Commercialization of Mangosteen in the United States: Domestic Cultivation, Imports and Marketing

Abstract

This review covers the history of efforts to cultivate mangosteen ( Garcinia mangostanaL.) in the United States and other countries in the Western Hemisphere, and to market mangosteen in the United States. Mangosteen is highly reputed for its juicy, delicate flesh and sweet-tart flavor, but commercial cultivation and marketing in the United States started just recently. Native to Indonesia and Malaysia, mangosteen trees require a fully tropical climate and cannot be grown commercially in the contiguous United States. For more than a century, attempts have been made to cultivate mangosteen for the United States market; in the 1990s, small plantings were established in Hawaii and Puerto Rico (30 and 5 hectares, respectively), some of which are beginning to bear fruit. Because fresh mangosteens can harbor quarantine pests, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) until recently prohibited their importation from the main producing countries in Southeast Asia, or from Hawaii, to the U.S. mainland. In June 2007 APHIS published a final rule allowing the importation of fresh mangosteen irradiated at a minimum dose of 400 gy from Thailand, which leads the world in production. Imported Thai mangosteen appears to tolerate this dose well. Shipments of fresh mangosteen from Puerto Rico, which do not require irradiation, started on a small scale in August 2007. Hawaiian growers have marketed chiefly to local hotels, restaurants and cruise ships, but in 2008 APHIS published a final rule allowing export to the mainland of mangosteen irradiated at a minimum dose of 150 gy. Interest in the purported health benefits of mangosteen has boosted public awareness and consumption of mangosteen products in recent years.