Buah Mesta (Garcinia mangoestana) is a special cultivar of mangosteen that is believed to originate from Temerloh, Pahang, in peninsular Malaysia. It is now being propagated commercially by a few growers. Buah Mesta has some differences from standard mangosteen (Manggis) in terms of several morphological characteristics.
According to commercial mesta entrepreneur Mr. Shuabib from Kg Paya Pasir, Maran, Pahang, mesta trees are usually slightly smaller and lower than regular mangosteen trees. Generally there are a greater number of branches on the tree. Mesta fruit are a little bit more oval shaped with a pointy tapering end under them; not a stocky round shape like regular mangosteen.
When looking inside the fruits, it is almost uniformly commented that mesta has nothing like the large seeds found in regular mangosteen. Typically it has 6 cloves of fresh white substance with a very sweet taste. Most special about this fruit is it only has a little resin which can stain your hands or clothes, even from freshly picked fruit. (The resin from a mangosteen fruit is yellow)
Mesta is harvested from the orchards in Maran when the season arrives, and fetches a slightly higher price, despite the season usually being the same as the harvest for ordinary mangosteen. Mesta fruit in 2016 began to ripen in July and were sold at a farm price of around RM 8.00 per kg compared with regular mangosteen at around Rm 4.00 - 5.00 per kg. Mesta fruit is highly favored by those who have purchased it.
Mesta in terms of form generally resembles the overall form of standard mangosteen. If one is less familiar with the particular differences of Mesta, they need to look carefully at the shape of the fruit first. Mesta fruit is more oval-shaped, with a nose at the bottom, and have stacks of white filling inside which are uniform in size and with less seeds. In contrast, standard mangosteen fruit has a mainly flat round shape underneath, and there tend to be large white segments, which contain seeds, next to smaller more flattened segments. The edible segments of flesh inside Mesta are uniform in size.
("bentuk" just means shape)
During the growing season Mesta trees are very uniform and dense in fruit, until a few branches break. This is one of the features of a Mesta tree, at 4 years old there will be a lot of fruit that causes broken branches. Regular mangosteen trees have less cases of branch breakage.
Another feature of Mesta can be found at the bottom of the fruit. There are 6 (sometimes 7) petals on the button, whereas regular mangosteen has 5.
Mesta also has a bit larger brownish-green petals on the top where the stalk comes out, between 1-2cm depending on the size of the fruit.
For those who want to eat the Mesta variety of mangosteen, you can visit Maran, Temerloh, Raub, Lipis, or Jeranut, because the area is reported to have mesta tree planting. The trees in this area can bear fruit after 4 years of growth by merging seedlings, grafting them together into a single tree trunk.
translated from Malay
original article written by M. Anem, senior agronomist at Bukit Goh Agricultural Center, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia
original source:
http://animhosnan.blogspot.com/2016/08/mesta-buah-berharga.html?m=1