Thai name: Mang Khut
Season: April to September
Southern Thailand (see entries on Surat Thani) is the home of the mangosteen, which appears on markets in May and continues through most of the rainy season. This delicious fruit has a thick, dark-red skin, inside which are creamy white segments with a sweet, slightly tart flavor; as a general rule, the more segments a mangosteen has, the fewer seeds one will find. A knife is used to slit the skin around the middle, after which it opens easily and the flesh can be eaten with a fork as a memorable after-meal treat.
After a month-long siege, the Burmese were forced to retreat March 13, 1785. The two women became local heroines, receiving the honorary titles Thao Thep Kasattri and Thao Si Sunthon from King Rama I.