Product Bio

A rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum) is a type of fruit which looks much akin to the lychee with a sweet/sour flavor. It is high in iron, vitamin C, copper, and antioxidants and, while it may be rarely found in your neck of the woods, it is highly prized in Malaysia, Thailand, Burma, and Sri Lanka into India as well as eastward through Vietnam, the Phillippines, and Indonesia. The name rambutan is derived from the Malay word rambut, which means “hairy” -- an apt description for this fruit. Rambutan fruit trees bear fruit that is indeed hairy in appearance. The fruit, or berry, is oval-shaped with a single seed.

To grow rambutan from seed, plant the seed flat in a small pot with drainage holes and filled with organic soil amended with sand and organic compost. Place the seed in the dirt and lightly cover with soil. It takes between 10 and 21 days for the seed to germinate. It will take about two years for the tree to be big enough to transplant outdoors; the tree will be about a foot (31 cm.) tall and still fragile, so it is better to repot it than actually put it in the ground. The transplanted tree should be placed in a ceramic, not plastic, pot in soil that is one part each of sand, vermiculite, and peat to create good drainage.