Philippine Tree of the Month: Rambutan

 

 I purposely waited to blog about this until now that it is fruiting! The Rambután (Nephelium lappaceum) is a true Southeast Asian native, and grows indigenous in the Philippines especially in the South. Now, it is widely cultivated especially in our Makiling-Malarayat-Banahaw triangle. It is a small tree that looks simple and unassuming until it fruits once the rainy season starts (left) and will turn flaming red come September. It is related to more popular fruits, the lychee and the less known lóngan.

We have mature, fruiting trees already that have been planted even before we procured the farm. We also added three around the gardens largely because of its attractively-red, and intensely tropical-looking fruits.

A Bowl-ful of Macopa

A bowl-ful of lusciously-crimson macòpa (Syzygium malaccensis), slightly chilled to make it even more refreshing on this hot summer day. Our lone tree, planted by the gate, always makes a lot of guests wax romantic about childhood days and lazy afternoons, long weekends in the province and family time that everyone now just can't have enough of.

After a Long Wait...



... the Rimas has fruits! And not just one, but three! I think I've already told the story to how much length we went through to find seedlings, so we're quite excited to see that it has clearly established itself in our locale. It's been many, many years since I've last eaten this fruit cooked, and we're looking forward to preparing the ginataan dish with the rimas' young meat.

Flowering Fruit Trees

 It's that time of year when the fruit trees are all blooming and some are even fruiting ahead of the rest! The avocados (above left) are still in a flowering stage as the fruits are usually ripe for picking around July,but the macopas (above right) are already young fruits! Of course, the Indian mango trees (below) are not to be left behind!

Anonas

One of the first trees I got acquainted to when we started the farm years back was this tree planted near the road. When we started clearing the property, I gave clear instructions not to cut down any tree so we can clearly see what was in there. I planned around the trees to be as unobtrusive as I can but consequently, there were some small ones that had to be sacrificed to make way and clear some areas.


Eventually, we trimmed this Anonas (Annona reticulata) and incorporated it into the gardenscape. It's a generous tree; it shades the plants around it and consistently gives us the most delicious fruits.

Like a lot of people, I did not know of this tree and fruit until I came here. I know about the street named after it, and I even have a friend surnamed Anonas. But I had no clue it is a cousin of the Atis (Annona squamosa), and is actually bigger, fleshier, and creamier.

And when it is fully ripe, its skin turn an attractively pale red orange (below, foreground). It's refreshing to eat it chilled, and must be good to make into a shake.

Tordan

The locals call this tórdan (left), is it what we city folk call latundán? Or is it spelled la tundán, as in Spanish? We have a number of varieties of bananas within our farm, sabâ (right, plantain) being the most profuse. This tordan is much smaller and narrower, pointed just like the seňoríta variety, but the skin is not as thin.

Balimbing

In just a little over three years from when we more or less started, a starfruit (Averrhoa carambola, balimbíng) seedling we planted has matured and bore fruit! It does not even grow in ideal conditions; initially I was afraid we planted it too close to the kitchen and that passersby regularly brush off its branches and leaves. But it is a resilient plant and after some anticipation of periodic flowering, they did become fruits!

 It's a relatively small tree with minute fuschia & white blooms that become these giant shiny, green, five-sided fruits, looking like bigger versions of their smaller cousins, the kamiás. If you slice them up on its cross-section, they will look amusingly like stars. It's not a very popular fruit here in the Philippines, unlike in the rest of Southeast Asia where I always find it in dessert buffets in Singapore, Bangkok, and Kuala Lumpur. I even see it as a drink, mixed with lime and lychee syrup and once, with ginger and honey.


It is nice and crunchy (ours, at least), refreshingly light and seems to cleanse the palate. It is rich in Vitamins A, C and iron.

Chesa

Scattered around the farm, especially on the ravine are numerous trees filled with golden yellow fruits, not many young people know no longer what this is. I myself could not tell at the onset, for some reason this was something that was no longer served to us when we were young. 

Commonly called chesa (also spelled tiesa, Pouteria campechiana, Sp. zapóte), everyone says they have heard of it but I'm certain no one can identify it if it were mixed up with others in a basket. All the more I can tell, no young person has tasted it. The English has a more descriptive name: egg fruit, not only for its yolk-like color but for its pasty texture which actually reminds me more of camóte than eggs.

Guavas

Ahh, guavas! A perennial favorite, rich in Vitamin C and amazingly versatile.  Next to the aratiles tree and its fruits, this would be among those trees that visitors get dewy-eyed about whenever they come to the farm. And with good reason! Guavas (Psidium guajava, bayabas) are becoming quite under-rated and getting harder to come by in stores, and there are friends who perpetually ask for some as it is no longer as ubiquitous as it used to be.

In my household, we prefer to cook our sinigang using guavas, which gives the broth a beautiful pink shade and an immensely-delicious and aromatic gustatory experience.

Delicious Mangoes!

We've started enjoying Indian mangoes since last weekend! They're crunchy, refreshing, and hardly sour at all: the sweet and spicy bagoong  perfectly complements its tangy flavor. I have sisters coming soon from abroad; I sure hope they'll still catch some when they get here!

Pineapples

We've successfully grown pineapples! It was such an exciting discovery over the weekend to stumble upon not only full-grown but plump pineapples growing out in the sun. At first, we weren't sure if what we planted will flourish and yield fruits. It just sounded preposterously easy: plant the pineapple's crown back to the ground and it will take root, grow and bear fruit. Just that!


Pineapples (piňa, Ananas comosus) belong to the bromeliad family, which all originate from Central and South America, and pineapples specifically are thought to have originated from what is now present-day Brazil and Paraguay. It was Christopher Columbus who brought it back to Europe and popularized it, and became a status symbol among the tables of the rich and famous. Apparently, the closest they could allude it to then are pine cones.

Macopa

Extremely attractive at this time of the year is our Macopa tree (Malay Apple, Syzygium malaccensis), full of shiny, bell-shaped and rose-hued fruits that shimmer in the hot, summer sun. It's planted by our entrance gate, and everybody who walks by cannot help but stop and admire it.


You'd want to eat them soon after picking (as they bruise easily), maybe chill them a bit to make the juice even more refreshing. This crunchy fruit tastes best with a dip of rock salt.

Cashews

Also fruiting now is our lone cashew tree! This is one among several pilot seedlings we planted soon after acquiring the farm; at that time we would lap up any seedling we come across of anything that we do not have and just randomly plant it. Some we have already taken out since then (for a variety of reasons), but some stayed and flourished just like this. Of course we all know that the "nut" at the bottom gets roasted to become the snack that we know, but my staff says that the yellow drupe is just as edible.

"Indian" Mangoes

The "Indian" mangoes are just about to be ready for picking! The trees are heavy with fruit, weighing down some branches with as many as a dozen or even more at its end. Some trees look like they bore fruit slightly later than the others, and I hope my sisters and their families will still be picking from the trees when they come from abroad late May!


As much as I search on the web though, I could not find any more information on this particular type of mango. I could not even find its scientific name, all the more how the appellation "Indian" got used with this variety (all mangoes trace its roots in India). Most of the data are about the more exportable "kalabaw" variety (Mangifera indica), hardly on  this type which is smaller, stays green even when ripe, and has a distinct taste and crunchiness that one can't help but go on munching a basket-ful.

And that was exactly what happened in 2009, the season that the trees were so prolific that we estimated the output to be 1.35 tons from nine trees alone! We were stuffed that time, and it felt like mangoes were coming out of our ears.


That was the first season after we cleaned the farm; prior to that I have no clue how much fruit there was when the trees were overwhelmed by vines, ants, and weeds. It felt like they were bursting with energy and mangoes were literally falling off the trees.


Come by the next weeks and pick some for yourselves!

Guayabano

One of the first seedlings we planted is guayabáno (soursop, Annona muricata), another favorite of our family. It must have only been knee-high then and in just a span of three years, it is now fruiting! Three years may sound like a long time to some, especially cityfolk, but consider that for a tree to take root, get itself stable, acclimatize, grow, mature until it gets into a reproductive state, all of these take TIME. In the greater scheme of things, three years is nothing considering the tree's productivity from then on.

Guayabanos are very refreshing, succulently filled with juice that you can make into a refreshing smoothie or shake. Although some people mistake it to be related to the jackfruit and the duriăn, it is actually a cousin of the anónas and átis.  Both the anonas and atis taste similar to the guayabano but are quite pasty in texture and not at all juicy.


In my family, we eat it fresh, slightly-chilled, with all its milky juice dripping between our fingers... this simply means summer's just around the corner!

Aratiles

Practically everyone I know has some childhood recollection or even a favorite story about Arátiles (Muntingia calabura, also known as Dátiles or Sarésa, from the Spanish Ceréza [cherry]). Every visitor who comes and sees it waxes romantic and chuckles at some memory of simpler days from yore, with dreamy eyes and a silly smile and soon, they'll be pulling the end-branches to pick the reddest fruits and nibble on them straight from the tree!


Though it sounds omnipresent in Philippine culture and heritage, it is not a local tree but instead, was transplanted from the Americas via the Galleon Trade (thus explaining the Hispanic-sounding local names). It grows very fast; in my experience, a seedling with enough sunlight grew tall and started fruiting in just around twelve to fourteen months. Though the leaves are light-colored and the crown does not look dense, it is an excellent shade tree especially for young gardens where your hardwoods and other fruit-bearing trees will take ages to cover half-sun ornamentals.


The fruits are a bird's favorite, though the seeds which they drop can sometimes be a nuisance once it starts germinating where you don't want them to.

Dalandan Season

Just in time when we're starting to sniffle because of the changing weather, the dalandán trees (mandarin orange, Citrus reticulata) are ready for picking! It's a great Vitamin C morning boost (above), and infinitely more delicious than temperate-country citruses.

Some trees are so heavy with fruit (below) that we have to brace them with pole supports. In my area, these are called çintóres and I couldn't decipher how this name came about in Batángas. It sounds Hispanic and plural, but no amount of internet researches sheds light on the name's source.

We have around thirty trees in all, mature and fruiting by the time I acquired the farm. Apparently, they were grafted from a prolific mother tree; they do produce a bountiful yield but the tree's life span may not be as long as one borne from seed.


I will need to start planting a new grid of cintores trees to eventually replace this batch, which will hopefully remain fruit-bearing for around ten more years.

Ripening Papayas

Papayas (Carica papaya) are among the easiest to grow! These big, evenly-ripening ones (above) are fruits from trees we planted ourselves just a year and a half ago. I distinctly remember we had some one meal and it was very good that I had the seeds dried and planted. It germinated soon and transplanted in the farm a few weeks later.

Now, we have more than two dozen trees and they are heavy with fruit! They're excellent to be eaten plain or with a dash of fresh calamansî juice, my favorite! It also works well as a smoothie, or if you're lazy to make one, just eat it with yogurt or honey.


And did you know there are "male" and "female" trees? I only learned in the farm already that papayas require pollination and some trees just bear the male flowers for the other trees to bear fruit.

Suha

In the few couple of years I've been observing fruiting cycles, I'm beginning to notice a pattern wherein certain fruits fruit at a time of the year when we humans need its vitamins and nutrients the most. This is highly arguable but from either a Creation Story or Evolution perspective, it does make sense that, barring farming and food processing, nature not only provides us with the necessary foods to survive but also, at the right time we need it.


In the farm, most citruses ripen in December and January. Here in our part of the tropics, this has always been the coolest time of the year, just when we need a big Vitamin C boost. 


Our pomelo tree (Citrus grandis, súhâ, also called lukbăn) is now literally burdened with massive cannonball-like fruits that have yet to ripen after, perhaps eight more weeks. By now, it has reached its full size but are still acrid (mapaklâ) if picked and eaten this early. What we have is not as sweet as the pink Davao variety but it is very useful for dishes like the Vietnamese-style Shrimp and Pomelo Salad, for one.


I think it's a great idea to eat according to the seasons! Adhering to it makes one more creative and resourceful, apart from the fact that we become more sensitive and in tune with nature, cycles, and our over-all well-being.

Tindok

Less than two years ago, my trusted staff, May came back from her province of Léyte hand-carrying a banana seedling with a trunk already as big as her torso. She said it is a banana type that we don't have in the farm; one can tell by the leaves alone as it has random reddish variegations on it. They call it tindôk, and she proceeded to plant it by week's end.


Months passed and it slowly grew in height and girth. You know how it is when you wait for something and it takes even longer; as the saying goes, "a watched pot never boils." But one weekend, it finally produced a blossom and it got us all worked up, "watching the pot" again until the blossom becomes fruit all the way until its ripeness.


I myself was curious as I had no clue how it will look and taste; May is a lady of few words and a lot of times, she would purposely not talk much about things so as not to make me even more anxious. But when the banana fingers started to emerge from the blossom (above), it turns out they're very big!


Weeks passed and the fingers became even more stout and reddish colorations started to appear on the skin (below). But it was still a pretty long wait of yet a couple more weeks before the entire buhîg was almost mature.


A practical tip, one that I picked up through time from the locals: until the banana trunk has stopped producing new leaves, or better yet when all its leaves are almost wilted and dry, that's the only time the fruits have reached its full maturity.

But in this tindok's case, some of the bananas' skin started to break already! We excitedly cut down the trunk and we were blessed with two bunches (pilîng) from this pilot tree. The trunk has also started to have suckers (súloy) which we have transplanted separately by now.

And they taste good! At first, it's a bit starchy compared to the bananas we're used to but by the taste and texture alone, these tindok bananas are obviously more nutritious and natural. 


I've googled and learned that the English name for this variety is horn plantain. I just regret not photographing it next to something to give you a scale of how big each banana is. Can't do it any longer, we've finished the whole bunch :)