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I am having trouble separating the pit, or seed like thing, in a Rambutan. It easily comes out, but leaves a sticky layer of "bark" on the white part of the fruit. This bark-like substance is really hard to separate from the fruit without wasting a lot of it.

Are there any special techniques I can use?

Below is a picture for reference:

Rambutan Sliced in Half

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Kevin Connors
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1 Answers1

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Wether or not the stone of a rambutan comes out cleanly depends on the specific variety of rambutan:

There's freestone and clingstone ones. The stone of the freestone just pops out, the clingstone ones, well, cling to the fruit. The only option for those is to either try to clean it, make a mess, waste fruit, and fail, or to just pop them in your mouth, suck and chew of the flesh, and spit out the stone.

In other words: If you want to clean them nicely buy the freestone ones. Problem is: I've never seen rambutans actually labeled as such, at least not where I live, and they're not often available (lychees are more easy to obtain). Maybe it's different in other countries, but over here, it's impossible to tell which variety you have, without trying one.

Willem van Rumpt
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    Based on that description (as I'm not familiar with the fruit), it sounds like it has a similar problem as peaches ... and for those I'll use a grapefruit spoon to extract the pit if it's a clingstone. If might not get it perfectly clean, but it's the best that I've found so far. – Joe Mar 01 '16 at 14:59
  • I didn't know serrated spoons were called "grapefruit spoons", they've come and gone nameless through my life up until now, nice :) If you know lychees, you know rambutans, taste and structure wise, they're almost the same (and very nice, ymmv). – Willem van Rumpt Mar 01 '16 at 15:32
  • @WillemvanRumpt this is unfortunately the answer I was expecting. I read about the "freestone" and "clingstone" varieties, and like you, I can't find them labeled as such. I guess in the middle of Iowa that's hard to find. – Kevin Connors Mar 01 '16 at 19:52
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    What country is "over here"? – Burhan Ali Mar 05 '16 at 12:49
  • "Over here" is The Netherlands (which a glance at my profile would've shown). – Willem van Rumpt Mar 06 '16 at 12:20