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Rambutan

Rambutan gets its name from the Malay word "rambut" which means "hair".True to its name,rambutan has hairy fur covering its skin.Majority of the rambutan have bright red skin,while some are yellow in colour.

The skin of rambutan is soft and can be torn open with the tip of one's finger nail.When you tear open the skin some juice may shot out from the slit into your palm.The juice is really sweet and frangant,"..fingers licking good!"
The seed is covered with flesh which is white and partially transparent like crystal.Its soft flesh comes off the core easily and is extraordianry sweet.But there are exceptions,especially with those plucked from old trees which were grown near the house unintentionally.These fruits are sour and the flesh will stick to the seed cores stubbonly.
Rambutan flesh has a striking resemblance to that of the lychee fruit grown in China,there are even claims that they are close cousines.
There is yet another species which has thick stiff hairs covering its skin,its stiff hairs are blunted at the tips as if the tips are cut off with knife by someone.However,with the skin peeled,its fleshy seed inside is exaxtly the same as its counter parts,sweet and soft.

The skin of rambutan fruit is opened to show the crystal like juicy flesh inside. Everyone say the queen of Malaysian fruits is the mangosteen, but my vote goes to the rambutan. Not that I love mangosteen less,but that I love rambutan more.
The rambutan trees are tall with thick leaves,some older ones may grow into 2-storey tall.But with the advance of agricultural technology,the rambutan trees are much shorter now,the ripen fruits can even be reached by little children.They are also planted with well planned layout, with properly spaced rows in staright lines,unlike the older ones which are grown randomly,grown hazardly around durian trees and mangosteen trees.		The rambutan trees bear fruits during fixed months of the years,it usually coincides with the bearing season of other popular Malaysian fruits like durian and mangosteen. Climbing the rambutan tree was my favourite past time in my childhood,swinging on branches and choosing the fattest,reddest fruit.Then enjoying it on the trunk swaying to the rhythm of the winds.

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