Strange Fruit Indeed!

Way back in 2016, we posted THIS ENTRY in which we had a taste test of strange fruits that we were not accustomed to eating.  Well, we found another fruit to add to our 'strange fruit taste test challenge.'  After church on Sunday night, a church member asked us to go to the fellowship hall since she had something for us to try.  She said that she knows I like to grow strange stuff in the garden and thought I might like to try something.

She then pulled these unusual things out of a ziploc bag:

Strange indeed!  They look like sea urchins or a little like the seed pod that falls off of a sweet gum tree.  There is a local donut shop in our town that a couple from the Philippines owns.  They ordered a big bag of these things from back home and shared them.

What are they?  They are called rambutan and are a tropical fruit native to southeast Asia, but has spread to other tropical areas.  Rambutan is derived from the Indonesian word for hair or "messy hair" in Vietnam.

The spines aren't sharp and the skin is leathery and separates easily from the fruit.  The exposed fruit is translucent white.

The fleshy fruit pops right out of the outer protective skin.  It is round and soft to the touch.

I just popped it in my mouth whole, but was told to be careful as there is a large seed inside.  The seed is about the size and shape of an almond.  Sow what does it taste like?  It tastes great!  It has a sweet taste most similar to that of a grape, but is much better in my opinion.

Russ had already studied them and tasted them in college.  I wanted to save the seeds and attempt to grow them, but Russ told me that they will not grow here.  There was an effort to introduce them into the United States, but the only place that they can get them to grow is Puerto Rico.  Too bad.  Rambutan are really good eating and I'd love to be able to grow some weird fruit at my house.