Herbal Teas & Flowers

Mangosteen Peel Extract

Garcinia mangostana

Mangosteen peel is the rind of Garcinia mangostana, a large tree reaching 20 metres, with thick, leathery, dark green leaves 15 to 20 centimetres long. Its fruit is round and about the size of an orange, with a thick, hard, dark red rind, the sepals still attached at the base; inside sit six to eighteen seeds, each wrapped in a sweet, fragrant white aril. Thought to have come from the Sunda and Molucca islands and carried to southern Vietnam by missionaries, the tree is now grown widely across the south, chiefly for that aril. The rind is what remains, and it is dried in the sun.