Mangosteens & Calla Lilies

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I’m really not sure why the stars line up like this, but just as we are finishing up with some pretty serious strategic planning and other business related obligations, 70 kilos of FINE mangosteens from Mindanao were acquired in Cebu for just PHP18 a kilo and most of it was prepped for jam and arrived by airfreight two hours ago so we were thrown into a tizzy at home trying to make all of it into jam before it is too late. Then of course there are the acquisition and preparation of blooms for tomorrow’s school inauguration. So with head spinning, I took a breather, threw some mangosteens into a vase filled with water, after something I saw at the Cafe Prado a few weeks ago, and draped some deep burgundy calla lilies over top…

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Now I think I know what I am going to do for the buffet tomorrow morning… Yup, inspiration is definitely part replication or copying other things we have seen, but doing it in a new way or combined with other things. I think this kind of works nicely. And yes, believe it or not, calla lilies don’t always need to be submerged in water, they do just fine out of water for several hours. Okay, back to the jam… Have a great weekend everyone! :)

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25 Responses

  1. Lovely! If only we could get mangosteen in Seattle for the USD equivalent of PHP18/kilo!! (It’s usually about $7/lb. if you can find it at all)

  2. Yes Risa, me too…hoping MM will share some of his famous mangosteen jams soon! :)
    What a nice fruit and flower combination MM!

  3. Mmm I spy with my little eye a Chinese style bamboo cupboard? And how did you make it as though the mangosteens have varying specific gravity?

  4. whoa! P18/kilo? was planning to bring you some next weekend, but that’s even cheaper than those sold in most of the market stalls here. the markets and streets have been overflowing with durian and mangosteen for at least a month already.

    i love these colored calla lilies.

  5. I’ve been noticing sharper and more vivid photos in recent months, MM. These ones here are stunning. Did you switch to a new camera?

  6. PHP18 a kilo of mangosteen!!!! drool! we buy a bag in Chinatown for about C$20-25 and eat it all in one sitting since it is just enough for the 2 of us. and i’ve only been able to justify that splurge as a once a year thing. oh my, for C$25 I’d get PHP1,000 worth of mangosteen… in Cebu. my stomach is growling as well.

    MM, would you be able to come up with a calendar of fruits? that is, identify which fruits are in season when so that maybe we can time our trip back based on that. i never paid attention when i was still living there since i didn’t do the groceries then and i’d taken the fruits for granted. hubby loves sineguelas and santol. i love mangosteens and bangkok santol.

    p.s. while in taiwan last december we had their atis (sugar apple). i ate the biggest atis in my entire life. it was the meatiest too and super sweet. they’ve also hybridized pineapple and atis to come up with a seedless kind that looks more like a small soursop. i’ll dig up my pictures and send it to you if you’ve never seen it before.

  7. The mangosteens on top might be riper than the less ripe but denser mangosteens in the bottom. Lovely colors…….. and idea.

  8. @Sunflowii, i think you are talking about the “cherimoya”, looks like soursop with some varieties tasting like pineapple/banana. I buy that as a substitute when craving for atis. Fresh mangosteen here in SF bay area is $3/lb if you can find them.

  9. Okay mangosteen arrangement demystified… the one at the bottom is wedged by the vase walls, the two on top are squeezed against each other and by the walls, the two in the middle free floats but are held in place by the top mangosteens and shape of the vase. Now do i get a jam?

  10. whenever i feel like eating mangosteen, i buy the frozen at the
    filipino store. of course, the fresh ones are better.
    your flower arrangement with the mangosteens inside the
    clear vase looks beautiful with the purple color of the flowers….

  11. 18 php / kilo…

    wowo – thats what i call cheap…

    jam made out of mangosteen ????
    that sounds definately very very interesting !!!!

    bon appetit a tous

  12. Oh that’s atemoya which Market Man posted about here https://www.marketmanila.com/archives/atemoya. As the text of the post explained, it is a cross of atis and chirimoya that are now commercially cultivated most successfully in Australia and Brazil although the Philippines was the first territory outside the United States that got the chance to test the first few grafts.

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