Southeast Asian fruits in MSP/STP

[clarebear]

Years ago, I spent several months in Thailand around this time of year and came to appreciate two SE Asian fruit varieties - the rose apple and the green mango.
Technically the green mango is simply an unripe mango - a rose apple is a small red fruit with a floral taste. Does anyone know of a grocery in the TC that might specialize in exotic fruits such as these?

[Enso]

I saw "fresh" mangosteen at an asian grocery in Brooklyn Center or Park. Sorry, I don't remember the name, but I might recognize it from it's address.

I spent a great couple weeks in Thailand and loved the exotic and delicious fruit. Canned versions here are pathetic, and so far, I haven't had frozen or fresh versions that come anywhere close to the flavor of those I ate in situ so I mostly don't buy them anymore. Even the persimmons I've gotten at Underwater Noodle (that's United N. to the uninitiated) are a bit flat...(sigh)

[The Dairy Queen]

I'm pretty amazed you saw "fresh" mangosteen, in Brooklyn Park or Brooklyn Center or even Brooklyn NY. It's not that easy to come by in the U.S. By "fresh" do you mean previously frozen?

It's not particularly unique to United Noodle that the fresh Thai fruit you can get here isn't as good as what you ate in situ--As you of course know, until this past fall, the only fresh fruit allowed into the U.S. from Thailand was durian. As it is, the fruit imported from Thailand comes by sea (a voyage of 20 days)--and it has to be irradiated. Here are a couple of interesting pieces from the Chow grinder http://www.chow.com/grinder/3546 & NYT http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/09/din...

~TDQ

[Enso]

By "fresh" I mean it didn't appear to be previously frozen and knowing how far it must have traveled, it's a technically correct term rather than any kind of endorsement or belief in the existence of any other qualities that are usually associated with freshness.

No, I didn't know that about Thai fruit.

[autmommy]

The two asian groceries up that way that I can think of are Golden Lion, which is at 85th and Hwy 252, and Asian Pacific Oriental, or something like that, which is at Broadway and Brooklyn Blvd. Was it either of those where you saw the "fresh" Mangosteen?

[faith]

The Wedge has good persimmons- of course you know you have to let them
get very soft...call ahead to see if they have them.

[spahkee]

Was at Double Dragon Foods (off Rice) and Shuang Hur (on University Ave) - both in Saint Paul in the last monthand I saw green mango at both places. One of those places, I thought it was Double Dragon, had rambutan - frozen as well as durian, also frozen. I have seen rose apples at those stores although not recently.

I have yet to see fresh or frozen mangosteen (one of my favorite fruits) in a store in the TC although they sell it in cans (yuck!).

[tasmonia]

You could also try Dragon Star foods, off of Dale and Mineahaha (near Pierce Butler Route). They usually have a pretty varied selection of fruit and veg. I've gotten green mangoes, lychees, and rambutan there, and I've also seen them carying non-frozen durian. I think mangosteen may be close to impossible to find, though--I've never seen it in the US.

[babaoriley7]

Lets add in some other fruits to this discussion as my curiosity of Durian has gotten the best of me.

Also:

Mangosteen (not likely but I've heard they are now legal to import)
fillipino mangoes or Altufo (not SE asian) mangoes

Ok sorry if this is a hijack so PLEASE answer Clarebear's question and if there is an answer for me that would be fantastic.

[Danny]

The Hmong market in St. Paul often has southeast asian fruits. See this discussion of Rambutan for more details on places where they can be found (and likely other fruits from the region) : http://www.chowhound.com/topics/440790

[The Dairy Queen]

I agree with Danny that the Hmong market in St. Paul is a great place for this kind of produce. Here's more info about the Hmong Market (it's not easy to find--this link includes some photos etc. and specific directions halfway down the thread or so...) I keep hearing that the Hmong Market will be undergoing some transition, moving?, etc. but I don't really know if/when that's happening.

~TDQ

[The Dairy Queen]

Wow--I realized I never provided the link to the Hmong Market thread... http://www.chowhound.com/topics/318303

~TDQ