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| Durian |
This famous tropical fruit is indigenous to Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the southern Philippines. The reputation of this fruit has gone before it as surely as its aroma trails after it. A good durian is sweet and has the texture of smooth, rich custard and the flavour, while quite unlike anything else, hints at banana, mango, pineapple, pawpaw (all somewhat over-ripe) and vanilla. Some call it the king of fruits, regard it as an aphrodisiac and break hotel rules by sneaking it into their rooms. Others hate it with a vengeance |
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So what is it that provokes such passionate reactions? Unless you have smelled ripe durian, it is hard to imagine an odour as invasive.
The most forbidding aspect of this fruit is its spiky skin. Roughly the size of a soccerball, heavy for its size, and coming to a point at one end, the skin of the durian is thick, covered in sharp, sturdy spines of dull green which yellow as the fruit ripens. A fruit is ripe and ready to eat when it splits along its 'seamline'. It may need a little help and, if the spikes are yellow, a sharp thump on a hard surface (a concrete driveway works well) should achieve the same result. Another way, if it doesn't split of its own accord, is to use the point of a knife at the end away from the stem and lever one of the segments of skin upwards. Then prise the shell open, segment by segment, with well-protected hands. I use thick gardening gloves.
Inside, the fruit is divided into sections and within the smooth white walls of each section are three or four large, glossy, cream-beige seeds, each one enclosed in a custard-like covering which can be pale cream to bright yellow in colour (depending on the variety of durian rather than its stage of ripeness). The texture of the flesh that encases the large seeds is dense and creamy, the taste highly praised by all brave enough to venture past the smell. Durian is considered 'heating' to the body and for this reason, a feast of durian is followed with 'cooling' mangosteens.
In some areas durians are never picked, but left to ripen and fall - ensuring they are perfectly ripe. A common saying is 'a durian has eyes and can see where it is falling'. This is because (so the saying goes) the fruit never fall during daylight hours when people may be hurt by their size, vicious spines and the velocity gathered as they hurtle to earth, but rather in the wee hours when honest citizens certainly would not be prowling under durian trees.
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| Longan |
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Native to South East Asia, the longan is now cultivated as a commercial crop in Australia. A comparison with lychees is unavoidable as they are closely related and appear similar after peeling. Instead of the bright pinkish red, rough skin of the lychee, the longan's skin is smoother, more brittle and pale brown, but its flesh, not as white as that of the lychee, is every bit as luscious and, in my opinion, sweeter and more fragrant.The Chinese name of loong |
narn translates as 'dragon's eye'. Smaller than a lychee, it is also rounder in shape and as the shiny black seed shows through the translucent aril, one understands the aptness of the Chinese description.
A fruit as delicately fragrant as this should really be eaten on its own - not messed about, cut up, mixed into fruit salads or otherwise compromised. The skin is thin and easily removed. The seeds are not attached to the fleshy aril which yields to gentle pressure of teeth and tongue. In my temperate zone garden we have optimistically planted both lychee and longan trees, and they have both fruited, modestly. They may never produce the crops they would if grown in a more tropical climate, but I appreciate them for the beauty of their shiny leaves, the canopy shape, and the few exquisite fruit they offer.
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| Sweet Tamarind |
Native to tropical America, this plant of the Leguminosae family is so widely used throughout Asia that it has acquired the common name asam, meaning, simply, 'acid'. In their English translations, other acid fruits have assumed the name 'tamarind', for example 'fish tamarind' (see GAMBOGE) and 'tamarind slices' (see GELUGOR), simply because they too are used as acid flavours. |
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The tall, spreading trees with compound leaves are planted for shade as well as for the long bean pods with brittle brown shells. When unripe, the shell is greenish brown and closely attached to the pale flesh. It is in this unripe state that tamarind is used in sinigang, a category of sour soupy dishes popular in the Philippines.
When ripe, the shell is reddish brown and more easily separated from the pulp, which becomes rich brown and sweeter, though still acid. The pulp surrounds large, shiny brown seeds and a few strong fibres run the length of the pod between the pulp and the shell.
Tamarind may also be used as a base for delicious raw or cooked chutneys, its fruity acidity combining well with sugar, chilli and other flavours.
In Asian shops, look for sweetmeats made from sugared tamarind, the pulp and seed being semi-dried and rolled in crystal sugar and sometimes a touch of chilli powder.
There is a variety of tamarind called 'sweet tamarind' in which the pulp is distinctly sweeter, though still nicely tart. It looks identical before the pod is opened, but the pulp is shiny and darker in colour. In Thailand it is called makham wan and is eaten fresh as a snack. In Vietnam it is called me ngot.
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| Jackfruit |
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Also spelled jackfruit. A fast-growing, evergreen tree, native to India's Western Ghats mountain range, it bears the world's largest fruit. A single specimen may grow as large as 1 m (3 ft) and weigh as much as 45 kg (100 lb). The trees, common throughout tropical regions, vary from 7 to 20 m (20-65 ft) in height and have shiny, deep green foliage. The fruit is eaten both immature and ripe. Immature, it is a starchy vegetable which has to be cooked. When ripe, it is sweet and strongly flavoured and eaten raw or canned in desserts and sweet drinks. |
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The skin of the fruit is light green, deepening to yellow-brown when ripe, and covered in hard, knobbly spines. Inside, the fruit is divided into numerous segments (pericarps) which are encased in stringy, white tissue of inferior quality known as 'rags'. Each pericarp surrounds a large seed. Ripe fruit is sweet and yellow to pink in colour, depending on variety.
The ripe fruit develops a heady aroma which, in tandem with the yellowing of its spiny skin, is a sure sign of readiness. But one seldom has to guess - the size of the mature fruit being such that practically no one buys a whole fruit - they are cut open and sold in sections.
When available in Western countries, segments of ripe jakfruit are sold removed from the skin, arranged neatly in small polystyrene trays and covered with cling wrap. Eat the segments out of hand, or slice and include in a fruit salad of other tropical fruits with flavours which can stand up to the sometimes aggressive fragrance of jak. I've seen jakfruit for sale in supermarkets that stock exotic produce, but they are almost without exception uncut and unripe. Strictly cooking material.
Unripe jakfruit is a staple starch source in many Asian and South Pacific countries, fried, roasted or boiled. When unripe the seeds are immature and easily sliced through. There is a lot of inedible fibrous tissue (like strips of sticky white plastic) that surrounds the edible pockets of fruit, but in the immature fruit this too can
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| Rambutan |
In the months of July and August, fruit stalls and door-to-door vendors in many South East Asian cities present an extra colourful picture. The reason is the bunches of a strange looking oval fruit with bright crimson or yellow skin covered with short fleshy hairs - rambutan - is in season, and plentiful. The word comes from the Malay, 'rambut' meaning hair. Inside is a narrow seed covered with semi-transparent flesh which is crisp and mainly sweet. A lot depends on the |
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variety, but it is obvious that the best varieties have been chosen for propagation and export.
During the rambutan season, fruits are displayed in great heaps in roadside stalls called boutiques. This is the local term for small shops that sell vegetables, fruit and some of the necessities of life. At this time of year, itinerant vendors who carry their 'shop' on the pingo or flexible pole which is slung over one shoulder with a basket on either end, start carrying a different kind of basket. Not open baskets which display their wares, but large, egg-shaped baskets a bit wider at the bottom than at the top, woven from tender green coconut leaves. Every child knows without having to look inside that these baskets hold rambutans; and every child will run to ask the adult in the home to buy some of the fruit which is so popular.
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| Mangosteen |
A small, slow-growing tree native to Malaysia which bears round fruit with four prominent sepals around the stem. The thick, dark purple shell protects small white segments which are thirst quenching, sweet with a hint of sourness, and delicious.
A curious fact about mangosteens is that if you look at the blossom end there is always a scar in the shape of a flower. You can predict with certainty that |
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there will be the same number of segments in the mangosteen as there are petals on the 'flower'. There are usually 5, 7 or 9, fruit with even numbers being quite rare. One or two of the segments will be twice the size of the others, and these contain soft seeds.
What to do with mangosteens? I have heard of mangosteen sorbet, even mangosteen jam, but what luxury that the fruit should become so plentiful that one has to cast around for ways to use them. The undoubted best way of all is fresh and raw. They are sold canned in syrup, but please wait until you can taste a fresh mangosteen before forming an opinion as this fruit does not translate well to canning.
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| Mango |
Although many of the fruits grown and distributed from tropical Asia came originally from tropical South America, the mango is a true native of India and Malaysia. Now grown in many countries. It is exported from central America, Mexico, Florida, Israel, South Africa and Australia. Selective breeding has produced fruit which are sweet and almost free of fibre. This queen of tropical fruits, at its best, has bright orange flesh and a fragrance which carries through to a superb flavour. Many varieties of mango have a deservedly high reputation. But there are also some decidedly unroyal relatives with fibrous flesh and a distinctly turpentine flavour.
The thick, protective skin is sometimes green but often wears a blush. Fruit are carried singly on long stems and are usually prolific on high, spreading trees if conditions are right and it does not rain while the tree is in flower. There is one large, flat, fibre-coated seed.
Mangoes vary in size and shape from little round mangoes not much larger than a duck's egg to mangoes so large and rounded they are called 'coconut mangoes'. Some mangoes are long and slender and always green-skinned, even when fully ripe, sweet and orange-fleshed within. There are others which have the long slender shape and a brilliant blush even before they are ripe. |
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