Wood Apple Fruit
Plae Khvet – Wood Apple Fruit
Young wood apples which not yet soak in water
Wood apple is a fruit tree of tropical area which has been known as a fruit contains antiseptic properties and high nutrition value. However, there are less researches have been conducted on wood apple fruit.
It’s said wood apple is native in the wild of India and Ceylon but it’s now grown throughout countries of Southeast Asia. In Cambodia, wood apple grown throughout the country. People just plant one or two trees near their house, in their farm and forget about it, until the trees start bearing fruits.
Wood Apple has got scientific name as Limonia acidissima L. and its other names are elephant apple, monkey fruit, curd fruit, Koth Bell (India). In Khmer wood apple is called Khvet (ខ្វិត).
young wood apple opened up, one fruit cost 500 Riels = USD 0.12. These are fruits after soaked in water. The rind are no more look green.
Wood apple is a slow growing tree which starts bearing fruit after 6-7 years planted. Its branches are upward reaching and there are sharp spines of about 2-5 cm long. The tree trunk is cover with ridged bark. Leaves are dark green and pinnate with 5-7 leaflets, they have slight smell of lemon. Flowers are small with greenish outer and dull-red inner. Fruits are ball-like round, they could be from 7- 9 cm in diameter which cover by a hard grayish-white, woody thick rind. The inside of the fruit are edible. Its pulp is light brown and turn to be dark brown when it’s ripe. It’s odorous with sweet and sour tastes. Seeds are white and small mixed inside the pulp.
Wood apple in Cambodia
ripe wood apple fruits
The season of wood apple in Cambodia is between November to January, however, wood apple is still available all year round. Young wood apple (before mature) is more popular for Cambodians than ripe fruit. The young fruit after take out the rind, are sliced into pieces and kneaded with salt, sugar, and chilly. It’s the same way of kneading green mango. But the pulp of young wood apple fruit is somehow bitter (as the taste of an unripe guava or even stronger). So after harvest, the young wood apple fruit is soaked in water for one day to decrease bitter taste, if not it might be hard to swallow.
ripe wood apple fruits opened up
The ripe fruits are usually kept to fall off from the tree. When the fruits are ripe, they attract people by its aroma. Ripe fruit is eating with sugar or without sugar if you like more sour taste. Use spoon to take out the pulp, put into your mouth, start chewing, you will feel a mixture of flavor in which some sweet, some sour, sticky pulp and crispy seeds. Especially its aroma, these all made wood apple become a unique fruit.
How to break up wood apple fruit
Because of the rind are hard, to break up, grabbing the fruit and throw it onto the hard surface, by this we will not need to use a hammer.
Young wood apple with salt, sugar and chilly eating as fruit snack in Cambodia
There is another way to remove the rind of wood apple by using a large wood stick hit around the fruit to break the rind into small pieces, then use a sharp-pointed knife to remove each small piece of the rind out.
Ripe fruits are easier to break up, just hit the fruit into hard surface, maybe the floor.
Cambodia people usually make a joke to someone who has no job by saying to offer them a job and when the person asks what the job is, the answer will be: need your forehead as a tool for breaking up wood apple fruit.
White Wood Apple fruits hanging on the branches
Jackfruit – The Tropical Fruit Tree
Jackfruit
Jackfruit, with its scientific name as Artocarpus heterophyllus, is said to be native of Southern and Southeast Asia. And it has a long history in which archeological researches have shown that jackfruit was cultivated in India from 3000-6000 years ago, while it was identified under a Sanskrit name as panasa. Nowadays, jackfruit has become a well known tropical fruit tree and has been growing throughout the region.
The common English name ‘Jackfruit’ is first used in 1563 by the physician and naturalist Garcia de Orta in his book. However, there are many different names for jackfruit in each language and region. For Cambodia, jackfruit is called ‘Knol’.
Description
Jackfruit
Jackfruit adapts well to humid tropical weather and it has been treated as the largest tree-born fruit. The largest fruit is about 36 kg in weight and up to 90 cm long, 50 cm in diameter.
Jackfruit trees are growing into big sizes; depend on the area of plantation. The leaves are from 10-15 cm long in oblong, oval shaped and have deep green color. The flowers are growing out from the trunk and big branches, from there the flowers developed into fruits and become mature at 4 to 8 months after flowering.
The fruits have the exterior compound with green color when young and turn to yellow or brown when ripe. The inside of the fruit contains edible yellow bulbs (commonly called flesh) which surrounded by many small white strings. The strings are also edible, but they don’t have the sweet taste, so mostly are discarded. The seeds stay inside the yellow bulbs, each bulb has one seed.
All parts of jackfruit contain a kind of sticky, white latex. When open up the fruits, we need to use the cooking oil to take off this latex, before we can take out its flesh. We also use cooking oil to clean the knife and our hands that latex has accumulated.
Jackfruit in Cambodia
Young Jackfruit on its tree
In Cambodia, jackfruit is mostly grown in Kampong Cham province, where there are many big size of jackfruit farms. In other provinces are growing as family farm only. In recent years, a new species of jackfruit has been imported from Malaysia and has been growing in the area around Kirirom National Park. And this species has hard flesh which is focusing as supply for production of dried jackfruit chips. However, the local jackfruit chips are produced by small production enterprises only. It still needs to import from Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam for the local consumption.
The season of jackfruit in Cambodia is between March to May when the weather is hottest in the year. During this time jackfruit is well ripen and available in cheap price. However it’s available all year round.
There are two main varieties of jackfruit in Cambodia which distinguishable by the characteristic of the flesh. The one with hard and firm flesh and the fruit is bigger, is called ‘Knol Nang’. The one with softer flesh and sweeter taste is called ‘Knol Bay Sra’.
The Use of Jackfruit
Jackfruit flesh
The attraction of jackfruit is firstly its fragrance and then the starchy, fibrous, and sweet flesh. Mostly jackfruit is served as fresh fruit. However, it’s also prepared into many kinds of cakes.
The unripe or green jackfruit is used as vegetable for the Khmer soup, Samlor Korko, which it added the natural sweet taste to the soup.
The soft fresh jackfruit flesh is served with steamed sticky rice as a kind of dessert.
Num ansom knol is a cake in which sticky rice and ripe jackfruit flesh are wrapped in the banana leaf then boiled or steamed.
The seeds of ripe jackfruit are also edible, it’s boiled with salt or grilled to get cooked and served by removing the outer skin.
Jackfruit flesh is also prepared as preserved food as canned in sugar syrup or dried and make it as jackfruit chips.
The jackfruit trees with ages from 20 years up, their woods can be used to product furniture. The gum from its tree is used to repair pots with small holes.
Jack Fruit
Banana varieties in Cambodia
Banana is native to tropical South and Southeast Asia. Today banana are cultivated throughout the tropics of about 107 countries. Mostly are grown for fruits. Banana are growing everywhere in Cambodia ,with various species, mostly provinces located along the Mekong river bank. Cultivation of banana in Cambodia is very common and has been a long period in the history. It’s among the important plantation cultivated in Cambodia. Mostly every house in the countryside, they will have at least several bunches of banana around their houses, within their vegetables farm. And there are also large scale of banana farms, especially in Kampong Cham province. Banana is ‘Chek’ in Khmer, and there are four main kinds of banana which are very popular to be grown in Cambodia, they are Chek Namva, Chek Pong Morn, Chek Amboung, Chek Snab Muk.
1. Chek Pong Morn (ចេកពងមាន់)
Green Chek Pong Morn (green), it will become yellow after 2 days
Chek Pong Morn means ‘chicken egg banana’, however it has got an English name called ‘Royal Banana’. Its scientific name is Musa Aromatica. Chek Pong Morn is among popular fruits used as offering in every Buddhist holy days. Especially, offering for Buddha God. It’s treated as a high rank banana among other as the flesh has got amazing fragrance and deeply sweet. Moreover, the color of ripe fruit is golden bright yellow, which looks very elegant. Thus Chek Pong Morn has been chosen as Cambodia’s national fruit and always commercially higher price than other kinds. So it’s popular for farmers who generally for commercial purpose. Chek Pong Morn are grown for fruit only. The plant is about 2-2.5m high and pseudostem is about 15-20 cm in diameter. Its life cycle is 5-6 months.
Chek Pong Morn when ripe
Even though Chek Pong Morn is sweeter compare to other. But it’s not chosen as daily consumption fruit. People would purchase it on occasions of annual ceremonies as offering. Because too much consumption of it could cause fever.
2. Chek Ambong (ចេកអម្បូង)
Chek Ambong Khiev (ripe) – the one behind is Chek Namva
Chek Ambong is another banana species in Cambodia. The most widely grown is called Chek Ambong Khiev with green color skin even when it ripen. And another new species imported from other country is Chek Ambong Meas, the species with yellow skin when ripen. Check Ambong Meas has just been introduced to Cambodia farmers in recent years, the main purpose of growing it is for export.
The popular one for local consumption is Chek Ambong Khiev, which Cambodia people like to have it as sweet after meals or between meals. They believe that having one fruit of Chek Ambong every meal would help them for easy digestion of food.
Chek Ambong on the tree
Chek Ambong has bigger leaves and the leaves are dark green color. The plant is 2-3 meters high with 12-15 months of life cycle. The fruit are big and long at about 15cm. Chek Ambong is also grown for fruit only. One hand has about 20 fruits which cost about 5,000 Riels.
3. Chek Namva (ចេកណាំវ៉ា)
Chek Namva is the most grown banana species in Cambodia. It’s very popular for daily consumption, since all the Khmer snack and cakes that made of banana are using Chek Namva, and thus become very popular for farmers. The large banana farms are growing Chek Namva only. Because it’s not only growing for fruit, but almost every parts of it are in used.
Chek Namva, the most popular banana in Cambodia
Fruit
Chek Namva ripe fruit is also used as offering to Chum Neang Ptas (God of the House), Stain (Lok Ta), and other Goddess, but except Buddha God. Ripe Chek Namva is eaten as fresh fruit every meal, it doesn’t has deeply sweet taste as Chek Pong Morn, so we can eat more of it within the day. Moreover, it is the lowest price banana with more benefits for health. Beside eaten fresh, Check Namva also be used in creating many Khmer simple delicious snack, cake, sweet such as Chek Khtis (banana coconut milk dessert), Chek Chheung (Banana cooked with sugar paste), Chek Chean (Fried banana), Chek Ang (Grilled banana), Chek Chhab (Sliced banana deep fried), Num Chek Bok (pounded banana cake), Num Ansom Chek (banana sticky rice cake).
When the fruit is unripe, it’s used as fresh vegetables for various Khmer dishes such as, Teuk Prohok, Teuk Kreung, Num Banh Chok, Teuk Kapik, Prohok Khtis, etc. And it’s also among vegetables for Khmer soup, Samlor Korko.
Leaf
Banana leaves are spirally arranged, dark green oval-long shaped with about 2m in length and 60cm wide. Chek Namva leaf is used as leaf-bow for Amork, a special Khmer food, and used for wrapping or packing cakes like num ansom, num ansom chek, num bot, num kom, num chek bok, num lapov, num akor thnot, num slerk sros, etc.
Banana leaves are heating under sun light before using to wrap any cake, so that it become tough
Khmer traditional cakes – num ansom chek and num kom wrapped with banana leaves
Khmer cake – num slerk sros in fresh banana leaves
The midrib of the banana leaves when dried, it can be used as string to tie vegetables into bunches or bundles and other use in the countryside. It’s also used to wave the hammock which is quite durable.
Flower
Banana is growing fruit from its flower
Each pseudomstem produces a single inflorescence or banana flower, where the fruit is growing out in a large hanging cluster known as bunch. The bunch has 5-15 hands with up to 20 fruits per hand. After this, the flower is cut from the bunch, leaving the fruits growing alone. Then the flower is eaten as raw vegetable, especially eating with Num banh chok samlor Khmer (Khmer noodle with Khmer soup), banana flower cannot be missed. Banana flower sour soup is also a typical daily dish of Khmer people. Banana flower is dip or steamed eating as vegetable with caramelized fish (ត្រីខ).
Trunk
Young banana pseudostem (ដើមចេក) is used as decoration items or praying offerings in various religious ceremony, such as in Khmer New Year. On the table preparing for welcoming new year angel, there are two young banana pseudostem together with other offerings. The tender core of the banana plant’s trunk is also eaten as vegetable in Cambodia. People use it in making pickle with other vegetables and cook it in soup with prohok. Moreover, it’s a main source for cattle. People cook banana pseudostem with rice for pigs and it was pounded to be food for ducks.
In the occasion of Water Festival or Moon Festival, banana pseudostem is used to build a big lantern, putting on it many offerings and floating on the Tonle Sap river. In the countryside, children hanging on the banana pseudostem floating on the water surface to learn swimming.
The entrance of the reception hall of Khmer traditional wedding are decorated with two big banana pseudostems, which are bearing mature fruits. On the bunch of the fruits is sprayed with golden color, and the other with silver color. This traditional decoration is set up, because Khmer are agricultural families and banana is treated as important plant in their farms. Moreover, banana is very easy to grow, so they hope that the new couple’s life would growing fast as banana plant. The sprayed fruits of golden and silver is symbolized the wish to new married couple for wealth and luck.
4. Chek Snab Muk (ចេកស្នាប់មុខ)
Chek snab muk
Chek Snab Muk is a kind of banana can be eaten raw or cooked. But it’s nicer when cooked, with sticky yellow flesh. It’s a the only cooked banana that selling in the market. The fruit is bigger than Chek Namva with yellow skin as well, the flesh become yellow and more tough when cooked.
Cambodia Sugar Palm Tree (Palmyra Palm)
Sugar Palm Tree – National Tree of Cambodia
Cambodia Sugar Palm tree or English called Palmyra Palm, has got a Khmer name called ‘Thnot’. Its scientific name is Borassus Flabellifer. Sugar palm tree is the national tree of Cambodia, it symbolizes the Khmer territory. Since the early construction of the country, sugar palm trees are already with us. Million of sugar palm tree are growing through out the country since ancient time. Cambodia’s rice fields are decorated with sky high sugar palm tree, creating a marvelous peaceful countryside landmark, which is very unique and attractive. Sugar palm tree is treated as Cambodia’s national heritage in which it can live to hundred years of age. The tree takes 20 years to be mature and start giving harvest. One sugar palm tree is planted, it could be benefited for many generations. At my home in the province, there are several palm tree planted by my grandfather. When I grow up, my mom told me that, those sugar palm trees are many years older than me, and they are still giving harvest until now.
The Sugar Palm Trees are described as bodyguards of Cambodia rice field.
Despite the decoration purpose, sugar palm tree provides many advantages for our daily life. It doesn’t require good soil to grow, doesn’t require watering. Just planted outside the field of rice at the dike, then it grow up with nature. With modern technology, more advantages has been found from sugar palm tree. In recent years, there are many private and public urbanization projects was set up to encourage Khmer farmers grow more palm tree. Various products made of sugar palm sap has been produced in Cambodia by local and foreign investment companies. The products mainly for export.
Sugar palm tree is very high, at mature it is about 8m high and possibly grow to 20-25m high. The tree grows up with a single stem, has no branches, the leaves growing from the top of the tree trunk as cluster. It’s about 2-3 m long and fan shaped. The stalks of the leave are lined with saw at both sides. The root of sugar palm tree has lateral characteristics and has no main root. The flowers are small in densely clustered spikes, follow by large brown roundish fruits. The whole tree is in used included root, tree trunk, leaves, stem, flowers, and fruit.
Sugar Palm Sap (ទឹកត្នោត)
Sugar Palm tree with bamboo stair-step installed
Sugar palm sap is obtained from palm flowers. The flowers were cut at its end to let the sap dropping into a container made of bamboo, in Khmer we call it ‘Bampong’, which is hanging on the sugar palm tree. The sugar palm tree is very tall, you might wonder how people can climb up the tree to cut its flower and hang the containers? The bamboo tree trunk are tied with the palm tree from its base until top of tree trunk. Since the bamboo tree has eyes at every 30cm of the whole tree trunk, it become the step stair for the farmers to climb up the palm tree easily. However, the set up of the bamboo stair step on the sugar palm tree must be done very carefully to avoid accident while climbing.
The farmers started to climb up the palm tree in the evening to hang the empty bamboo containers. And in the next day morning, they climb up again to take back the containers with full of palm sap within it. But before the sugar palm flowers can drop down its sap, the farmers must use a tool make of bamboo to press or squeeze the flowers many days (about one week) until they become soft and the sap starting to drop at the cutting edge. And once it started dropping, it drops for the whole season until there is no more sap to drop. The harvest season starts from Dec to May, during the dry season while the farmers are free from their growing rice business. One sugar palm tree can provide from 5-10 litters of sap per day.
Skor pen – Cambodia palm sugar made
The fresh sugar palm sap can be drink as coke, it has natural sweet taste. The children in countryside like it very much. Sugar palm sap is the only ingredient for making palm sugar. After evaporation the palm sap become palm sugar which is one of Cambodia’s national products. The palm sugar can be produced into many form such as powder, paste, blocks or syrup. Teuk Thnot Chuu (sugar palm wine), Teuk Khmes Thnot (sugar palm vinegar) are also make of palm sap through a natural fermentation process. Teuk Thnot Chuu can cause people drunk just as rice wine. And Teuk Khmes Thnot is more healthy then the preserved vinegar on sell in the market.
A close view of Sugar Palm leaves and fruits on the tree
Sugar Palm Leaves (ស្លឹកត្នោត)
Sugar palm leaves are used as material covering house roof and wall of poor families in the countryside, or the roof of cattle shelters, or cottage in their farm or in the rice field. Because mostly the field are far away from the village, that they have lunch at the field in their cottages. The sugar palm leaves are also used to make fence around the house to lock up pets such as chicken or duck. So that they don’t go to neighbor’s house, or protect them from destroying the vegetables farm around the house.
Num Korn Tom (នំកន្តំ) – Khmer cake wrapped with sugar palm leave.
Sugar palm leaves have a very special sweet fragrance of palm. Many kinds of Khmer cake are wrapped with sugar palm leaves, such as num ansom chek (banana sticky rice cake), num thnot (sugar palm cake), num thlorng (sticky rice with shredded coconut and soybean). The sugar palm leave give the cake that special fragrance and also protect the cake from sweating during hot climate, so that the cake can be kept longer.
Sugar palm leaves are an important ingredient for many crafting products. Especially, souvenir containers which so called as ‘Smock’, it makes the items look very neat, lovely and elegant. Many products of Cambodia are packed with palm leaves, which carry the flavor and symbol of Cambodia. Some other daily use materials are also made of sugar palm leaves such as palm hat, palm fan, baskets, mats, umbrellas, and it was used as writing material in ancient time instead of paper.
Palm hat with many different designs
Sugar Palm leaves used as writing material in ancient time
Sugar Palm Fruit (ផ្លែត្នោត)
Sugar Palm young fruits are selling with other vegetables, when we need, the seller would slice it and sell for us.
Sugar palm trees have male and female tree. The female flowers produce palm sap more than male flower, one female flower for one container, while four male flower for one container. The male tree only grow flowers and give sap, but not develop into fruits. Only female trees that can bear fruits. Sugar palm fruits are growing in clusters of 6-12 fruits, just like coconut. The fruit is round, the large one is about 12cm in diameter. It’s green when unripe and turn into brown gradually.
Sugar palm fruits on the tree
When the fruit is young, it is used as vegetable for Khmer dishes, the most popular one is Samlor Korko Thnot (Sugar Palm Soup). After peeled the cover, the inside flesh is sliced and cook. The soup tastes the sweet of sugar palm fruit and a bit bitter.
When the fruit is matured, open up the fruit, there are three nuts of white flat flesh, jelly like, in each fruit. The nut is eaten as sweet or dessert. Give a bite to the nut, then the water inside the nut would be out, it’s sweet. This way is eating raw, the nut can be eaten solely, or served with sugar sauce and add coconut milk. There is one more special dessert of Khmer made of sugar palm nut (គ្រាប់ត្នោត), it’s Bobor Thnot (បបរត្នោត). The sugar palm nut is sliced and cooked with sticky rice paddy and sugar palm sap, add some coconut milk.
Fresh sugar palm nuts
Bobor Thnot – Khmer traditional dessert made of sugar palm nut and sticky rice
When the fruit is ripe (old), the skin become black. The flesh inside become very yellow and the nut become very hard. At this stage, the flesh is used as ingredient for Khmer cake, Akor Thnot (អាកោត្នោត). This cake is made of rice paddy flour, sugar palm flesh, yeast, and coconut milk.
Sugar Palm ripe fruit are mostly drop from the tree by itself. Then it left to become very ripe until the cover is spoiled, and the fiber flesh become dry covering the nut. After a period of time, a new sprout would growing out from this nut.
Akor Thnot – Khmer Traditional Cake
Other Parts of Sugar Palm Tree
In Cambodia, the root and male flowers used as Khmer traditional medicine for malaria, sexual diseases, and anesthesia. Beside this, sugar palm tree can prevent erosion with its deep root system up to 15m into the ground.
Sugar palm male flower after no more sap to drop, it slowly dried on the tree and finally fall off the ground. People use it as firewood
The tree trunk used for construction of houses, shelters for animals, and also can make boat. The tree trunk is cut then sliced lengthwise into two parts. One part is bigger then another. The bigger part is taken to be boat, by taking out the inside of the tree trunk to creating the body of the boat. This boat can carry two persons, people used it in their local lakes while going to pick lotus flowers, lotus leaves, or lotus roots, and other water vegetables such as water lily, water spinach, pka snorw, pka kom plok, ect. Normally, the sugar palm tree is cut down when the tree is very old and stop giving harvest of the palm sap and fruit. The oldest sugar palm tree trunk is best for making boat. In the city, the palm boat is used as containers for planting flowers or as fish tank in the garden of Khmer luxury hotels.
Palm boat made of sugar palm tree trunk, used as planting container. Taken in the garden of Nation Museum of Cambodia, March 2011
The wiry fiber part of the stalks of the leaves are used to produce brushes.
The Cultivation of Sugar Palm Tree
Just like coconut, when the sugar palm fruit is left to very old until they drop down on the ground, after a period of time, the new bud growing out from the top of the fruit and slowly develop into leaves. At this time we can take the fruit to plant in desire location.
Cambodia Products from Sugar Palm Tree
Palm Sugar
Kampong Speu is the province which most sugar palm tree are growing. The area’s sandy soil and low rainfall only suitable for sugar palm plantation. Thus palm sugar production of Kampong Speu province has a long tradition, and due to the producer expertise, the palm sugar from Kampong Speu is most well known. Kampong Speu province currently has 311,132 sugar palm tree are in production of sap, which produced a total of 12,445 tons palm sugar per year. The area of productions are in Samrong Tong, Oudong, Chbar Mon, and Thnol Tor Teung.
Sugar Palm Trees in Kampong Speu province
Some other provinces also has production of palm sugar such as Pusat with 4,000 tons per year, Kampong Chnang with 1,200 tons per year, and Kandal province with 110,553 sugar palm trees mainly in Angsnuol district, produced 1658 tons per year.
Evening rice field view with sugar palm trees in Kampong Thom
Sugar Palm trees are growing at both sides of village road, Kampong Thom
Other Palm Drink
Researches show that the fresh sugar palm sap contains Vitamin B, C, D and full of minerals. So there are many locals and foreign investors have processed palm sap into many products such as palm wine, palm beer, sour palm juice and also palm sugar. The products are served for local market as well as for exporting.
Cambodian Palm Products Store – Included palm sugar, palm wine
Durian in Cambodia
Durian or in Khmer we call ‘Turen’ (ទុរេន), is so called as ‘The King of Fruit’ because of the popularity of this fruit by southeast Asian people. It has an extremely pungent smell and an amazing sweet taste. Some people regard durian as fragrant, while other find the smell overpowering and offensive. Thus durian has become a fruit that was not allowed to bring into hotels in the region.
Durian used to be grown with seeds of trees bearing superior quality fruit, but modern technology in planting has changed to be propagated by grafting. It’s a strictly tropical tree and would stop growing when the temperature drops below 22ºC. It’s a seasonal fruit, the season of durian in Cambodia is between May to July. Durian trees are large, growing to 25-50 meters high depend on species. The leaves are evergreen elliptic to oblong and 10-18cm long. The flower grow out as clusters with 3-30 flowers together on large branches directly on the trunk. Durian trees become mature and bear fruit after 4-5 years. After pollination, the fruit need three months to grow. It shapes oblong or round with numerous sharp thorns on the husk, which can cause drawing blood. The color of the husk can be green or brown, depend on species.
Durian are left to fall from its tree as this is a sign that it is ripe. So wear a hardhat when you entering durian farm to avoid serious injury cause by falling durian. However, with grafting durian trees are not growing too high. So the fruits are cut from the tree and allow ripen while waiting to be sold. The durian that fall off the tree continues to ripen for two or four days, but after that it’s considered overripe.
Kampot durian
In Cambodia, Kampot is considered home of durian. There is a traffic circle in Kep town, Kampot provincial, built with sculpture of many kinds of tropical fruits in Kampot. And durian is the biggest. However, in Kampong Cham province also have got the suitable soil and climate condition for durian plantation. Kampot durian is mot famous due to its natural smell and flavor with cultivation area of 750 hectares, mainly in Teuk Chhu district. One hectare can grow 100 trees with 30-50 fruits harvested every season. The Kampot durian is small compare to Kampong Cham durian, one fruit weight from 2kg-6kg. The cover is brown when ripe, its flesh is pale yellow and soft. The taste is special with richly creamy and very sweet. Kampong Cham durian are bigger in fruit, up to 8kg per fruit. The color of the husk is green, the flesh is bright yellow, crisper (less soft), and less creamy. I usually can eat a lot of Kampong Cham durian then Kampot durian, because it’s less creamy and less sweet.
Durian, as symbol of Kompot province, we would see a big durian in the center of Kompot provincial.
Kampot durian
Kampot durian are sold to country wide and also exported to Vietnam. During the harvest time, 1kg cost around 6,000 – 8,000 Riels. Would like to buy durian? It’s easy! It can be found in every market and roadside. During August there are less durian from Kampot but still has a lot from Kampong Cham. Anyway the price at this time is up to 12,000 Riels to 15,000 Riels per kilogram.
How to choose a good durian fruit
A big, solid stem is a sign of freshness. So when buying durian in a whole fruit, must examine the quality of the stem. Or you can shake the fruit whether you can hear the sound of the seeds moving inside, it’s the sign that the durian is very ripe.
Kampong Cham durian
The flesh of durian can be eaten raw and used to flavour a wide variety of savory and sweet edibles. In Cambodia, durian are mainly eat fresh as fruit. And there is a kind of dessert called ‘Bay dom nerb turen’, it’s sticky rice with durian paste. Beside these, there are durian ice-cream, durian cracker, durian mooncake, durian milkshakes, etc. The seeds can also be eaten when cooked, tastes like yam, but stickier.
Bay dom nerb turen – Khmer sticky rice with durian paste
Some health benefit of durian
Durian contains high level of sugar, good source of carbohydrates, proteins and fats, a good source of raw fat. It also contains high level of iron which helps the white blood cells in our body make specific chemicals process that kill off the yeast infections. Amino acid, Vitamin B, C and E are also found in durian. Especially Tryptophan, a kind of amino acids, which help maintain serotonin level in the body. People with low serotonin levels tend to have short tempers and suffer from depression. Recent researches have claimed that durian can help lower cholesterol and cleanse the blood, cure jaundice and alleviate fevers.
Pineapple in Cambodia
Pineapple is growing abudantly in all over country of Cambodia. In Khmer we call pineapple as ‘Mnors’. The famous one is Honey pineapple ‘Mnors teuk khmom’, in which there are two various kinds.
Honey pineapple growing in Steung Treng province is a kind of pineapple bearing bigger fruits, large stripes and more flesh with a strong and sweet taste. This kind of species is from Laos and it has been giving good harvest when growing in red soil of Steung Treng province, each fruit can be weight up to 8kg.
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Plae Teab – Sugar Apple in Cambodia
A sugar apple on the tree
As I was driving a cross a local market last weekend, I have noticed there were many sugar apples selling. Then it remind me that now is the seasonal of sugar apple in Cambodia. Sugar apple also named sweetsop, or custard apple. Its scientific name is Anonna Squamosa. Sugar apple has a Khmer name called Plae Teab (ផ្លែទៀប).
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