I must say, local Malaysian fruits are good to eat, but many a times, its a chore to eat it.
Its practically a fine art trying to open the fruit in the first place i.e. to open the said fruit without a) injuring yourself b) squishing the fruit inedible/unpalatable c) squirting its potentially unwashable juice on your oh-so-precious clothing d) squirting the said fruit juice on some innocent being minding his/her own business or in one of the worse case scenarios e) injuring that innocent being who was minding his/her own beeswax.
Lets have a short review of some of the fruits shall we?
Durian - first you'll have to get past those prickly thorns, and that is if you haven't already been repelled by its smell. Along with those thorns if you happen to get a really hard-to-open durian you run the risk of getting well-pricked fingers..
Mangosteen - its amazing that the fruit inside is pure white while its (lethal-to-clothing material) shell is ruby red. You have to crack it a certain way so that you don't end up squashing the fruit and/or squirting the red (very bitter) juice. [FYI its top to bottom] If that's not enough, when cracking it that particular way, you still must ensure that you don't apply too much pressure, or else the fruit goes -splat!- and will be squashed, and, you might just end up wearing the juice..
Rambutan - looking like some alien that landed on Earth, it might look scary to people who have never encountered it before. Cracking it doesn't really need skill, but you'd have to be careful not to drop the fruit as you crack the shell open. Sometimes, the shell is just too hard to open up the conventional way, and some people unwittingly bite it to hasten the process, learning the hard way that the sap from the outer covering is oh-so-bitter. Thats not all. While finishing the flesh of the fruit, if you happen to chomp on the seed, woe it is to you, for the seed is also (very) bitter.
Jackfruit (nangka) - well, cutting into the fruit to get the flesh, you have to *ehem* skillfully avoid getting your hands and/or clothing in contact with the innocent-looking white sap that comes out of the cut sides of the skin. Touch it, and lo and behold, you discover (much too late) that this innocent-looking white sap is sticky, and WILL NOT be removed. You will be forced to suffer with sticky fingers and/or hands till the sap goes off (lotsa scrubbing with soap, anyone?) If you do manage to open up the fruit without getting the sap on you or on anyone else), wait, there's more! When you reach for the fruit to eat it, unbeknownst to you, there is sap lurking about too! Only when you head off to wash your hands of the sugary juice will you discover what has clung to your fingers.
Cempedak - same story as the jackfruit....
Mango - no major issues when eating mangoes - provided you are able to get them before the bats, squirrels and ants get to them...
Pulasan - another alien-looking fruit that I believe is related to rambutans, just that its skin is not hairy, rather, the skin looks like a spiked ball - literally, just that it ain't sharp. No fear in chomping down on a pulasan's seed, as it isn't bitter, and is actually quite nice to nibble! Tho it can taste a little 'green' at times, if you happen to get a really nice one, so much the better. (:
Dukung/Dukong + Langsat - these are two different fruits that look so danged similar, from the shape, to the colour of the skin, to how the flesh looks like! I still don't know how to differentiate them.. Eating them, for me, poses a problem. Peel the skin wrongly, and sticky annoying sap oozes out of the now-torn skin, ruining the experience of eating. Press it sideways wrongly to try and open it, and you end up squeezing the flesh to nearly a pulp, the juice running off in your fingers, leaving close to nothing to eat. Chomp on the seed, and, oy vey, you're in for a very bitter taste..
Is it any wonder that sometimes, it is simply easier to eat non-local/not so easily available fruits such as strawberries, oranges, grapes, cherries, apples, etc?
Tho for some warped reason of mine I actually enjoy eating local fruits, regardless of the inconvenience of eating them...
