The pulasan (Nephelium ramboutan-ake) is a close relative of the rambutan, a tropical tree fruit of the soapberry family native to Peninsular Malaysia and western Indonesia. Its thick, leathery, dark-red to maroon rind is studded not with the long curling hairs of a rambutan but with short, blunt, fleshy spines, and inside lies a thick, glistening, translucent white aril that is sweeter and less acidic than rambutan — honeyed, gently floral and grapey — and which in good cultivars peels cleanly off the seed. It is eaten fresh out of hand and is prized in Southeast Asia as one of the sweetest of the rambutan group.