In Mariquita, Mauricio Gómez planted our farm's first mangosteen trees 28 years ago. What began as a bet on a little-known fruit became a family story that we now want to take much further.
The farm where our story began.
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Discover mangosteen
My father was a visionary.
Nicolás Gómez
For a time, security problems in the region forced us to leave the farm, and work stopped. When it was possible to return, we picked it up again. Then came other obstacles:
The farm survived, but it became clear that growing good fruit was not enough. We had to build a different way of working.
The pandemic brought one of the hardest blows for the farm: an entire harvest was lost. It was also when Nicolás Gómez decided to take over the running of the farm himself.
The goal
Susurros del Ruiz is a buyer and ally of growers in the region. Asomangostino is an independent organisation.
Do you grow mangosteen in the region?
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Today we want to do with mangosteen what we have not yet achieved at scale: take it directly from Mariquita to new markets.
The goal is to export.
We are working so that Colombian mangosteen can reach international markets directly, with a particular interest in the United States.
About the designation of origin
Mariquita mangosteen is not just a fruit variety. It is the result of a history of cultivation, of growers who learned to work the tree, and of a territory that has accompanied that production for decades. We want to use all that knowledge to take it to a level of quality, traceability and innovation that matches what it can become.
History, land and people.
We want to take mangosteen to another level, but not at any cost. That means working with social responsibility, respect for the territory, good agricultural practices, traceability, technology and better processes.
The main harvest is concentrated between January and April.
Harvest
Processing · sales · preparing the next season
We need people for harvest picking, for the warehouse and for grading. If you know field work, or want to learn, leave us your details.
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San Sebastián de Mariquita, in northern Tolima. It concentrates the country's largest mangosteen production, and it is where the «Mangostino de Mariquita» designation of origin came from, declared by Colombia's Superintendency of Industry and Commerce on 25 February 2026. The town is also known as Colombia's fruit capital.
Mangosteen. It has been grown in the valley for decades and today it is the crop that identifies the town, with its own designation of origin. Mariquita is also where José Celestino Mutis ran the Royal Botanical Expedition from 1783, so the town's relationship with plants goes back a long way.
Mainly in northern Tolima. The area covered by the designation of origin spans six municipalities: San Sebastián de Mariquita, Armero-Guayabal, Falan, Palocabildo, Honda and Fresno. There are plantings in Antioquia, Valle del Cauca, Meta and Santander too, but without a designation of origin.
In Colombia it is called mangostino. Other Spanish-speaking countries say mangostán, and in English it is mangosteen. Its scientific name is Garcinia mangostana. It is known as «the queen of fruits», a nickname it carries from Southeast Asia, where it comes from.
About four years from planting to the first fruit, and full production comes considerably later. That wait is why mangosteen is scarce: nobody plants it thinking about next year's harvest. A producing tree is the result of a decision someone made years ago.
In northern Tolima there is a single harvest per year, between January and April. Outside that window there is no fresh fruit from the region. That is why frozen pulp and dehydrated powder are produced during the harvest and shipped on request the rest of the year.
It depends on fruit size and on the point in the season, which is why we do not publish a price list. Prices fall at peak harvest and rise at the start and the end of the season. If you need a figure to quote, write to us with the volume.
Very few. Almost all Colombian mangosteen is sold fresh. Susurros del Ruiz also processes it in San Sebastián de Mariquita: we pulp by hand, freeze and dehydrate, and sell frozen pulp and powder in bulk for kitchens, nutraceutical formulation and export.
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