The Lontar Palm

On the road going south from Parepare to Makassar in South Sulawesi, I saw roadside stalls selling a kind of fruit that's new to me and I stopped to investigate. For sale, beside these apple-sized fruits are bottles of a clear whitish liquid.

It's the fruit of the palm known locally as Tala, or Lontar in Bahasa Indonesia. Botanically it's Borassus flabellifer, in English - the Asian Palmyra Palm, Toddy Palm or simply Sugar Palm. Like the coconut the fruits, florescence, leaves, wood and all parts of this palm are utilized by man.

The inside of the fruit contains an edible jelly-like flesh that taste like young coconut, and like the coconut the sugary sap (nira) obtained from the florescence can be drunk fresh - tastes like soda or Sprite to me - or can be fermented into a potent beverage called arak or toddy. It can also be cooked to make sugar called Gula Jawa widely used in Indonesian cuisine. In the Moslem regions of Indonesia nira is sold fresh in mineral water bottles when it is still sweet and before alcohol has formed.

Unusual Fruit - Sineguelas

Well, this fruit is unusual if you don't live in the Philippines, or for that matter Mexico, or other parts of Central America where they originated. It's unusual though that it's totally unknown in Malaysia and nearby Indonesia.

I was introduced to Sineguelas by Mee when she brought some to Malaysia from Northern Mindanao almost ten years ago. And it was only this year that I saw it again in the market in Pagadian City! It is a very popular fruit in the whole of the Philippines, I learn. Though it's quite sweet when fully ripe, the folks there love to eat it under-ripe and sour rubbed with salt. Just like they do green mangos, santol, and other fruits! Just thinking about it will make me salivate!

Sineguelas or sigwelas as they call it in Mindanao is known as Jocote in Spanish and Spanish Plum in English and has the botanical name Spondias purpurea belonging to the Anarcardiaceae family of plants. It originated from Central and South America and was introduced to the Philippines by the Spaniards centuries ago. I was told that it is usually propagated vegetatively by cuttings or marcotting as the seeds do not germinate. In the fruiting season the leaves drop off leaving bunches or panicles of ripening fruits on the bare branches. It must be a sight to behold, though, alas I have never seen it. All I saw this season were a few remaining fruits among the thick new leaves. (See my photo below)