Rambutan – Fruitinformation.com

Rambutan Taste To make sure you understand the correct taste of Rambutan, you will need to know what variety you have, as there are numerous varieties. According to Whitehead[1] and his extensive studies, there were 144 varieties in a pre-World War II collection that was lost. Today, there are 11 important varieties, which we will discuss the taste of and description of each one and a few more, but these are only a few of the many available. First, we will give you a general taste then go into more depth with each individual variety. Rambutan tastes sweet. The taste can range from very sweet as in the Lengkeng and Maharlika varieties to subacid and acidic (sour) as in the case of Tau Po Cheng and Bara varieties. Most Rambutan varieties have a juicy, firm, white grapelike texture. When you read that Rambutan has a grape taste then this is only one variety. For example, the Maharlika variety common in the Philippines has a very sweet taste. Whereas it has been noted that some varieties are so acidic such as the Bara variety that they are sour. There are two different coloured skins of Rambutan varieties. There are yellow skin and red or crimson skin varieties. See Figure 1 below for the different rind colours available resulting in different tastes. Fig1. Rind Colour of Rambutan[4] To help you understand the variety of tastes and appearance of Rambutan we have put together tables below of the main varieties with there tastes and characteristics.[2] [3] If you are wanting to keep your Rambutan fresh longer than a few days, as Rambutan tends to spoil very quickly due to the sugars, then please read our article: Can You Freeze or Do You Refrigerate Rambutan?Table 1.[2]—Important Rambutan varieties along with their sources and individual characteristics (Please note: Aril is the flesh around the seed) Variety SourceFruit characteristicsTasteAtjehIndonesiaMedium spines, the taste is sweet and juicySweetAtjeh hurungRed colour skin with long spines, the taste is subacid and juicySub acidAtjeh kuningYellow colour skin with a sweet and rather juicy tasteSweetAyes MasMalaysiaYellow colour skin with a medium aril and sweet tasteSweetAzimalYellow to crimson colour skin with a thick aril and a sweet to subacid tasteSweet to SubacidBaraCrimson colour skin with a medium aril and acidic tasteAcidicBingjaiIndonesiaGreen skin colour with long spines and a ellipsoidal shape. A sweet tasteSweetChompuThailandPink to light red skin colour with a medium-size fruit. The fruit is fair quality and sweetSweetChooi AngMalaysiaPink to red colour skin with a thick aril and subacid tasteSub acidGelongIndonesiaHas a globe type shape with long spines and a subacid juicy tasteSub acidGendutGreen skin colour with medium spines and an ellipsoidal shape with a sweet tasteSweetGulabatuGreenish-yellow skin colour with long spines and a globe shapeKelipMalaysiaCrimson colour skin with a medium aril and sweetish tasteSweetishKepala BesarYellow to crimson colour with medium aril and sweet tasteSweetKering manisIndonesiaGreen colour skin with an almost globe shape and long spinesLebak bulusSubacid and juicy tasteSub acidLengkengGreen or yellow colour skin with a globe shape and very short spines. the taste is very sweetVery SweetMaharlikaDark red skin colour. The fruit is rather small but very sweet with a melting aril and excellent qualityVery SweetPenangThailandLarge size fruit with fair quality. Due to the size, the fruit tends to have two seeds. A sweet-tasting fruitSweetPeng Th’ng BeeMalaysiaCrimson colour skin with a medium aril and sweet tasteSweetPd. bulanIndonesiaMedium spines with a globe shapeRapiahGreen or yellow colour skin with a very sweet taste and small sizeVery SweetRongrienThailandMedium to large size with fair quality and a crispy sweet arilSweetSeematjanIndonesiaLight red to orange skin colour with a medium-sized fruit and a sweet tasteSweetSeenjonjaDark red colour skin with a small to medium size and fair quality with a sweet tasteSweetSingapuraMalaysiaLight orange to scarlet skin colour with a thin aril and sweetish tasteSweetishSitang-kueIndonesiaEllipsoidal in shape with medium spines and a sweet tasteSweetTau Po ChengMalaysiaOrange-scarlet skin colour with a thick aril and a subacid tasteSub acidTriangDark red skin colour with a thick aril and a sweetish tasteSweetishYa TowScarlet skin colour with a thick aril and subacid tasteSub acid Unfortunately, there are so many other varieties of Rambutan due to the same common name being used for several varieties or the same variety of Rambutan being known by a few different names. Table 2.[3] - Other more common names of Rambutan along with there taste and characteristics. VarietyFruit CharacteristicsTasteQueen ZaidaDark-red skin colour with an oblong shape and a medium-size. The flesh is thick (38.76% of the fruit), with a sweet, and juicy tasteSweetBaby EulieLight-red skin colour with a very large thick flesh (39.92% of fruit) this fruit has a soft texture. Princess CarolineDark-red skin with a small size and pliable rind. The flesh is thick (44.14% of fruit) and the seeds are small.QuezonYellowish- red skin colour with a small to medium size and pliable rind. The flesh is thick (38.24% of fruit) with a sweet, slightly acid, juicy taste.Sweet, Slightly AcidRoxas Dark-red skin colour and medium-sized. The flesh is thick (42.97% of fruit). The taste is juicy and sweet, with the flesh adhering to the seed.SweetZamoraYellowish coloured skin with pale-pink spines. The shape of the fruit is oblong and small with a hard rind. The flesh is thick (38.29% of fruit) and juicy and sweet. SweetQuirinoYellowish skin colour with pinkish-red spines. the fruit is a small size with a thick (32.78 % of fruit). the taste is juicy and sweet.SweetMagsaysayDark-red to black skin colour with dark-red spines. The shape of the fruit is oblong and large with a thick flesh (42.68% of fruit). The taste is juicy and sweetSweetSanto TomasYellowish-pink skin colour with reddish-pink colured soft spines. The shape is nearly round and the flesh thick (43.25% of fruit) with a small seedVictoriaYellowish colour skin with red spines. The flesh is thick, juicy and sweet.SweetBaby ChristieYellowish-red skin colour with silvery-pink spines. The fruit is large and flesh thick (36.41% of fruit).Governor InfantadaThe fruit is oblong and very large with a flesh that is thick (39.28% of fruit). The taste is juicy, sweet and slightly acidSweet, Slightly acidicLaurel, Sr.The colour of the skin is pinkish-red with a small fruit that has a thick flesh (39.76% of fruit). Fortich The colour of the skin is Yellowish-red and the fruit size is medium-sized. The taste of the fruit is juicy and sweetSweetOsmeña, Sr.The skin colour is Purple-red. The taste is juicy and sweet. SweetPonderosa Ferreras The colour is a Crimson red along with prominent spines. The size is very large with thick flesh (35.73% of fruit) The taste is juicy and sweet.Sweet How To Eat Rambutan How To Eat Rambutan After making a cut into the skin with your fingernail (if you find it too hard use a knife to make a small incision), use your fingers to pull apart the skin. This will expose one half of the fruit as one half sits in the remaining skin. Simply squeeze the skin that has the Rambutan sitting in it, and the fruit should slide out. Be careful to have something to catch the fruit as it is slippery and can easily fly out due to the juiciness. Once out you can either cut into the fruit and remove the seed, then place the fruit into your mouth and eat, or just place the fruit and seed into your mouth, being careful not to eat or swallow the seed. If you are interested in finding out if the seed is edible and how to safely prepare them then please check out our article: Are Rambutan Seeds Edible? Just spit out the seed when you have eaten all of the flesh from around it. References: