The teen fruit

By Chamintha Thilakarathna

Nawala annasi, Kotte dodam, Malwane rambutan.......and heaped next to these juicy fruits is the juicier mangosteens. One glance at those purple and pink fruits and the lure is that way. The fruits' charm has captured all and sundry and just passing by a stall makes your mouth water.

Unfortunately, the mangosteen season does not last long - it's limited to about a month. But it is not over yet!

We went in search of the birthplace of mangosteens.........Kalutara. Several kilometres from the town, the tall and leafy trees hide the raw mangosteens from animals and people.

Mangosteen trees seem like any other. The colour of the fruit makes it difficult to identify the trees by the fruit. A few years back, a visit to Malwana proved to be different. Rambutan could be seen from afar, decorating the trees. The expression 'lit up by the fruit' would be the best description for them. But in the case of mangosteen, the experience was quite different.

What we expected were large estates with trees heavy with fruit. But what we found were trees growing in isolation.

U.D. Karunasena (53) has made a living out of mangosteens all his life. In fact, so have his father and grandfather. "Ever since I can remember we have been counting the days for the mangosteen season, to pluck the fruits. It is a profitable season and we collect the fruits from all parts of Kalutara, apart from the few trees we have on our piece of land," he said.

He and wife Yaso say that mangosteen cannot be planted. "It has to grow on its own. That is why one cannot find large estates. The weather is cold and the soil wet in certain parts of Kalutara at this time of the year. This is ideal for the fruits' growth. The famous areas are Diyagama, Bolaswita, Seruwita, Ukwatte and Matugama. The fruit is also found in some parts of the Central Province."

Mangala Pieris of Geethanjana Fruit Centre in Kalutara says that one should be careful when buying mangosteen from pavement stalls. Seasonal pavement stalls do not offer the best fruits. This is because there are many things to be considered when purchasing the fruit for consumption.

Yet, seeing the mangosteens in Karunasena's garden one could not help but reach out to them.

According to Mangala, the fruit should be kept for seven days after picking. "It is not advisable to consume the fruit shortly after."

"What most mangosteen pickers don't realize is that the fruit should not hit the ground when being picked. If it does, the fruit gets damaged. When the exterior is damaged it affects the interior because an acid is released. This destroys the fruit," he explained.

If the flesh of the mangosteen is yellow, it indicates damage when picking. The fruit which is usually picked when it is pink, has to be consumed a day or two after it turns purple, indicating that it is ripe.

-(Assisted by Uthpala Gunatilaka)

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