Engkabang Oil (Ilipenut oil) 2019

My own photo of perhaps one of the last fruits from Bekenu 1990's during one of my outings with my children to be near nature.

In the olden days, the illipenut was the fruit which provided the Ibans with cooking oil. Today the tree is on the endangered list due to over logging.

The engkabang tree does not fruit regularly and in fact it is considered a temperamental tree. Usually it fruits only once in eight or nine years. Many scientists have tried to regulate its flowering and fruiting.

In Sibu there were a few Foochow men who became extremely rich in the 60's from the engkabang fruits. They were called Kings of the Chiu Ji (Kings of the Tree Seeds) and exported the seeds(very smelly raw exports)through Sibu-Singapore cargo ships. When the engkabang fruits arrived from Kapit and Kanowit, the wharf labourers and the Chinese towkays were most busy especially along the Channel Road, Pulau Babi, and the Wharf Road. One of the Foochow Kings of Engkabang was Sia Kie Ming of High Street, Sibu, and he was married to my 7th Aunt.

Photo by Mahmud Yussup with thanks. Raw Engkabang

A stick of engkabang (now can cost up to 15 ringgit for this tiny piece). The hardened engkabang is like tree butter and goes well with hot rice.

While the engkabang was famous as a forest product useful in the making of chocolates, lipsticks and other industrial product, back home in Sarawak, it was a traditional cooking oil. Today it is no longer an important export from Sarawak.

Furthermore oil palm has taken over the landscape and manufactured cooking oil can be easily bought in the supermarket.

The Illipenut or engkabang oil is now considered a delicacy among the Ibans who continue to process some for their own home consumption. But 2019 is a good year for engkabang oil producers.

The oil is used to enhance the taste of hot rice. It takes a few days to process engkabang oil and to harden it in bamboo tubes.

The whole of Sarawak, it might be an exaggeration, is very excited about the extra fruiting of the engkabang this year. Lots of the fruits could be found in the jungle (for free) and the Ibans in Kanowit, Pakan and some smaller areas are having a windfall.