Fruits of Sarawak Jungles 1

  Have you ever seen this jungle fruit?

Actually it is the fruit of a wild rattan and is more on the sourish side. Some people love the sourness from this fruit.

Some of the fruits can be beautifully red in colour. When it is too ripe, it becomes brown and really not edible at all.

Foragers enjoy pulling them out of the tree if they see them, But a down side is that snakes love to  hide in these rattans. So be careful .

Mosquito nets for fruits

Swarms of insects which are too small often times can land on fruit trees by day and by night and soon the leaves become hole-y and flowers drop, and no fruits come forth.

Since the arrival of the Foochows in Sibu, the Rajang Valley has seen to man's response to the various natural challenges of farming - insects, birds, worms, and so many other pests.

A favourite way of protecting fruits especially very fine fruits like jambu is the use of "mosquito net". Vegetables too are now planted under mosquito nets and Malays use the phrase, "sayur di bawah kelambu".

The netting materials today cost RM50 on average for a kilo and it does not really stretch far. Investment in modern fruit farming is big, as precious land too become more and more expensive.

Would you therefore complain that your jambus cost more than 8 ringgit a kilo?

Different kinds of durians

We have only ONE durian tree in our back yard and we have been enjoying its fruits, though not every year. However.once in a while, it has even give us two seasons of fruiting in a single year!!

Our durian is of the tembaga type, planted by the first owner of our house, probably in the mid 80's.




I love the tree when it is flowering heavily, although that is not a sure sign that we will a good harvest. When it flowers, I would photograph the flowers every day.

One year we counted only 40 fruits on the tree, but a few dropped. That was a good year and every one who knew came to enjoy one or two.

There are many kinds of durians. Some are sweet, some are bitter sweet, some are very pungent and some are quite tasteless. Some are commercial durians while some are called jungle or wild durians.

Those specially selected by the Ibans to grow from seed are usually very fleshy and are highly valued by family members. Therefore when folks sell their durians, they normally say, "This is special type of durians, grown by my grandmother." If that is the truth, then the durian is good.

That is the reason why many local people will go to certain villages to buy durians when they know they are fruiting.

The tembaga  is by far the most traditional and authentic of the durians of Sarawak. The flesh is thick, sweet and once in a while a little bitter. The texture is soft and creamy, and never dry. Many families grow tembaga because they know what is really good.





There are many durians which have been grafted and after a few years of producing fruits, the quality will decline. However a traditional durian which is not grafted will continue to produce the same quality of durians for as long as 80 years!!

There are a few different TYPES of durians now developed in Malaysia. These are called commercial durias which are exported.

And basically there are 5 varieties of jungle or wild durians in Sarawak,namely durian ukak(durio kutejensis),durian isu(durio oxleyanus),durian isi merah(durio graveolens),durian kura-kura(durio testudinaran) and durian kulit merah(durio dulcis).(Xiao Feng Huang)


The durian with the whiskers is called nyekak

This orange durian is also a variety of nyekak

Thailand's Ciku

Thai Ciku is very sweet. The skin is deceptively not pretty but once cut with a knife,the fruit which is exposed has an extremely sweet and refreshing taste.

It is called la mut in thailand. It is worth planting in Sarawak.

Pineapples

A pineapple sucker will produce fruits after only two years!!

The fruit is consumed fresh, cooked, juiced and preserved.

It is neither a pine nor an apple.

As a fruit it is highly valued in Sarawak.

All the different races of people of Sarawak enjoy cooked pineapples too in many different kinds of dishes.

Fresh pineapples can range from very sweet to sour and there are several species of the fruit in Sarawak. There is nenas paun, as well as Sarikei pineapples (show in the photo), Bario pineapples and honey pineapples and others.

In the olden days, it really depended on family upbringing who would get ready fruits like pineapples, coconuts, mangoes, apples for the family. In my family, it was always my father who would lovingly prepare the fruits. He was good with his well sharpened knife and I would always remember how he pared apples for grandfather who was admitted at the Lau King Howe Hospital. He was really quite impressive!!

Even in those days as a very young girl I wished that all men should be able to pare apples, clean pineapples, cut papayas, watermelons for their families.

Sarawak : Tampoi

It is very exciting to find a tampoi tree all of a sudden in the jungle.



Unusual red flesh and extremenly sweet. The seedling came from a Bidayuh farm in Kuching.




The tampoi Baccaurea macrocarpa,  is a good fruit. Some varieties are very sweet. It is found in South East Asia and especially in Borneo.

The female trees bear fruits on the brnaches like fig trees. There is no season for its fruiting so hunters find it very exciting when they come across a fruiting tree in their journey. The fruits are harvested and taken home to be shared.

Usually found in the wild in Sarawak,or planted by indigenous farmers, the fruits are usually harvested and sold in the native tamu. They are very refreshing and have high levels of antioxidants.

Interestingly the fruit skin can vary from red to yellow. On this tree, a rare but good variety, are small fruits with red flesh inside. Some fruits have have flesh.

For those who brew wines, this fruit makes excellent wine.

Buah Engkilili

The Engkilili is a fruit found in clay soils in Sarawak, usually in the lower reaches of rivers. It is a berry and can be grown from seeds.

Each cluster has about 20 fruits which are shy, deep red with pointed tip. Usually the fruits are sweet but a little tart . In each fruit, there are 3 seeds. The fresh is yellow, sweet and crunch.



The skin can be astringent if the fruit is not mature enough

Sarawak has a town named after the fruit and is found in the Second Division near Sri Aman. Sungei Lubok Antu flows by the town, which used to be quite a flourishing trade centre in the past. River boats came to trade. Many Chinese miners came to look for gold in the early history of the settlement. fort Leonora was built in Engkilili in 1924.

Ciku Rajah

Sapodilla tree


Sapodilla (Manilkara zapota) is a long-lived, evergreen tree native to southern Mexico, Central America and the West Indies.[1] It is grown in huge quantities in India, Mexico and was introduced to the Philippines during Spanish colonisation.


The fruit is a large ellipsoid berry, 4-8 cm in diameter, very much resembling a smooth-skinned potato and containing 2-5 seeds. Inside, its flesh ranges from a pale yellow to an earthy brown color with a grainy texture akin to that of a well-ripened pear. The seeds are black and resemble beans, with a hook at one end that can catch in the throat if swallowed. The fruit has a high latex content and does not ripen until picked.

The cikgu Rajah is quite a premium fruit in Miri. The good large ones cost almost 1 ringgit each.

When young we placed unripe ciku in our rice bin for many days to ripen them. They were so tasty and juicy. It is a fruit which is full of Vitamin C. Apparently it can protect you from gout and cataracts. But it is really too sweet for those who are suffering from diabetes.

It is also good for lungs.

My grandfather Tiong Kung Ping had a ciku tree in his backyard. Whenever he harvested the fruits, he would wipe them clean and placed them in the rice urn. He would count the fruits and told us not to touch them until they were ripe enough to be eaten.

None of us kids could hog them. Grandma would slice the fruit for him and we would get small slices at tea time. I reckon this was how we learned from him about postponement of wants, be future oriented and also how to share. He was a stern man with very high principles.

I remember he almost raised his rattan when he found that I took a ripe banana which was so tempting. He did not hit me of course. The other children were paralyzed with fear and I thought the sky was going to fall down. He spared me for reasons best known to himself.

I was only six at that time.

But to this day I would always relate eating of bananas and cikus to him.

Today if we are unfortunate, cikus don't ripe at all and remain hard as wood.

Bell Guava ( Jambu Air)

Bell Guava is a very popular fruit in Sarawak. Its scientific name is Syzygium aqueum.

I

The Chinese call it Water Guava or Jambu ayer. The fruit has quite a variety of colours, from light green to yellow and even very red. It is bell shaped, waxy and crisp.

It is a species of cherry.
The flowers are beautiful.

Maria's Tips - Buah Sukun

Sarawakian Local Delights : Buah Kubal

God created a Garden of Eden for Adam and Eve and He was "happy". The fruits were free, the birds were free to fly and animals were free to roam. This was quite the state of the Sarawak Rainforest at the beginning of time!!


Many Ibans in Sarawak today have memories of having lots of wild and garden fruits to eat during their childhood. In the olden days they "enjoyed fruits planted by their hardworking mother" and the seasonal wild fruits their families could find.

When Iban mothers planted their rice (while their husbands went on their berjalai) these hardworking mothers cut through the jungle to establish new temuda or small gardens creating their fruit garden..enough for the family from season to season. Because of their farsightedness they grew the best of the durians or langsat for example. Even today many fruit sellers would say upon being asked, "Where are these fruits from?" They would answer."These were grown by my mother." And the fruits would be good indeed. But if you meet a con man, it could be a different story.

the kubal fruit grows from a vine which is indeed very surprising to many people since it can be such a big fruit. Some can be as big as a papaya.

The kubal can also be used in tuak making.

Sarawak fruit : Kakus

The Fijian longans or Kakus is grown in many parts of Sarawak. In fact how it spread was quite a mystery. Could it have been brought back by timber workers?

The fruit is nice, with a thick skin. Some people even call it crystal longans. It is also known as Brazilian Longans.

The flesh of the fruit is like lycees but is not as sweet.

This fruit seems to be very popular in Miri and is selling at 12.00 ringgit per kg.

Sarawakian Local Delights : Pedada

Pedada is a mangrove swamp fruit which grows wild. In fact the tree is actually a type of mangrove with small leaves , and small trunks and branches. In Sarawak the pedada grows along most of the rivers and even near the sea coasts as the tree tolerate sea water.

It is also known a Crabapple mangrove or Mangrove Apple. Its scientific name is Sonnerata caseolaris scientifically.





The fruits are edible and are usually eaten as a salad with a belacan sambal. They are a bit tart, so a sourish dip is good.

Pedada wood can be used as fishing net floats.

fire flies seem to like the sap of the fruits so in some heavily pedada wooded river banks, these fire flies would stay put at night and create a very surreal atmosphere.

Sarawak : Buah Kubal

Today not many people are familiar with the more traditional and jungle fruits of Sarawak. The kubal is as old as the ancient trees of the primary forests of Sarawak and is found mainly in the Northern Sarawak. However, with heavy logging every where, it is understandable that this wild fruit is nearly extinct.

It has a nice thick skin which can be easily pressed open. In fact it is a little like the mangosteen except that its skin is brown with a white thicker layer which protects the sweet fruit inside.

Due to global warming the trees which have been left behind are also not fruiting well. Bull dozers and lack of natural water caused by land development can also bring havoc to the natural environment which is necessary for this fruit tree to flower and fruit.

Sarawak - Fig like fruits

Sarawak has an abundance of fruit trees. Although most of the fruits are edible some are strictly for birds and animals.

This particular fruit which looks like figs are for birds only.

Gar Rang or Dabai in Sarawak

The dabai is only available in Sarawak and is high valued, especially by the people (of all races) of the Rajang Valley. It is commonly believed that the best dabai come from Song, Kapit and further up.

When I was a child, I used to wait with my father at the Pulau Babi wharf for the huge baskets of dabai to arrive from Kapit by the motor launches.

Rich and poor, old and young would rush towards the motor launches and the middlemen to buy a share of the seasonal jewels.

In those days, before global warming, the dabai were available only at the end of the year when schools had their holidays.

So many poor children would be employed for about 1 dollar a day to climb the small trees to harvest the fruits. When the small branches broke the children would fall down, and probably break a leg or an arm. The dabai tree is not a very strong tree and its wood quite fibrous. It cannot bear the weight of a big man.

The best way to get dabai from the tree is to use a hook to pull the black fruits down, with a net waiting at the bottom of the tree. Some people cleverly plant dabai trees on hill slopes and they can go up the hill to pull down the fruits.

Then there was one time a retired teacher friend of mine went to his farm to collect dabai. He must have climbed up the tree since he was quite a small man and then he fell. He was missing for about two days. Luckily some Iban friends of his found him lying on ground with lots of dabai strewn around him.

He was disabled for about a year, and was treated as an outpatient by several doctors. What if no friendly Ibans came to his rescue?

His family was quite traumatised. And he was never the same again after the accident.

Sarawakian : Turtle/Earth Durian

Photo courtesy of  Omaq

Sometime ago I came across a very interesting article about Durian Kura kura and has been ever since intrigued. http://www.omaq.org/v3/2009/10/08/durian-kura-kura/

Once when I was travelling with my father in law in 2010, he could see a bundle of them i8n Sg. Liang In Brunei. The price of the bundle was only for Brun $7.50. However the durians did not taste so good when we opened them later.

Durian is a cauliflory which is " a botanical term that refers to plants that flower and fruit from the trunk, woody structures, and roots rather than from new growth." The nangka and the chempedek belong to this family.

Kampong Selanyau, Bekenu has been growing and producing durian kura kura in the last few years.

Pulor Seeds

the pulor is a good fruit but in a way it is very unique as a food. Soups are usually made from the unripe fruit by the Ibans of Sarawak.

When the pulor fruit is too ripe, it will drop on the ground, expelling a lot of brown seeds . These seeds when boiled or roasted taste like chestnuts. Hence many people say that they are the chestnuts of Sarawak.

The Iban people like to eat the nuts as much as they like the soups made from the immature fruits.

Sarawak :Tekalong - a soon to be forgotten wild fruit

Many people who live in the cities and towns of Sarawak may have forgotten about the tekalong fruit. But they may know a lot about terap which has been grown for many decades in kampongs.

The tekalong(some people spell it terkalong)  is not a very favourable fruit but its bark is very useful . However it is a favourite food of the wild boars, which often camp under terkalong trees when they know that more fruits would fall. Hunters use the terkalong fruiting season to plan their hunt.

Its scientific name is Artocarpus elasticus Reinw. ex Blume

Pretty Edas - you can see the horizaontal material is different from the perpendicular material which is rattan. Edas mat is made from tekalong bark and rattan. It is a very intelligent use of forest resources.







Terkalong trees have been roughly cut down to make way for houses because the fruit is not marketable like its cousins the terap or cempedak.



From ancient days the Ibans have many uses for terkalong tree bark. Women would wear a belt or brace made from processed terkalong bark around their waist after childbirth. This would get rid of pregnancy fat and they therefore would have a very flat tummy. Terkalong is also used as a rope for baskets. And the most famous use of terkalong is  as part of a mat called Edas, a pretty mat made from weaving rattan and terkalong strips.



 Edas can be easily bought at Serikin where Kalimantan Dayaks sell their mats of different types made from rattan, terkalong, and other materials.



The glue or sticky sap from the terkalong is used for catching birds. In the evenings when birds come out to bath and look for food, the Ibans would plant their stick covered with the terkalong sap in the small streams and wait for the birds to come. Very often a young boy can even get 20 birds stuck to the small sticks. In fact this is the type of fun young Iban boys would have in the olden days. They did not use the catapult like many of the town boys would use.


Today these trees are found where fewer people live or on terrain which are not suitable for development . They are considered rather rare now and soon to be forgotten.

Sarawak : Terap or Lumoh

Quite often, during the fruit season, the long house communities will happily offer their guests an afternoon snack made up of fruits and tea. Normally it would be Osborne biscuits or Cream Crackers and tea or coffee brought out in a large tray, a normal longhouse way of showing warm hospitality to any stranger or friend.

The fruit can be the terap which is served on its skin. Terap is a fruit made up of small fruitlets and hence a large number of guests can enjoy eating the small fruitlets by plucking them from the core with their hands.

The use of hands (after washing properly ) is polite eating etiquette in the longhouse and every one does it. So just a kind reminder that one should just enjoy using the hand when eating this fruit, and of course durians, chempedak and any cousin of the jackfruit can best be enjoyed by using our hands.

The terap and its cousins are  found in South East Asia and especially enjoyed by all indigenous people. During a glut season the terap is left to drop and birds will also get a share of the seeds. A wise , longhouse Iban man told me once, "Don't worry, God provides for us and for the birds and animals too. Perhaps that is why He allows a glut season."

Its scientific name is Artocarpus odoratissimus. 


Furthermore, an unripe terap can be dissected and cooked as a soup in the longhouse, making a very delicious and savoury side dish. It is very tasty and well loved. This is also a natural way of controlling the number of fruits on a tree. God is the ever God of Wisdom.

And we therefore must never waste what God has given us. 

Give praise and enjoy God's feast at the table. 

(For my Methodist friends, here is a Simple Grace:" For the bounty you have put before us, we thank you and we pray that you will bless us with good health from this nourishment. Thank you Lord.")