Phoenix Tropicals Gardening

[phoenixtropicals]

Names for this fruit

Engish:Lemon Drop Mangosteen
Spanish (Costa Rica): Jorco Liso
Botanical: Garcinia Intermedia

Here is another really interesting fruit that we had a chance to sample on our trip to Costa Rica. We had this at the CATIE botanical gardens near Turrialba. It is a relative of mangosteen but is a very different fruit. It has a leathery skin which you split with you your nails to reveal two cells containing a large seed surrounded by pulp. You chew the pulp off of the large seed inside and it tastes like an orange spiced with nutmeg. Fruit is a little larger than a Mexican lime.

I'd like to thank Jorge at CATIE for sharing this with us. He also shared bananas with us and I have to say that there are some varieties of bananas they have there, kind of medium sized ones, that are unbelievably good. They taste like they have vanilla in them.