A Visit to Pineapples Farm

Ever see how a pineapples farm looks like? Yeah, I mean the real pineapple farm and not the one in Farmville game which people are crazy about nowadays!

I felt lucky to have a chance for around an hour's visiting to a real pineapple farm during my visit to Sri Aman recently. This farm is owned by an uncle of mine who operate this farm not for the sake of commercial, but it is to fulfill his own satisfaction, passion and interest!

While younger generation nowadays prefer to sit in front of computer planting their pineapples through the virtual soil, this is what the elder generation such as my uncle prefers to do. Be realistic, get a land, and plant the fruits with his sweats, energy and hard work on the mother earth!

The weather was hot when we visited the farm, but by wearing the straw hat that we brought along and long sleeve, it avoids the sun from burning the skin directly. Anyway, when I saw the beauty of the farm, the heat is just too minor to deal with.

You need to be extra careful when walking in a pineapple farm as the pineapple's through-shaped leaves are covered with very sharp spines that can cut through the skin!

The young pineapple can be very colorful and beautiful! I love the view so much!

It was not the right time to visit the farm as it was nearly the end of the fruiting season. Therefore, most of the fruit had been harvested.

The ripen fruits sometimes can become the target of pests such as rats. This is what happened when a pineapple was attacked and eaten by the rats. Poor pineapple...

Yeah, these are part of the pineapples we harvested on the day. Although not many, but the satisfactory was indescribable! It's a very good experience though!

Durian Isu

It is not the ordinary durian we are talking about. This is another species of durian which believed can only be found in Borneo. It is commonly known as Durian Isu in Sarawak.

Some people do call it as Buah Isu or wild durian. In scientific term, it is called Durio oxleyanus. At a glance, it has not much differences than the ordinary durian which everyone is craving about. But when you look at it more carefully, this Durian Isu has longer and sharper curving thorns than the ordinary durian. Thus, you just have to be extra careful when open them or your fingers might get hurt!

 

Once opened, you can notice the flesh are much more yellowish than the normal durian. Some are even orange in color. They are very sticky and easily stick behind your teeth when eating them. The taste is a bit different from the ordinary durian with its very unique odor. Is hard to describe, perhaps you should try it out yourself!

 

The edible flesh are thinner than the one in the ordinary durian, but trust me, they are equally delicious!!! I personally like it very much!

 

However, Durian Isu are harder to find on the market. So, if you wish to try it, you may need to test your luck first~! ;)

The Purple Mangosteen

This is the fruit that I used to come across in my primary school textbook but nowadays not many people have mentioned about it or even remember its existence especially the younger generation. Some may never taste it before.

In local language, it is called "Buah Manggis". I never know its English name until I asked my online teacher - Google. It is the Purple Mangosteen! The word "purple" is added to the name as the rind of the fruit is dark purple in color which appears to be very unique. The size of the fruit isn't that big, in between the size of ping pong ball and tennis ball.

 

In biological term, Purple Mangosteen belongs to the Family of Clusiaceae and Genus of Garcinia. It is from the Species of G. mangostana and therefore its binomial name is Garcinia mangostana.

 

The rind of the mongosteen is thick, but not hard to break into to reach the arils / flesh. There is no tools needed in order to open it except your palm! Just put a mangosteen between your palm with your fingers crossed, then pressed it with a little bit of force and the rind will break apart.

 

The flesh is white in color and it is soft. The taste is simply sweet but some with slight sour. There is no strange aroma in the fruit, so I guess it is not too hard to accept it. I found it very delicious and nice to eat!

Perhaps you can notice that among the cloves, there is one with bigger size than others. This clove is the one with a big seed inside. Yes! It can be eaten! Usually I will just swallow it into the stomach and trust me, it is not hard to swallow as you can imagine. The seed is covered by a layer of slippery flesh so it makes the swallowing process become smooth and easy!

While I browsing through the Net, I discovered a very interesting piece of information about this fruit. The gearwheel-like pedals at the bottom of the fruit determine the number of cloves inside it. If the pedals are 6, meaning there will be 6 cloves inside the fruit and if they are 7 meaning 7 cloves! I found it quite true and if you are doubt, perhaps you can buy some on the market and try out?

I also discovered that common mangosteen will normally have 6 or 7 gearwheel-like pedals but I am not sure if this is true. There is also an old saying that you can't eat sweets after eaten the purple mangosteen and that's the saying that make me stay a distance away from eating the fruit when I was still a kid, but now I don't think that will stop me from trying the very delicious local fruit!

The Exotic Buah Lumok

This is quite a unique local exotic fruit which I guess most of you may never see it before. Even if you ever meet it somewhere, you may never taste it. I think Chinese family seldom eat this fruit.

In Iban community, this fruit is called "Buah Lumok". However, common Sarawak people will call it "Buah Terap" or more precisely it is called "Buah Tarap". Its scientific name is something I am not sure how to pronounce - Artocarpus odoratissimus.

The fruit can only be found in Borneo and it is cousin to Jackfruit (Buah Nangka), cempedak and breadfruit (Buah Sukun). In a more scientific saying, these fruits are from a same scientific family of  Moraceae and the Genus of Artocarpus.

The fruit has a very unique appearance. The shape is pretty much like the breadfruit (if you ever see one) which is rounded but a little oval. The rind of the fruit made its appearance so special. It is thick and fully covered with soft, broad and "rubber-feel" spines.

The color of the rind is greenish. Upon ripen, the color will change to greenish yellow then brownish. It is not too hard to open the fruit. Just apply some pressure onto the rind, then tear it and the rind will break apart.

The arils look very similar to Jackfruit but it is smaller, the texture is smoother, instead of yellowish, they are white in color, juicy and about grape's size. I aware that the flesh above look a bit yellowish. It is because the fruit is a bit over-ripen and it turned from white to yellowish.

The taste is sweet with distinctive aroma. The seeds are much more smaller than the one in Jackfruits and brownish in color. Heard it can be eaten after boiling or roasting.

Despite the unattractive appearance, the taste is not too hard to be accepted and it is a exotic fruit that worth a try!

Buah Dabai

Sarawak Olive is a kind of fruit which can only be found in Sarawak. It is called Buah Dabai in local Iban Dialect.

[Buah Dabai]

Dabai is a seasonal fruit, just like Engkalak. Therefore, you can only taste this fruit in certain period of a year and normally it is around durian season (Ya! same as Engkalak!). Now it is the season of durian thus season of Dabai as well. When you happen to go to native market, you can easily see natives selling this fruit everywhere.

[Dabai selling in native market]

The older generation native hawkers are still using "Kong" (cupak), a hollow cylindrical object, usually tin of can food as a measurement when selling Dabai. Meaning saying "I want to buy 1kg of Dabai" is not really appropriate. The more appropriate way should be "I want to buy 1 Kong of Dabai". Anyway, the newer generation started to use typical scaling method (Kilograms) for measurement .

Each "kong" will price at RM3 or higher depends on quantity of Dabai available on the market and also the quality of the fruit sold. The fruit quality will depend on the thickness of the skin and also creaminess of the fruit. Thinner the skin and more creamy the fruit will make it more tasty.

[Tin is used as measurement to sell Dabai]

Dabai cannot be eaten instantly because it is hard. To eat the fruits, first of all you need to soak them in warm water for about 15 to 20 minutes to soften them. Don't use hot water to speed up the process of soaking! This will spoil the fruits.

[Soak the hard Dabai fruit in warm water to soften it]

If you are worry if the fruits are enough soaked, you can take one and press it with your fingers. If it's soft meaning the fruits are ready to be eaten. So, pour away the soaking water.

The fruit itself not really tasty. Therefore, in order to eat them, you need to add some flavor. There are 2 types of flavor people usually add in:

1. Salt - just soak the fruits in salty warm water instead of plain warm water as explained just now. The fruits will taste salty and ready to be eaten when they are soften.
2. Soy source + sugar. This method is recommended and tastier. After the soaked fruits soften, mix with soy source and sugar then eat it.
   

[Dabai mixed with soy source and sugar]

Dabai has yellowish flesh and it tastes very creamy.

[Creamy yellowish flesh of Dabai]

Engkalak

Have you see this fruit before? I am sure a lot never or maybe you did come across it at native market but you never care to pay a look at it before.

It is actually a fruit that can only be found in Sarawak area. Usually local called it Buah Engkalak (Iban language) while the Melanau called it Buah Tebuluh. It's the fruits from a wild plant.

[Buah Engkalak]

Therefore initially it was a favorite dishes for the native like Iban and Melanau, but these days more people including Chinese families love to eat it. Yes! I am talking about dishes. Actually this fruit is more to vege type rather than fruits like papaya, banana or water melon. Thus, people usually eat it together with their lunch or dinner.

How to eat? Good question! No cooking is needed here. It's very simple.

First of all, take off the stalk on top of the fruits. You just need a gentle pull to remove it. Then, of course wash it with plain water to clean up the fruits.

[Engkalak with stalk removed]

Now you have 2 choices how to manage the fruits.

First, soak them in the warm and salty water until the fruits are soft enough to consume. The fruits itself are soft actually, but without some simple process like soak them in water, they are still not suitable to eat. However, I heard if the fruits are soaked in the water, their taste will be washed away as well. Therefore, it is not as tasty if you process them in this way.

I more recommend the second method. Just take a spoon, smash around the fruits gently with it. This is to make the fruits softer and looser so that they are good to eat. Then, apply some salt on the fruits. Leave the fruits aside for about 15-20 minutes or more. Then, they are ready to be eaten.

[Smash the fruit gently to soften and loosen it]

[A plate of ready-to-eat Engkalak]

The taste? The fruit itself has no strong smell but it tastes mild sweet. With the salt applied to it, it tastes a bit salty with little sweety, just nice as dishes. It's delicious!

There is a perfect match when eating buah Engkalak - the "Sago seeds"! It's not the real seeds from Sago plant but is a snack type of food made by Sago flour. You can get it in native market as well.

[Sago "seeds"]

To eat Engkalak with Sago seeds, first press gently Engkalak from side to push out the big round seed inside the Engkalak fruit, then put some Sago into it. Put it into your mouth and chew it!

[Big round Engkalak seed inside the fruit ]

[Sago "seeds" eat with Engkalak - a perfect match]

++++++ p/s: ++++++

Oh ya... Engkalak is a seasonal fruit, meaning you cannot get it throughout a year. Just certain time in a year you can have chance to taste it and now it's the season! Usually, it's almost the same season with durian.