We went to the big international fruit and vegetable market with my parents this weekend. I should say first of all that despite the weird and wonderful array of things on offer there, I still absolutely refuse to believe that this rainbow-coloured corn exists. I could accept that they might come in colours other than the traditional yellow, but not that they grew in a variety pack like a natural box of Fruit Pastilles.

The first time we went there, I said that each time we went I would bring back something that I hadn't tried before and describe the taste experience. There's no shortage of things there to choose from in that category, because most of them aren't even from this planet - this time, I was a little more adventurous and selected something that looked more likely to put up a fight.

These came from a box marked Rambutan, but it seems more correct to call them "Rambutan fruit" as this is the name of the tree they come from. Despite looking like they might eat you rather than vice versa, the spines on them are soft and non-violent, and you can cut into them with the same ease as your own fingers with a serrated knife.

There's a guide to preparing them here - underneath the thin skin, what you get inside is a round sticky translucent white sphere, a bit like a pickled onion and - now that I come to think of it - uncomfortably like an eyeball. The seed is inside this, and you can either cut it out or eat around it.

And it has a taste not incomparable to a plum, though slightly chewier - it has a nicely sweet taste, and I'd probably have them again. The only thing that I don't like about them is that even when you've got the seed out, a woody residue remains bonded to the inside edge of the flesh, but the site says that this is all right to ingest.