May 29, 2011

Bario Pineapple growing in Miri

One of my Maktab Perguruan Sarawak KPLI teacher trainees upon graduation was posted to teach in SMK Bario thus becoming the first Sibu Foochow young man to teach in the school. The Principal by coincidence was a Foochow too but he was from Marudi. Andrew K stayed several years int he school and initiated himself in the teaching of the Bario youths using unusual methods of teaching.

However one great effort he made was to bring the suckers of the Bario pineapples to me and to his parents in Sibu. It was not easy to bring a sack or two of pineapple suckers by the small light plane from Bario to Miri!!

Today my Bario pineapples do produce a few if I am faster than the squirrels I get to eat one or two good fruits. The clump of Bario pineapples at the corner of my garden seem to thrive prettily as a hedge if not as a producer of good fruits.

here is one of them which the family enjoyed recently.


The fruit will not turn orange or yellow (so you actually have to watch the fruit very carefully and have it wrapped up with wire netting. Otherwise the squirrels will eat the whole fruit...




When the fruit is of a good size tug at the top leaves. If the leaves come off quite easily the fruit is mature.







If the stump is large like this it means that the fruit is very sweet....Bario pineapple is the sweetest of the pineapples grown in Sarawak. However the down side is that the sugar content in most pineapples (whether sour or not) is so high that diabetics should never eat pineapples. Your sugar level will go rocking high!! And it has happened to me. So now I never even order fresh pineapple juice even as a treat although it is my favourite drink. Have to be safe.

so all these tips I have given to you is called Tribal Knowledge from Sarawak.....if you should choose pineapples in the future these tips would help you select mature and ripe ones. Blessings like good fruits and flowers are to be shared!! Thanks again Andrew.

14 comments:

Ah Ngao said...

hi Sarawakiana, i think the type that you featured here is the "Josephine " - sort of crunchy not juicy enough. i like the " Paun " ,more juicy and the "eyes" are not many or close together so you get more out of it- after cutting. did you noticed that before CNY or near CNY, pineapple price rises becoz of people buying them for making pineapple tart,eh?

Ensurai said...

Ah Ngao...no I still prefer the Bario Pineapple although I really cannot eat pineapples which cause my blood sugar to rise sky high!!

Nice to know that it is a Josephine. thanks.

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

my sis and bro-i-l will be so glad that you are promoting their fruit. They never told me. They like the rice and black salt.

The sugar spike, does fruits cause it. I told it was old wives tales when my oldest sis's MIL got a stroke and they say it is caused by eating too much buah langsat from Indonesia.

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

http://annkschin.blogspot.com/2011/03/save-world-factory-farming-birds-nest.html

you remember the old caretaker of MPS? You pray you don't vomit in the class. Otherwise you hear non stop of his grumbling when he came to clean it up? He always brought some sand.

Lee said...

Hi Sarawakiana, I always knew Sarawak pineapples are king size, but this one is real small.
I have always loved pineapples....
We get ours from Cuba or South America, very sweet.
As usual learned something from you again, ha ha.
Nice pics too.
Have fun and stay easy.
Lee.

Bengbeng said...

i always buy mine from the lady at Kpg Bandung RM3.00 for one but i think they r from Sarikei.. the plus point is she cuts it up nicely n i dont have to labor with removing the outer skin at home

Anonymous said...

Hi all,

I think it is josarpine rather than josephine. johor+sarawak+pineapple=josarpine

Also, a spike in blood sugar maybe due to the fact that pineapple is high on the g released in the body. ather how sugar are contaent but rlycemic Index (GI) ie how sugar are released by the food in the body. GI has got nothing to do with sugarI heard that sugarcane is low in GI. Dont know how true that is.

Ensurai said...

Dear Ann
As far as I know the Bario Pineapple is well loved and many people love to grow it. But because of terrain and probably the climate the fruit either does not grow or fail to be big and sweet.
Haven't connected with Elizabeth yet although I would love to meet up with them May be I have to fly to Bario one of these days...And bring back again more pineapple suckers...hahahah

Ensurai said...

Yes...Ann....I will remember the old guy at MPrimary School fondly...I would think of him in a special way..a man who seldom spoke but who cleaned well and never was a "danger" to girls...A solitary man who had very strong principles...His bark was worst than his bite kind of man..

Ensurai said...

Dear Uncle Lee
First of all..pl know that somehow my lap top does not allow me to respond to your writing most of the time because your article is usually very large with lots of images probably. So I have not been commenting lately.
Secondly when the Bario pineapple is planted in Miri the fruits are definitely smaller.
However many pineapples today are getting smaller actually (not like in the olden days) and they weight in at about 2 kg..but in the past I have gotten some bigger than4 kg!~!
Wishing you lots of pineapple eating in your life!! Cheers. Thanks again.

Ensurai said...

Bengbeng
At this period of time I think fruits would be very good for you. Have you sometimes tried to make lemon grass tea?
Take care.

Ensurai said...

Dear Anonymous...thanks for the correction. Actually I am not really in the know about all these pineapple species..so your info is really something very new although I did hear a lot about Johore growing several different types of pineapples for canning and for export. I used to pass by Muar too and enjoy lots of pineapples and I remember pineapple tarts of Seremban in particular...

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Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing! You could order josephine pineapple, and md2 pineapple from us in GoFruits Malaysia.

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