agromart sarawak: Fruits

Though seasonal, various Malaysia fruits get be cultivated all year round. There cheapest and freshest can be found all over at the pasar tani (farmer's market), pasar malam (night market), rural roadside stalls or grocery stores all over the country.

Durian

This football-sized fruit is known as the "king of the fruits" here in Malaysia hence the name durian comes from the Malay word duri meaning "thorn".

It emanates a distinct smell that evokes either love or disgust, still passionate Malaysians will travel miles for the best and spend a week's salary on one fruit.

With textures and flavours ranging from smooth and fragrant to husky and bitter-sweet, these will undoubtedly leave an exquisite taste in your mouth and an unforgettable experience in your mind.

Durian fruit is enriched with high amount of Carbohydrate, protein, and fat. The decoction of the leaves and roots are prescribed as antipyretic, the leaf juice is applied on the head of a fever patient by the local pharmacologist.

Its a seasonal fruit typically within June to August! Amongst the thirty known species of Durio, nine of them have been identified as producing edible fruits:- D. zibethinus, D. dulcis, D. grandiflorus, D. graveolens, D. kutejensis, D. lowianus, D. macrantha, D. oxleyanus and D. testudinarum.

Rambutan

Is an egg-shaped red fruit covered in dark thin hair and grows in bunches. A relative of the lychee, the rambutan's translucent white flesh, hugging a flat seed, is extremely succulent and sugary sweet. Open the rambutan by inserting a thumbnail into the thin rind.

Rambutan fruit is rich in following components: Fat, Calcium, Iron, Protein, Nitrogen, Ash, Sodium, Zinc, Magnesium, Manganese, Potassium, Phosphorus, pH, Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Fiber. Research shows that eating five Rambutan in a day can seriously decrease the chance of cancer and the fruit is also very effective in lowering blood pressure.

Duku

The fruit is about the size of a golf ball, and is available from August to September. Its leathery light-brown rind is peeled off to reach the small segments of transparent tangy-sweet flesh around a hard small green seed. In contrast with the sweet-sour flavor of the fruit's flesh, the seeds are extremely bitter.

The fruit taste has been compared to a combination grape and "perfect" grapefruit with no bitterness. Yet the seeds if bitten have the bitterness of a grapefruit yet stronger. The sweet juicy flesh contains sucrose, fructose, and glucose.

Mangosteen

The mangosteen fruit is a small, purple fruit about the size of a tangerine, with a rind similar in texture to the pomegranate. Its also known as the “queen of fruits” and is prized the world over for its taste and medicinal value.

From the time that a Mangosteen seed is planted, it can take anywhere from seven to ten years to give fruit. While it is considered one of the slowest growing tropical fruit trees, it can actually reach a surprising seventy five feet in height.

The rind, also known as the exocarp, of the fruit is a deep, purplish red colour when it is ripe. The edible flesh is tangy and sweet.The taste of the fruit is said to be unlike any other fruits known to man.

The fruit is as functional as it is delicious. It is particularly rich in xanthones, which are known to help your body function healthily. In addition to this, each serving of this fruit can contain up to five grams of fibre. It has long been recognized in Asia that the mangosteen has powerful anti-inflammatory properties, and is therefore effective in treating eczema, hyperkeratosis and related skin conditions such as psoriasis and seborrhea.

Dragon Fruit

also known Pitaya is more commonly referred to as the dragon fruit. It is an extremely beautiful fruit that has dazzling flowers and an intense shape and color. The dragon fruit is usually a dark red color, although some types of this fruit are pink or yellow. The skin of the dragon fruit is a thin rind. The skin is usually covered in scales, and the center of the fruit is made up of a red or white, sweet tasting pulp.

The dragon fruit is cultivated in tropical regions around the world. The plant of the dragon fruit can grow from around a few inches or centimeters to up to twenty feet (around six meters). It flourishes in hot regions with a heavy rainfall which makes Sarawak`s weather most favorable for the fruit.

The dragon fruit is best eaten by cutting the fruit in half and scooping the flesh out. The flavor is very refreshing and sweet, best eaten chilled but do take care with your clothing because the red coloured dye drips easily due to its juiciness. With its beautiful looks, it is no wonder that the dragon fruit is also used extensively to decorate cakes and in this instance, to add colour and taste to jelly (agar-agar).

Jackfruit

Jackfruit or Nangka, as it is locally known in Malay, is the largest tree borne fruit in the world. Enormous and prickly on the outside, jackfruit looks somewhat like durian (though jackfruit is usually even larger). Once a jackfruit is cracked open, what you will find inside are pods or "bulbs".

Often referred to as the seeds, these bulbs are actually a kind of fleshy covering for the true seeds or pits, which are round and dark like chesnuts. The fleshy part (the "bulb") can be eaten as is, or cut up and cooked. When unripe (green), it is remarkably similar in texture to chicken, making jackfruit an excellent vegetarian substitute for meat. In fact, canned jackfruit (in brine) is sometimes referred to as "vegetable meat".

Jackfruit contains many vitamins and minerals, and offers numerous health benefits. The fruit's isoflavones, antioxidants, and phytonutrients mean that jackfruit has cancer-fighting properties. It is also known to help cure ulcers and indigestion.

Sugercane

Sugar cane is a grass, they have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar, and measure two to six meters (six to nineteen feet) tall. All sugar cane species interbreed, and the major commercial cultivars are complex hybrids.

Pieces of sugar cane are chewed for their sugary syrup, and are a popular street food in South Asia. This was the original use of sugar cane then sugar extraction came later. 70% of the world's sugar is extracted from the sweet, juicy stems. Native to warm temperate to tropical regions of Asia.

Coconut

know as Kelapa in Malay, apart from the sweet and juicy white texture coconut is highly nutritious and rich in sugar, fiber, proteins, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. It is classified as a "functional food" because it provides many health benefits beyond its nutritional content, Coconut oil is of special interest because it possesses healing properties far beyond that of any other dietary oil and is extensively used in traditional medicine among Asian and Pacific populations.

In traditional medicine here in Asia and around the world coconut is used to treat a wide variety of health problems including the following: abscesses, asthma, baldness, bronchitis, bruises, burns, colds, constipation, cough, dropsy, dysentery, earache, fever, flu, gingivitis, gonorrhea, irregular or painful menstruation, jaundice, kidney stones, lice, malnutrition, nausea, rash, scabies, scurvy, skin infections, sore throat, swelling, syphilis, toothache, tuberculosis, tumors, typhoid, ulcers, upset stomach, weakness, and wounds.

Passion fruit

Passion fruit is known for its beautiful white flowers with purple to pink crown blooms. The passion fruit leaves are hairless and lobbed.

The edible part of a passion fruit lies under a leathery, dark purple, bitter-tasting skin. Its intense, tropical-flavored orange pulp and seeds are excellent in fruit desserts, sorbets, beverages and seafood sauces.

The fruit is high in beta carotene, potassium, and dietary fiber. Passion fruit juice is a good source of ascorbic acid (vitamin C), and good for people who have high blood pressure.

The juice but mainly the leaves of passion fruit contain the alkaloids, including Harman, which has blood pressure lowering, sedative and antispasmodic action. The passion fruit leaves are used in many countries as medicines.

The flower of passion fruit has a mild sedative and can help to induce sleep. Passion flower has been used in the treatment of nervous and easily excited children, bronchial asthma, insomnia, nervous gastrointestinal disorders and menopausal problems. Passion flower is sometimes used as a mild hallucinogen.

Watermelon

The fruit season runs from May to September, but peak is mid-June to late August. Few fruits are so inseparably associated with summertime as watermelon.

Not only is watermelon delicious and refreshing on a hot day and a source of terrific ammo for seed-spitting contests, the Sweet, juicy watermelon is actually packed with some of the most important antioxidants in nature.

Watermelon is an excellent source of vitamin C and a very good source of vitamin A, notably through its concentration of beta-carotene hence watermelon contains about 6% sugar and 92% water by weight. Pink watermelon is also a source of the potent carotenoid antioxidant, lycopene.

A new research Experts claim that the red-fleshed fruit contains an ingredient that affects the body's blood vessels in the same way as when a man takes the sex drug e.g Viagra, hence the Researchers believe that the juicy fruit could be used to help men who suffer from erectile dysfunction.

In zentsuji , Japan a Farmer figured out a way to grow square shaped watermelon. the farmer insert the melon into a square, tempered glass cases while the fruit still growing on the vine. The break-through has made way for the production of watermelon of various shapes and sizes e.g. Pyramid, Heart-shaped etc.