Plant atlas Short
Madan: The Thai Fruit Too Sour to Eat Raw
Madan · มะดัน · Garcinia schomburgkiana
Madan — มะดัน (ma-dan) — Garcinia schomburgkiana.
This little green Garcinia fruit is so mouth-puckering that Thai cooks rarely bite it raw. Instead they slice it thin to sour a pot of gaeng som, or a plate of yam with pickled crab — the job tamarind or lime usually does. It is reported to carry vitamin A and calcium, and the young leaves get simmered in as a sour green. The parts on your plate are the small oblong fruit and those young leaves.
What madan really does, and does brilliantly, is sour a pot of gaeng som the way lime or tamarind would. It is far too tart to eat on its own, but perfect in the pot — and even the young leaves go in as a sour green. Follow Longevity Biome for a new Thai plant every day.
Gaeng Som Madan — แกงส้มมะดัน (gaeng-som-ma-dan)
Madan Chuam — มะดันเชื่อม (ma-dan-chuam)
Source: Sim et al. (2022). alpha-Glucosidase Inhibitory and Antimicrobial Benzoylphloroglucinols from Garcinia schomburgkiana Fruits. Molecules. PMID 35458771, DOI:10.3390/molecules27082574. Further isolation of alpha-glucosidase inhibitors: RSC Advances (2023). PMID 38053690, DOI:10.1039/d3ra06760b.
Educational content, not medical advice! Consult your doctor before changing diet or medication.
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Food and nutrients
Rich in: Vitamin A, calcium
Research context
Compounds isolated from madan fruit blocked the starch-digesting enzyme alpha-glucosidase in a lab dish — Molecules, 2022