I haven’t had one of these for like 20 years. It was my second favorite fruit behind the mango when I was living in the Philippines many years ago, about 21, 22 years ago. I lived there, and I love rambutan. It’s such a delicious fruit. I was at the Asian market and wanted to pick up some cool exotic fruits to show you all. This is the first of about four fruits that I got at that Asian market to share with you.
Let me bring the camera in for a closer look, and I’ll show you more about this fruit and dive into it and do a taste test. Here we are. Here is the rambutan. At first glance, it really reminds me of a tree that we have here in the United States called a sweet gumball tree. Those things would fall on the ground, and you’d step on them and things like that. But it kind of reminds me of those that got these spindles. These aren’t sharp at all like the sweet gum. They’re kind of soft and fun to play with. It also looks kind of like a sea urchin.
Rambutans are eaten raw or fresh and also used in jams and jellies. To eat one, you just take a knife and cut around the shell or the outer part of it, then it will come right off. Look at that. Isn’t that pretty neat? You can just take it out like that and then eat it. At first glance, looking at it, it reminds me of a skinless grape, like a large, skinless grape.
Just as sweet as I remember, it’s very sweet. There is a pit or a seed on the inside where you just kind of eat around with your teeth. Oh, it’s so, so yummy. The texture is kind of like a grape, like a thick grape. One thing that does happen is it will take off a little bit of the seed, just like a little stem from the seed that is still edible but unappetizing. But it’s one of those fruits that’s definitely worth trying if you’ve never tried it.
They’re fairly expensive. I would say it was like $2.99 a pound, which is not bad. I got probably 15 or 20 of them for about three bucks, and I had to go to the Asian market to get them. They didn’t have these at my local supermarket, but they’re so, so good. Very sweet, almost grape-like, not quite like a grape, but maybe even sweeter than a grape and just a very interesting flavor and texture. It’s just such a really good fruit. That is the rambutan. Drop a comment down below and let me know if you’ve ever had rambutan before. This has been another episode of In the Kitchen with Matt. Thank you for joining me as always.
I’ve been always wanting to try this strange fruit rambutan. Look at it; it’s super strange, like a furry fruit. How crazy! I have no idea how to actually eat it. I didn’t even look on the internet, so I wanted to figure it out myself. Even though it looks like it should be pokey, it’s not pokey at all. These needles are very soft, so I guess I’m just gonna cut it in half and see what’s inside. So I’m gonna choose this big one first. Let’s cut it and see. Here you go, check this out. Apparently, this is actually a soft part, and this one is like a nut inside. Let’s get it out. There you go, now I’m gonna get this nut out. Oh nice, I can actually do it this way. Check this out. This part is all soft, and there is a nut inside of it. It’s not easy. There you go, so that’s what we have. It kind of looks like lychee. It’s not just a strange fruit, but the name is also pretty strange. Rambutan. I’m sure it means something, but it just sounds strange to me.
Well, I have this piece of the soft part of this rambutan. It smells kind of fruity. Wow, that’s really good. It’s sweet, and inside here, where the nut was, it’s actually kind of like a hard surface or coating. It’s actually super good. I like it. I’m pretty sure you don’t need this nut. I’m gonna try it anyway. No, it kind of tastes like a raw chestnut to me. So I wonder if I can just cut it like this so I can see the whole thing. See if it’s gonna work. Oh, there you go. Yeah, it works. Oh man, there you go, the entire inside thing. Look at that, it’s very juicy and sweet. Would I buy it again? Definitely yes. I really, really liked it. The only downside of these things is the price. I think for three of those, I paid almost nine dollars, eight dollars fifty, or something like that. Each of them costs almost three dollars.