This fruit, which is native to Peninsular Malaysia, is a member of the Garcinai family, a family which also includes the highly prized fruit, the mangosteen. The small round fruits of asam gelugor, which does not have a common English name, are very sour and therefore not eaten fresh. Instead, they are thinly sliced and dried until shrivelled and browhish black.

            Asam gelugor, also known as asam keping (literally “sour slices”), is used primarily in fish curries in Malaysia and Singgapore. Its acidity and flavour are subtly different to the sour fruitiness of the more commonly used souring agent, tamarind, but this can be substituted.

            Another member of the same family, a tree known as goraka in Southeast India and Sri Lanka, produces a fruit used in similar ways to asam gelugor. In Thailand, yet another Garcinia, G. schomburgkiana, shares the same sourness as asam gelugor and is used fresh in some salads, and also in fish curries. It is known. in Thai as madan.