Mango
Mamuang: eaten ripe with sticky rice, or green and sour with chilli salt.
1 recipe
Fruits
Mangoes, mangosteens, durian and more: the fruits of Thailand, when they are in season, how to choose them and how Thais eat them.
Thailand's markets change with the seasons. Mangoes arrive in the hot months from March to May, mangosteens, durian, rambutans and lychees follow in early summer, longans in July and August, and pomelos and tangerines towards the end of the year.
Each fruit guide describes its varieties, when it is in season, how to choose a ripe one, how to open and eat it and how Thais use it, from mango sticky rice and pomelo salad to green mango with chilli salt. Where a fruit is hard to find outside Thailand, the guide says where to look for it fresh, frozen or tinned.
Mangosteen
Mangkhut: the “queen of fruits”, snowy segments inside a hard purple shell.
Durian
Thurian: the “king of fruits”, custardy and famously pungent.
Rambutan
Ngoh: a hairy red shell around sweet, juicy, lychee-like flesh.
Longan
Lamyai: small, tan-skinned fruit from the north with musky, honeyed flesh.
Lychee
Linchee: a short, sweet spring season of fragrant, floral fruit from the northern hills.
Pomelo
Som o: the giant citrus, sweet and mildly bitter, and the base of a famous salad.
Jackfruit
Khanun: the world’s biggest tree fruit, with sweet golden pods.
Coconut
Maprao: fresh coconut water to drink, and the cream and milk behind curries and desserts.
7 recipes
Banana
Kluay: dozens of varieties, eaten fresh, grilled, fried and cooked in coconut milk.
1 recipe
Pineapple
Sapparot: small, sweet and fragrant, eaten fresh and cooked into curries and fried rice.
1 recipe
Guava
Farang: eaten crisp and green, dipped in sugar, salt and chilli.
Rose Apple
Chomphu: bell-shaped, crisp and watery, the most refreshing fruit in the hot season.
Dragon Fruit
Kaew mangkon: a pink, flame-shaped fruit with speckled white or magenta flesh.
Lime
Manao: small, juicy Thai limes, the main source of sourness in Thai cooking.
12 recipes
Ripe Papaya
Malakor suk: soft, sweet orange papaya, eaten with a squeeze of lime.
Watermelon
Taeng mo: the hot-season thirst quencher, eaten chilled, blended and with salty fish.
Longkong
Longkong and its cousin langsat: clusters of small, pale fruit with sweet, translucent segments, from the south.
Salak
Sala: snake fruit, with scaly brown skin and crunchy, sweet-sour flesh.
Santol
Krathon: a sweet-sour fruit with fluffy white segments, also cooked in curries and pickled.
Sapodilla
Lamut: brown-skinned fruit with soft, malty flesh that tastes of brown sugar.
Custard Apple
Noi na: knobbly green fruit with creamy white segments that taste like vanilla custard.
Thai Tangerine
Som sai nam phueng: sweet, juicy northern tangerines, sold fresh and squeezed everywhere.
Marian Plum
Maprang: small, bright orange fruit with a short spring season, sweet or sour by variety.
Toddy Palm Fruit
Luk tan: translucent, jelly-like seeds from the sugar palm, cool and lightly sweet.
Star Fruit
Ma fueang: crisp, juicy, star-shaped slices that are lightly sweet and tart.