MANGOSTEEN
Native to the Malay Peninsula, these can be seen in Australia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Burma, Columbia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. Mangos teens must be grown in strictly tropical areas and require abundant moisture, which is why they should be ideally planted near bodies of water. Fruits start appearing after six to twelve years from seed and usually occur during summer or after periods of heavy rainfall. Fresh fruit can generally be marketed up to 21 days after harvest. It is used in jam, preservatives, jellies, seeds boiled or roasted for consumption, twigs used as chew sticks, fruit rind used for leather tanning and black dye, wood used to make spear handles and for construction work, dried fruits for medicinal use, skin disorder ointment, astringent lotion, leaf and bark extracts used to treat diarrhea, dysentery and urinary disorders.

RAMBUTAN
Native to Malaysia, this fruit is being cultivated in countries like Africa, Cambodia, the Caribbean Islands, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Australia and Hawaii. This fruit is sensitive to temperatures below 10° C and flourish in deep soils that are high in organic matter. It is usually propagated by grafting, air-layering or budding. In India, however, this fruit is usually propagated by seeds, which take around nine to 25 days to germinate and bear fruit after five to six years. Budded trees fruit after two to three years, with optimum production occurring after eight to ten years. An average rambutan tree can produce around 70 kg fruit or more. The seed is used in cooking, manufacturing of soaps, candles, roots, barks and leaves used for dyes, wood suitable for construction, astringent, used in medicines for headaches, diarrhea, dysentery, fever and other infections.

TAMARIND
Native to Africa, tamarinds can be found in tropical America, Bermuda, Bahamas and the West Indies. India is said to be the world’s top producer of tamarind (Imli), with thousands of tons of seed, seed powder and fruit pulp exported annually and there still lies a lot more potential for commercially exploiting this fruit. Tamarind cultivation is divided into the sweet and sour category. India mostly grows sour tamarinds in orchard-like plantations. Trees take around 13 years to bear seed pods, which take around eight months to ripen. It is used in spices, sauce, chutneys, herbal tea, and ayurvedic medicines for gastric and digestive problems, heart tonic, and brass cleaning agent, desserts, drinks, laxatives and heart tonic. The seeds mostly used in the manufacturing of textile sizing powder, especially jute and cotton yarns. The kernel is used as a creaming agent for rubber latex, and as a soil stabilizer. The wood can be used for flooring and making furniture.

PASSION FRUIT
Passion fruits can be propagated by seeds, cuttings and grafting on rootstocks. The fruit is expected to be produced in eight to twenty months after planting and the plants can usually produce fruits   throughout the year, for about three to six years. Passion fruit juice helps in lowering of cholesterol and is a good source of antioxidants. It is said that drinking one glass of passion fruit juice fulfills 50% of the day’s vitamin C requirement, 60% of the day’s vitamin A requirement and 40% of the day’s potassium requirement. The seeds of the fruit help in digestion, breaking down complex carbohydrates and stabilizing your body’s glucose and cholesterol level. The seeds produce oil with sunflower and soybean like properties that is edible and can be used for industrial purposes.