custard apple

Quite a number of articles and photos online if you look up "Langsium domesticum"/"duku"/"longkong"+Malaysian fruits" in the Google search.
Think they might be available in some oriental grocers/fruit sellers outlets in Perth and Brisbane in Aus and some tropical fruit orchards there grow them for the local markets and even for export.

Peaches have to be completely ripe but not mushy or bruised.
Bananas for frying have to be a bit under ripe but for eating uncooked, completely ripe preferrably without any brown spots, although I often tolerate the brown spots and cut them out since it's really hard to get them just right.
Granny Smith apples have to be just barely ripe so they're crunchy a crispy.
Strawberries also have to be ripe and red but not mushy.

I'm really picky.

"to ripen pears in Australia .... you watch them closely .... try to press them without bruisong ..... pick a moment... and then you most times have waited too long . When you get it right though ..... a perfectly ripe pear is a thing of beauty."

In England and BC, pears are picked before they are ripe, and placed in drawers of cloths, preferable of womens under wear.

...is that why we say a "Pear of nickers "... when there's only one???

Unripe custard apples are "ripened" by burying them in a storage jar of rice grains in village household kitchens..

Trib, you're right. Longkong is what they're called, not the langsats, very similar looking but sour and difficult to peel.

Here, Phil:

http://www.google.com/images?hl=&q=longkong&sourceid=navclient-ff&rlz=1B3GGGL_en___KH231&ie=UTF-8&biw=1280&bih=637

thanks Henning ... those pictures were helpful ... the ones I google... I presumed were sapota....these look much jucier .... am I likely to find them in Vietnam or laos in Dec/Jan????

No. They're in season now. Maybe another couple of weeks then it'll be over.

Also in season now are lychees. Big, juicy, sweet and slightly tangy ones.

I bought a pear that never looked ripe. I didn't think to put it in my underwear drawer.

Henning ... are they what I maight call a longan????