TikTok User Tries to Open Rambutan With POTATO PEELER and Asians Are Screaming

With dozens — if not hundreds — of rugged spikes for a “hairy” exterior, it comes as no surprise that the rambutan has been called an “alien fruit,” all thanks to the Netflix sci-fi series “Another Life.”

Gavin Smith, who goes by the username @hommiepen, is clearly among those perplexed by the fruit’s appearance, which is why he probably thought it made sense to “shave” its “hair” with a potato peeler.

As seen in his TikTok video, Gavin carefully peels the spikes off the fruit.

He then uses a knife to cut it open in the middle.

While Gavin succeeds in taking the fruit out of its shell, he still seems clueless about how to actually eat it.

Gavin’s video earned more than 148,000 likes and 18,000 comments as of this writing, but Southeast Asians familiar with more efficient ways to open and eat the fruit are livid about his peeling.

Rambutan is native to countries in Southeast Asia, where it adapts to a tropical climate characterized by an average annual temperature of 24 degrees Celsius (75 degrees Fahrenheit) and a distributed rainfall of 2,000 to 3,000 millimeters (79 to 118 inches).

The spikes of the rambutan may look terrifyingly sharp for some seeing it for the first time, but they are in fact soft and pliable.

The shell of the rambutan has a leathery texture, but anyone trying to crack it need not necessarily use a kitchen tool.

To crack a rambutan open, simply squeeze or apply pressure on both ends of the fruit using your palms and fingers, as this video from YouTuber user Shijo Mathalikunnel demonstrates:

 

Those able to get their hands on some rambutan and successfully crack one open will be treated to a transparent, jelly-like flesh that tastes like a cross of almond and lychee, only much sweeter and more aromatic.

Gavin’s rambutan puzzle has a good ending, however, as he eventually learns that peeling them is ridiculously unnecessary (He still uses a small knife to cut it open, but many Asians such as myself do this too):

Feature Images via @hommiepen