Rambutans in season July August and this September

Freshly picked rambutan

The whole family and just about every Filipino must be on a rambutan craze the past few weeks. Prices have gone down to 50 pesos per kilo or even less in the Metro Manila area. Rambutans have been in season since July, then this August and maybe until September. Yummy. If you haven’t had your fill of rambutan, get some today!

There are 2 types of rambutans in our markets: Supsupin and Tuklapin. In the spoiled Metro Manila area, people prefer Tuklapin as the word tuklap means to be able to peel away the fleshy part of the rambutan fruit from the seed making eating it a more comfortable and faster experience. While the supsupin means you have to bite and suck at the flesh to get some flesh and juice as the flesh does not peel out.

I have observed that tuklapin varieties are taking over and soon supsupin will be endangered. It’s how the market works.

We had fun with rambutan 2 weeks ago when I drove to Candelaria, Quezon. On the way before alaminos the makeshift fruit street vendors started popping out. Initially rambutans with some other fruits… then just rambutans only and lots and lots of rambutans… seems every backyard has rambutans and every few hundred meters there is a rambutan for sale stand selling as low as 20 pesos per kilo. It’s almost as if they are giving it away, with that much rambutan trees in their area in alaminos, san pablo city up to candelaria, they can’t consume their own rambutans, they must sell it to the transient tourists passing through their highway.

At Vander Gaditano’s healing farm I bought 50 kilos of rambutan, a bargain at 20 pesos per kilo. Rambutan finishes off easily. Everyone eats it.

I’m concerned at the sugar content I’ve been reigning down on my kids, I don’t buy it myself, but my wife does and keeps buying lots and lots of it.

I urge you to balance your sugar consumption of this fruit with some fat like avocados or eggs. I do not know the nutritional analysis of rambutan, just the taste. Maybe it is good for something.

Anyone know? Please comment.

Someone from Puerto Rico made a website called http://www.rambutan.com