Last year, I wrote about the great lengths the boyfriend and I will go to to find fresh tropical fruits like the ones he grew up eating in Thailand. This may or may not have involved a trip to Maui, intense questioning of the locals about their fruits, and exhaustive searches of any and all farmer's markets on the island.
Yes, we really love our tropical fruits...
Fortunately for all the Hawaiians out there, these extreme measures weren't necessary this year as we were lucky enough to find a more local source of these precious fruits!
It all started a few weeks ago when Natty of ThaiTable mentioned that she had seen fresh mangosteen at Nak's Oriental Market, a small family-owned Asian grocery in Menlo Park. You can guess how excited we were by this information, right?
Unfortunately by the time I got off work and made it to the market that day, they were sold out. The owners are amazing, though, and promised that they would call me as soon as they got some more mangosteen in. About a week later and jackpot!! The boyfriend and I rushed to the store teeming with excitement to find a huge basket piled high with gorgeous purple mangosteen.
These divine little fruits were so fresh it almost felt like we were eating them on the streets of Thailand. In fact, I'm a little embarrassed by how quickly we ate them all, but hey, you have to eat them before they go bad, right? And we did share a few.... not many, but a few.
After buying the store out of mangosteen, we gathered ourselves enough to notice the lovely rambutan sitting in a smaller basket right next to them. Not ones to say no to tropical fruits, we then turned our attention to these strange-appearing, but absolutely delicious fruits. They were the freshest we've found in a while - sweet, juicy, and completely refreshing - so we had to bring some of these home as well.
And when we emerged from our rambutan-induced frenzy, we finally spotted the enormous 20-pound jackfruit on the counter in front of us. So we brought him home too... He got to enjoy sitting on the patio chair until I had time to cut into him and remove his delicious little pods of fruit.
After all but buying Nak's out of their tropical fruit supply, the boyfriend and I decided to spend the rest of the day in San Francisco. We meandered our way to the San Francisco Botanical Gardens to enjoy a leisurely afternoon of flowers and photos and you'll never guess what we spotted... None other than a mangosteen tree!
It's like the Universe was trying to tell us that there's fresh mangosteen and other tropical fruits to be found in the Bay Area, if only you look for them. And now that we've found a local market that carries them thanks to the kind tip from a friend, I'm hopeful that the boyfriend and I can enjoy these fruits more often.
Either that, or I'll have to wait another 8 to 10 years for this little mangosteen tree to produce fruit and go for another visit to the Botanical Gardens... at night... when no one's looking... (just kidding 🙂 I try not to break the law -- even for fresh tropical fruit!)
Linda
Hello Rachel
Do you have any Durian, Jackfruit and Mangosteen seeds left for sale? or will you recommend me where I can get some. Thanks, Linda
Rachel
Hi Linda, I don't sell these seeds. From my brief search, it looks like durian and jackfruit seeds can be found on Amazon. Best of luck!
Linda
Hello Rachel
Do you have any Durian, Jackfruit and Mangosteen seeds left for sale? or will you recommend me where I can get some. Thanks, Linda
Rachel
Hi Linda, I don't sell these seeds. From my brief search, it looks like durian and jackfruit seeds can be found on Amazon. Best of luck!
ken
Hello my name ken my folks own a store in Menlo Park called naks oriental market. We carry dutch thai and asian foods. I just wanted to share with you all that we have fresh mangosteen and jack fruit available at our store. Please feel free to contact us if interested. 650-325-2046. I just picked up some fresh mangosteen and jack fruit up this morning.
ken
Hello my name ken my folks own a store in Menlo Park called naks oriental market. We carry dutch thai and asian foods. I just wanted to share with you all that we have fresh mangosteen and jack fruit available at our store. Please feel free to contact us if interested. 650-325-2046. I just picked up some fresh mangosteen and jack fruit up this morning.
reinventingnadine
thanks for sharing info about where to get Mangosteens. My husband and I are obsessed with this fruit that we first had it in the Maldives Islands on our honeymoon. We will be going to this store this week end to get the mangosteens.
Rachel
Yeah, mangosteen is a fruit that's easy to be obsessed with 🙂 I'd suggest calling ahead to see if they have it in stock before going...
reinventingnadine
thanks for sharing info about where to get Mangosteens. My husband and I are obsessed with this fruit that we first had it in the Maldives Islands on our honeymoon. We will be going to this store this week end to get the mangosteens.
Rachel
Yeah, mangosteen is a fruit that's easy to be obsessed with 🙂 I'd suggest calling ahead to see if they have it in stock before going...
CateyLou
Wow, I have never seen Mangosteen before, they are so pretty!
CateyLou
Wow, I have never seen Mangosteen before, they are so pretty!
kmd
I came across your blog through Tasteologie and I'm glad I did! Your recipes look wonderful!
I'm not sure where in the Bay Area you are, but have you been to Berkeley Bowl? They have a truly amazing produce section and a big collection of tropical fruits. I can't identify most of them, but I know I've seen the three you posted about above, and all kinds of others as well.
Happy fruit-hunting!
Rachel
Hi Kira, I haven't heard of Berkeley Bowl, but am excited to check them out! Thanks for the tip!
kmd
I came across your blog through Tasteologie and I'm glad I did! Your recipes look wonderful!
I'm not sure where in the Bay Area you are, but have you been to Berkeley Bowl? They have a truly amazing produce section and a big collection of tropical fruits. I can't identify most of them, but I know I've seen the three you posted about above, and all kinds of others as well.
Happy fruit-hunting!
Rachel
Hi Kira, I haven't heard of Berkeley Bowl, but am excited to check them out! Thanks for the tip!