>Denis:

>>Make your choice in situ as it were, smelling all the fruits and
>>vegetables  before buying.

Jean Louis :
>It reminds me that a few days ago, I tried mangustan (is the
>translation correct? The French name is "mangoustan"). A bit expensive
>(40 F/kg); the outer part is thick, a bit hard, dark red, and it tastes
>*awful*; but the central, white part (similar to lychee) has a really
>fine taste. I guess that if I was an animal, relying only on smell
>and/or on the first bite, I would never suspect that the fruit were
>edible.

Denis:
The Garcinia Mangostana, Clusiacées family,  is called Mangosteen in English
speaking countries, y se llama Mangostàn en las islas Filipinas. Nao conheco
o nome dele no Brasil. Zai Zhongguo tade mingzi wo bu zhedao.

The fruit is native to the Sunda island (archipel de la Sonde -Nusa
Tenggara) east of Bali. It is one of the only fruits on earth which does not
reproduce by fertilization. Its preferred mode of reproduction being
parthenogenesis. There are over 100 native varieties, some of them bearing
fruits weighing more than one kilogramme.

I've smelled the common imported variety on many occasions (both shelled and
unshelled) but was never attracted. I've tasted the fruit on a few occasions
but the taste was interesting "in time of starvation", i.e.  as dull as the
smell. Not sufficiently attractive to elicit a purchasing reaction.... Many
instinctos are keen on this fruit, but I wouldn't be able to say whether the
smell is attractive for them... If human beings are long-sighted animals, it
probably means our sight is part of our food instinct..

Cheers
Denis