Fun Facts!

The fruit of the rambutan tree is very sweet and nutritious to eat. With this in mind, it is most often eaten raw or made into jams. It was once made into wine, but the recipe for the wine is unknown and production has since stopped.  In order to eat the fruit raw, one must remove the rind. The best way to remove the rind is to carefully slice it off with a knife. One could also bite the rind off because the “hair like” structures surrounding the fruit are soft and will not harm. Once the rind is off, it is time to eat it! But be careful, it does have a seed on the inside, so be sure to eat around it.

    

All of the structures of the rambutan are used in Malaysia for medicinal purposes. The roots of the tree are made into a medicine used to treat fevers. The bark of the tree is turned into a liquid medicine to help treat tongue diseases. The fruits aid in ridding humans of parasitic worms and relieving diarrhea, while the leaves are used to relieve headaches.

Another interesting fact about the rambutan is that the rind of the fruit has been studied and is found to be full of antioxidants. A study was done in Malaysia and reported that the rinds of the rambutan fruits contain many antioxidants. Humans cannot produce antioxidants on their own, so humans must seek antioxidants out from fruits and vegetables. These antioxidants are used in common household products for skin care, as well as nutritional and pharmaceutical means. The study performed many different tests to determine whether the antioxidants by the rind of the rambutan might be better than those produced from grape seeds. Indeed, the results showed that that the rambutan possessed more antioxidants than the grape seeds. This shows that the antioxidants produced by the rinds of the rambutan are a very good source to produce non-harmful cosmetics and other such materials. If you would like and in depth look at this study, click here.

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