Half a world away, American food writer Kat Thompson once described mangosteen as “a flavor somewhere between peach and strawberry, segmented like a tangerine, and as juicy as a lychee… like something dreamt up by the imagination — yet it exists.” Native to Southeast Asia, this tropical jewel boasts a deep purple shell hiding snow-white, delicate flesh with a taste so divine it’s earned the title Queen of Fruits.
Legend whispers that Queen Victoria once promised knighthood to anyone who could bring her a fresh mangosteen. Even today, Western travelers seek it with the same longing — tasting it is tasting pure bliss.