Branded Fruit!!

We are enamored of brand names. Wherever we go we can see famous brand names on bill boards, in shopping malls and high streets. Fruits also come branded!!

You only have to look at Asian fruit stalls. The vendors will tell you that their durians are branded, such as Musang King ( mau sang wong ), Ang Hay ( Red prawn ) D 24, XO, etc., etc. There are so many that I can’t keep up. The other day, one vendor told me his is called Durian Belimbing ( Starfruit Durian ). The fruit tasted good but a tad too sweetish. I prefer my durians bitterish.

Rambutans also come branded these days. I bought the D24 on Sunday. When you buy fruit such as rambutan or langsat, you can always try them first to see if they are sweet or their flesh comes off the seed easily. Then only you decide whether or not to buy. The vendor usually doesn’t mind. He will tell you to go ahead and try, so confident is he that his fruit will not be rejected.


Of course these branded fruits come at a premium price, especially the Musang King durian, which my brother says costs RM30.00 or more per kilo. You can guess how much one fruit will add up to, with its thorny shell.

The D24 rambutans cost RM4.00 per kilo while the others ( unbranded ) cost either RM2.50 or RM3.00. However there is a difference in the texture of the flesh.

Both the rambutans ( RM3.00 and RM4.00 ) were good. The flesh came off the seed easily and they were sweet. When you buy rambutans, you want the ones whose flesh comes off readily and not those that stick to the seed so that you don’t really get to eat the fruit at all, just taste the juice. It can be frustrating trying to bite into the flesh which simply refuses to come off.

There is a subtle difference between the D24 and the other one which I bought. The flesh of the D24 is more crunchy and its sweetness is slightly different from that of the other rambutan. There is also a difference in their shape and hair.


The D24 has got longer outer hair and is elliptical in shape while the other is round and has shorter hair.

Rambutans really taste good when you chill them in the refrigerator.

The langsats are just coming out and the fruit on sale were not very sweet. They come in medium length clusters. You don’t want to buy those that are big because the seeds will be big. These are very bitter I you happen to bite into them. So go for the medium-sized ones. They do have a milky sap when you squeeze them open. It is sticky and bitter. The yellowish skin is thin and the fruit inside are white and segmented.
The flesh should be firm. Langsats can be very sweet and it’s very easy to consume a lot of them without realizing it, especially when you are watching tv.