Local tropical fruit

Pat and I are both avid fruit eaters and have discovered some brand new delicacies here in the tropics! You will have to be content with pictures as I cannot adequately describe tastes in written format! Currently (late August) we are in mangosteen, durian, rambutan and duku season! You can have the durian, but the other three have become our favourites and I buy them by the kilo for about RM3-6 ($1-2 USD). Most market stalls on the street will offer 3 kg for RM10 and you can mix and match! What a deal!


















This spread was put out at the Hyatt Resort for a recent wedding dinner. You will recognize bananas, watermelon (usually the shape of a basketball), honeydew melon, and oranges in two colours. Between the bananas and the melons on the front table are dukus, looking very much like new potatoes! These ones are sectioned and the easiest way to eat them is to squeeze the middle gently so it pops open and you can remove the peel. If there are any seeds, they are quite bitter but the flesh itself is sweet and juicy. The skin can be a little sticky, not unlike pine sap on your fingers! On the far table, you will see pink rose apples (pear shape), very crunchy and resfreshing, as well as dark red and hairy rambutans! More on them below...




















Right outside our front gates are two banana plants in bloom! They were planted by our landlord last year and are finally coming into their own, although we have no idea how long it will be before the bananas actually ripen! Note the large purple pod which contains the fruit before it matures.
















Here is the other banana plant with two large bunches of bananas, still very green and rock hard! The house behind is that of the neighbour's. Inbetween our houses is a large green space where their maids have a little garden!
















Here are three bunches of bananas from the above tree, harvested at the end of September. They are short and fat, very sweet with a hint of citrus in the flavour, and are very yellow inside. The tree now is ready to be cut down to allow the little sucklings to grow up. We think there will be forever bananas in this yard!
















In our lovely room at Mom Tri's Villas in Phuket in early August, we enjoyed a fruit plate with bananas, dukus, oranges (green), rambutans and apples.






















This is a common sign in the summer in hotels and other public buildings! Durian, the King of Fruit, is definitely not for everyone! You either like it or you don't, I don't think it is a taste you can "acquire"! We know many Asians who cannot stand the smell or the taste, so we are not alone! Imagine, if you will, walking by an open sewer....or there's a dead mouse in a cupboard and you can't seem to locate it but the smell is unbearable everywhere! There you go...the unmistakeable odour of durian! It's quite an odd-looking fruit, greenish-brown in colour, about the size of a pineapple with thorny skin. You break it open and enjoy the flesh inside, which is high in sulfur content, thus the smell! Last summer when Jen visited, we were treated to durian cakes after Church one Sunday...even that was hard to stomach! You will see durian candy and ice cream for sale as well as puddings, etc.

















A member of the duku family, these are Lencons which have a large purple seed inside. They are roughly the size of grapes and are sweet and juicy inside. They are a little like lychees.

















You may recognize this persimmon...I am not a big fan so can't speak on the flavour or taste. This particular one was on a fruit plate in our hotel room in the Shangri-La in Kuala Lumpur one time. We saw them growing on trees in Japan in late September, so are not sure when they would be ready for harvest.

















These are both mangoes...the green one, although actually ripe, is not as sweet and juicy as the yellow one below. They are available several times throughout the year and we enjoy them always! Pat likes to turn them into juice (which is very thick) with his new juicer!
















These strange-looking things are mangosteens, another favourite, although they are a bit difficult to get into! You can squeeze two together, hoping that the skin of at least one will pop open without mashing the very tender fruit inside. The peel is thick, very dark red in colour and will stain fingers, nails and clothing alike! The flesh is sectioned, quite white and in one or two sections will be a large seed. The flavour is a little sweet-sour, sometimes compared to a combination of strawberries and grapes. Delicious!

















Stranger still are rambutans, with their dark red soft "hairy" skins. They are the size of a small clementine or a very large grape. Inside the fruit is much like a lychee. You eat the flesh from a
central stone, rather like a smooth almond. They can be very juicy and messy sometimes but they also make for good snacking in front of TV after dinner!

















Everyone will know the pineapple, prepared by our local Chinese vegetable man, Mr. Wong! I'm not sure which tropical country has the best pineapples in the world, but Malaysia can certainly boast about some! There are short and squat ones, called Josapines, just the right size for me and Pat. This one is a longer version (not sure of the name) and they come from Sarawak on Borneo Island, East Malaysia.

Mr. Wong comes twice a week in his truck, either right to my door, or, during the school year, to the International Garden School, where he sells to many of the ex-pat mothers. He carries just about everything in the way of salad veggies, beans, asparagus, broccoli, potatoes, onions, garlic, herbs and many different fruit, which he will either prepare for you (as in the pineapple above) or cut in half so you don't have so much at once! He also carries fresh chicken breasts, which we have discovered are the most tender we have enjoyed here yet! With a little warning, he can usually bring fresh shrimp, although the price is pretty high! The quality of his produce is very high, everything is cleaned and trimmed, ready for use. We pay a little more than in the local shops, but you know it is fresh, plus it is fun to learn about the various foods we are not familiar with. He is always very good at picking out just the right fruit for you!

















Yes, I know these do not come under the heading of local Malaysian fruit, but I thought you would be interested in seeing the size of the Romaine lettuces that I buy from Mr. Wong. Here are two, with an ordinary large egg inbetween so you can get an idea of just how small they really are! They are fully grown and in order to keep us in lettuce for a few days, I usually buy two or three at a time. Are you hungry yet...?

Until next time, jumpa lagi...