This photograph in my post sometime ago…
…certainly raised a lot of questions.
This is the young buah tupang, as we call it in Melanau…while the Malays here call it buah pulo. It grows in a huge tree that looks similar to the buah sukun (breadfruit) and the fruits are similar too except that this one is thorny but the thorns are not sharp like durian.
I had one such tree in the garden during my childhood days and I would go regularly to check if there were any ripe ones that had dropped to the ground. When ripe, the skin would have become soft so it would be easy to get rid of that and take out all the mature seeds…
Sometimes, when the fruit had dropped for a few days already and I did not realise that, the skin would have turned brown and mushy (and smelly) with some kinds of insects hovering over it…and the seeds would be of a darker shade of brown – those would not be very nice so most of the time, we would just leave it there. After some time, we would see seedlings sprouting out from the ground from these seeds.
So what do we do with the seeds? We simply boil them in water with a pinch of salt added and once they are cooked, we can start eating them. To eat them, we have to remove the hard brown shell and inside, there is a thin layer of skin. You can see one at the top of the above photograph, slightly to the left. The skin will have to be removed to reveal the kernel inside…
This is the edible part of the tupang seeds – the taste is something like chestnuts or boiled cempedak seeds but you will not have that sensation of gum sticking to the upper part inside your mouth which I do not fancy when eating the latter.
We can cook the young tupang – masak rebus kampung-style like how I did it here…or masak lemak – the way in which some people will cook nangka or cempedak muda (young jackfruit or the “cousin”). When cooking the fruit at this stage, one would have to make sure that it is really young or you will end up with the hassle of having to remove the hard shell from the seeds when you eat it. In the young ones, the shell would be soft and white in colour and one can eat it all up just like that.
I do not have a tree in my garden anymore – that was at my old house when I was growing up and we had one big one so these days, whenever I feel like eating buah tupang – the young fruit or mature seeds, I would have to go to the jungle produce market in town or the one in Sungai Merah to buy. Like money, they don’t “drop down from the sky” – not anymore. Sigh!!!
interesting… looks like testicles… aha…. whether chiuleng chi oso can be made into masak lemak, i wonder…
You can try…and let me know if it is nice. Hehehehehe!
I love sukun so much. But this seed, is new to me.
Not sure if you have this over there or not. Getting a bit rare here too as the trees are big and they would chop them down to use the land for development. Can’t afford to spare those trees as they occupy large spaces.
Oh! too bad 😦 Maybe I can try this when I visit you in Sarawak.
Sure! When are you coming? Text or call me – I hope you still have my number – still the same one.
Eating too much of these can make more ‘angin’ to come out. ahahaha…
Yes, and I hear it’s good to get rid of bad air. At least, this one isn’t smelly…not like the petai.
I had never seen or heard of a Melanau before. Very interesting!
An Arkies Musings
It’s one of the ethnic races in Sarawak, Malaysia. My maternal grandma was a Melanau.
first time seeing this, interesting!! 🙂
Many things over here that you have never seen before and we’re all in the same country – so near, yet so far!
wah, if you happen to masak lemak with these seeds, do show us the photo! 🙂
That will have to wait a while, I’m afraid…as there is belacan, udang kering used…and best with prawns added.
Cempedak seeds:D I love them too. Actually I love the seeds but not the fruit:P
Never tasted buah tupang though…
I don’t like cempedak either but I don’t mind the seeds despite having the gum stuck to the roof of the mouth after eating – rather unpleasant.
So good got garden in your house, i stay in HDB, no garden 😦
I grew up in a small wooden house in a big piece of land, enough for one housing estate…but no more – no such luxury these days, I’m afraid. 😦
Wonder how it taste like… I have tried sukun before.. but not this..
You have tried cempedak seeds, I’m sure. Or something like chestnuts…or boiled peanuts…just that these are bigger.
Very interesting. First time seeing it. I thought they are cempedek seeds. Looks like human brain.
Must be the brains of the stupid ones – hard and small… LOL!!! 😀
Seems familiar to me, I think I saw it before, but I dont know the proper name, hehe..
Well, if this is what you saw, now you know the name…
Eeksssss… looks like a strange fruit to me. I’ll pass! XD
You don’t know what you’re missing…
Oh, I see…only the seeds are eaten. There is no edible flesh?
Nope, no flesh. So when you eat the young fruit, you are actually eating the skin. LOL!!! 😀
another interesting indigenous fruit. strange-looking but i’d try it! 😀
You’ll have to come over to do that…
Not sure whether the texture of the seeds similar to the cempedak seeds. My mum used to cook cempedak seeds in a similar method. It tastes good!
Texture the same, taste not exactly.
I would love to taste this seed, because I love fried cempedak seeds.
Come, come…plan a trip to Sibu. 😉
the seed like snake skin. hmmm..not for me, thank you.
No worries. Will buy some and cook for you. Hehehehehehehe!!!!
Hi Arthur! I’ve never seen this before… But I think I’ll like the masak lemak version more than the others…
Me too…but a lot more trouble to cook. 😉
Oh… this is new to me 😀
You learn something new every day.
never tasted before. Sweet or what?
Like chestnuts or cempedak seeds lah…add salt, how to be sweet?
my first seeing this! thks for sharing… I would love to get my hands to try this… 🙂
You can…if you come over here. 😉
I wonder if your buah tupang is our sekoi in semenanjung. For the peranakans and I think Malay too, sukun the kulit licin whereas sekoi the kulit tajam like the picture above. Same fruit, different name perhaps?
Dunno. Googled but cannot find any sekoi…but it is as you describe.
haven’t seen these before….so i can assume the taste will be somehow similar to cempedak seeds? as in creamy and mushy texture with a hint of saltiness…. or maybe tapioca ? LOL
Yes, it has that kind of texture and taste like tapioca. Nice!
I’ve never seen those before, the second photo reminds me of a brain. We have a chestnut tree in our yard. We faithfully pick the nuts and store them for later.
I love chestnuts too.
It reminds me of buah berangan (chestnuts?).
Saw some at a waterfall during a roadtrip a while back and people were roasting the nuts (wild trees) on the public BBQs.
They’ve chestnuts here? I always thought they’re imported from somewhere.
ohh those seeds i miss eating those
we used to cook it with sugar syrup
Those would be chestnuts, not the same. We can buy factory produced ones in packets – nice but not cheap.
but tho never notice that the covering of it
were like that it seems like a brain
Wonder if eating makes somebody smart…or if it’s good for the brain.
saw the first pic in ur blog and thought it’s a liulian *paiseh*
Blush! Blush! LOL!!! 😀
What an interesting fruit.
Must keep in mind so that if someday I go there visit, can remember to look for it. 🙂
No worries. Many things here will be new to you, you’ll find it very interesting here.
May I know where can I find shop/stall selling exotic fruits or which shop in Sungai Merah?
I’ve wanted to try Artocarpus odoratissimus but no luck so far
Buah terap? I don’t think you can find it in a shop there. You may find it at the tamu (behind the wet market) but chances of getting it would be a lot higher at the Sibu Central Market, jungle produce section…when it is in season. Not available all year round.