now you can just bite into the ball of white flesh that is in the middle. It will have a pit/seed in the middle, that you should spit out.
Typically eaten fresh, it can also be added to fruit salads, and desserts like ice cream and sorbets.
