The snake fruit is a rather creepy-looking fruit that gets its name from a shiny reddish-brown exterior that resembles the reptile's scales. Also called salak, the snake fruit is grown in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. You can find it in a few local wet markets, although it's not very popular, probably because Hongkongers are relatively unfamiliar with it.

The shell is tough but thin and pliable, so the fruit is easy to peel. When the shell is peeled away, it reveals meaty off-white to yellow lobes (some with seeds) that look like the flesh of a mangosteen. Unlike the mangosteen's soft, juicy flesh, though, the snake fruit is moist, with a crisp texture that ranges from that of the longan to the crunchy bite of an apple, depending on the cultivar.

In places where snake fruit is common, it's sometimes mashed, fermented and made into a potent alcoholic drink. If you want to include it in a fruit platter to serve after dinner, use a sharp knife to cut the fruit around its circumference and remove the top half of the shell. You can also make it into a healthy yogurt smoothie, along with other tropical fruit such as banana, papaya and mango.