how to eat a green mango

Breakfast in Thailand

After my weeklong stint in Tokyo, I finally arrived in Thailand. When I had decided to come to Thailand for the bulk of the summer, I talked to my friends dreamily about how I would eat tropical fruit for breakfast everyday. I've been here only for two breakfasts, but so far, so good.

Mangosteen or Man-koot in Thai

Mangosteen is a firm deep purple fruit that looks a little comical, round, maybe like something out of a Super Mario brother's video game, it has a little green hat. Like the litchee, you have to crack the tough exterior to get to the very sweet white fruit inside. Unlike the litchee, the interior fruit is soft, even softer than the consistency of mango. There's a slight dusky taste at the end of eating this fruit.

Litchee or Lin-chee in Thai

I would dare to say this is the tropical fruit that most have eaten in the U.S. However, in Thailand they have these huge raspberry colored scaley fruits which are the size of strawberries on steroids! My relatives laughed when I admired how big the litchees were here, and told me that this kind was called the King of Litchees. Indeed. The litchee has a flowery grapelike flavor and is chewy, again, the tough exterior needs to be peeled off before partaking.

Rambutan

Rambutan, is very similar to litchee except it has a wild haired mane of spiky protrusions over it's small round body. These harmless quills look a bit like neon porcupine quills, when fresh they are pink and green, when not as fresh they blacken.

Long An

Long An are smaller fruits than the litchee and rambutans. These have a cardboard brown stiff covering, and has the chewy white interior as well. Sometimes they'll have a slight rosy blush to the interior fruit. My relatives prefer these over the taste of the other bounty of fruits

Lo, and behold, I have been introduced to an entirely new fruit. It looks a bit like longan, but much bigger with a yellow and pink blushed cover. It is also peeled, but tastes a little more like rambutan with a softer fruit, but can be a little sour.

My favorite thai breakfast is tropical fruit with yogurt and soy milk. If I'm on an island, I'll top it off with an icy coconut shake or watermelon shake.