Rambutan is a popular and delicious fruit that grows in the tropical region. This fruit is famous all around the world due to its taste and health benefits. But when you pick or buy rambutan, you should know how to add only fresh rambutans into your bucket. So, I am sure you will not be fooled by a bad one, after reading this article.
How do you know if rambutan is good or bad?
When you purchase rambutan from the market, you should have the ability to identify good and bad rambutan separately. So, before purchase, you should check below listed signs.
Appearance
Firstly, you should check the appearance of the rambutan fruit. Ripe rambutan is red, orange, or yellow in color. Also, if the fruit is fresh, it has bright outer skin.
Further, there are hairs like spines on the outer skin of the rambutan fruit. Generally, when fruits are fresh-picked, their hairs are green or red. Also, a good rambutan fruit outer hairs have a vivid look.
When the rambutan is bad, the outer skin is dark, and sometimes you can see wrinkles on the outer skin. Further, spines also gradually turn into dark colors when fruits start to bad. On the other hand, bad rambutans outer hairs do not have a vivid look.
Moreover, you should check whether there are cracks and splits on the rind of the rambutan fruit. Because if you see these signs on the rids, do not buy them.
On the other hand, you can identify the freshness of the rambutan fruit by its flesh. Generally, the meat of the fresh rambutan has white color flesh. But if your rambutan is bad, its flesh starts to become yellowish.
Also, the fresh rambutan fruit inner peel have white color, and spoiled ones inner peel become a brownish color.
These are the visible appearance to identify whether the rambutans are bad or not. But do not worry because there is a possibility to eat the fruit still. But before, you should check the taste and smell. These both are fine rambutans that are safe to eat.
In addition to the above factors, before buy rambutans, you should check whether they damage or not. Because it is possible to damage the rambutans when harvesting and transporting. These damages cause to make the flesh exposed to air. It will cause to spoil the fruit quickly.
Taste
The fresh rambutans have a sweet taste. But if the rambutans are spoiled, they have a sour fermented taste.
So, if your rambutans have mentioned appearance and have this kind of smell, do not tend to eat them because they are not safe.
Smell
Rambutans have a wonderful sweet aroma smell. But when it overripen, they release a fermented smell. So, this is time to throw it away.
In addition to these signs, you can distinguish bad rambutans by squeezing gently. Do not forget to squeeze at least a couple of the different parts of the rambutan fruit. When you press, if juice comes out from the fruit, do not eat them.
Rambutan harvesting
Generally, seeding rambutan plants start to yield within 7-8 years. But grafted plants take 3-4 years to fruit.
On the other hand, harvesting time can be varied with the climates. If you are under average climatic conditions, you can collect the harvests from June to August.
But if you are a grower in the mid-country wet zone, you can enjoy the rambutans in July, September.
On the other hand, rambutan trees give harvest in December and February months in some climate conditions.
When considering the harvest per tree, you can collect 500-1500 fruits per year from well-grown rambutan plants. But if we consider the average amount, it is around 200-500 fruits per year.
Further, you can harvest your rambutan fruits by plucking yourselves. But here, you should ensure that the rambutans are matured enough to pluck.
You can identify it easily by checking the color. Because matured rambutan’s color change from dark green to reddish-yellow. Moreover, you can cut the harvest rambutans as benches.
After harvesting, you should collect rambutans into the container as bunches. Also, do not forget to remove damaged rambutans. Another important thing is, do not to allow them to expose to the sun.
How to store and preserve rambutans
If you wish to consume rambutans, you can keep them in a kitchen at room temperature. But it would help if you did not allow them to put direct sunlight or any other heat source. Here you can put them into a bucket and place a paper towel or cloth towel. It will help to keep the moisture.
However, if you store the rambutans in a fridge, you can keep them fresh longer. Here you can store rambutans as either fruit or flesh in the refrigerator. It will depend on the space of your fridge. You can store them for around two weeks without any problem.
But if you store rambutans as a fruit, first you should wrap rambutans in a paper towel. Then take a perforated bag and put wrapped rambutans into the bag after placing it in the fridge.
However, if you decide to store rambutan flesh, you should have an airtight container or plastic bag. But if you use a plastic bag, you should remove the excess air from the bag before sealing.
How can I eat rambutan seeds
You can follow the below steps to prepare the rambutan seeds in a suitable way to eat.
Step 1: First, you should take rambutan seeds and clean them well
Step 2: Then take a knife and cut them into tiny pieces
Step 3: Bake or cook seeds on the seat over the heat well
Step 4: Grind the cooked rambutan seeds smoothly
Step 5: Boil the water and put the grain into the water, and stir it.
Step 6: After straining the mixture. Put it into the glass
So, you can have this as it is. But honey or lemon can add more flavor to it.
Rambutan fruit Benefits
Best for manage the cholesterol
Rambutan fruit can manage the HDL and LDL levels in the blood arteries. As a result of this, it avoids both the cholesterol and blood cod possibility. Also, it helps to maintain the health of the cardiovascular system.
Give healthy skin
There are many vitamins in the rambutan fruit. They can help to keep smooth and healthy skin without skin irritation, including skin inflections.
Control the blood sugar
You can manage your blood sugar level by consuming rambutan fruit, especially seed. As a result of this, it will work to treat diabetes. So, these rambutan seeds are the most popular herbal remedy for avoiding diabetes.
Protect from blood tension
There is a possibility to control the blood tension by consuming the rambutan. Consequently, it supports to protect from hypertension.
Increase the health of the heart
Rambutans have the ability to optimize the condition of heart vessels by maintaining the cardiovascular. As a result of this, it will cause to protect you from heart attacks.
Keep a better digestive
Rambutan flesh and seeds can maintain a healthy digestive system. Consequently, it causes to keep a better intestinal movement.
In addition to the above benefits, it can avoid stomach problems, recover muscles and avoid insomnia.
Diseases of rambutan
Several diseases affect rambutans badly. They are:
- Anthracnose (Colletotrichum gloeosporioides)
Symptoms: Irregular yellow or brown spots on leaves
Treatment:
Remove and destroy any infected leaves and plants from your garden
Prune out the infected branches
Spraying your plants with a copper-based fungicide
- Stem-end rot (Botryodiplodia theobromae)
Symptoms:
A dark brown to black rot begins at the stem
Leaves margins roll up
Tree branches become dry
Cankers appear around the infected point
Treatment:
Apply approved fungicide
Prune and destroy the infected branches and fruits
In addition to that, there are common pests that attack your rambutans. They are:
- Bird
- Loopers
- Beetles
- Flying foxes
- Red-banded thrips
