I am not really into fruits – most of the time, I’d just go for the common ones like bananas and papayas, none of those (expensive) imported ones that my girl loves very much.
In my younger days, we would look forward to the end of the year when those seasonal fruits would make their appearance and we would feast on those…and the doctors, not only the fruit sellers, would be the ones laughing all the way to the bank as the clinics would be packed with people coming down with coughs, sniffles, fever and all kinds of ailments. That would be the landas season, the time when the rain would come, bringing the flood…and we sure enjoyed ourselves swimming and playing in the water all day till we ended up all wrinkled like a dried prune. Those were the days – the times of our lives!
These days, I do not go for the durians…
*Phil’s photo on Facebook*
…anymore as after eating a lot, I would feel flushed or feverish. They say we can fill the shell with water and drink after eating the fruit and that would get rid of the “heatiness” though I have never tried…and yes, it does seem that they are no longer seasonal, not like before.
We just had a bountiful harvest around the end of last year right through to the new year though the fruits that time around were not all that good and the flesh was hard in places – they said it was because there was a flood and some said it was because of the prolonged haze. I would eat if somebody buys and gives to me but I would not go out to get my own (though my missus did go and buy some to make tempoyak, fermented durian – as there were so many and they were quite cheap around that time). I do enjoy the buah pakan/pakon, the wild variety…
*Archive photo*
…though. They say this…
*Archive photo*
…comes out after the season for the regular durians is over and true enough, we had a lot after the previous durian season. My missus loves these so she would go out and buy a lot and I would eat – I think it is not as “heaty” so I do not feel sick after feasting on these.
Too bad we did not get to see any durian flowers being sold or we would have bought some to cook…
*Archive photo*
…and enjoy! I love those!
Dabais or what we call or kana (black olives) in Hokkien…
…used to be seasonal too but like the durian, after its round around the end of last year, we see a lot making their appearance at the market again going for RM18.00 a kg or RM20 for some bigger ones. There are cheaper ones as well but I guess those would not be so nice. I only like these if they are very fleshy and very lemak (rich, this being an oily fruit) and yes, the ones my missus bought the other day were very good.
She also bought some lenggeng, the yellow variety…
…at RM10.00 a kg. Some people prefer these as they say they are more fragrant than the green ones…
…but I prefer the latter as they are fleshier and not as sweet. These are also called mata kuching (cat’s eyes) and it belongs to the longan family, if I am not wrong and like the rambutans as well, they are also “heaty” so one should refrain from eating too much in one sitting.
I don’t think these jambu air or chui jambu in Hokkien…
*Phil’s photo on Facebook*
…are seasonal – there are people around here planting some hybrids of the fruit and we seem to get them all year round. I am not a fan of those and especially at those prices that they are selling them for these days, I would not bother buying, not at all.
When I was young, we had a tree in our garden. I never did like them nor those hard-as-a-rock green guavas, the smaller local variety with the pink flesh inside and a lot of seeds and the much bigger what-they-called the Jee pun jambu (Japanese jambu) that my mum also grew. We would eat these jambu air with those serng boi (preserved sour plums) or asamboi…
…or we would make our own dip of soy sauce, belacan (dried prawn paste), sugar and chili. We also had a tree of another variety of the jambu – the round red ones that looked like apples or what they call the jambu bol or Malay apple – I quite enjoyed those.
These are seasonal too – the buah engkala or what we call bua’ terbulus…
…but I don’t think it has made its appearance this time around after the fruit season around the end of last year. I do enjoy these and I sure would want to buy if there are any good ones at the market.
Well, with our economy in pretty bad shape, I guess it is good that these fruits, including the wild ones, are available for sale – it sure would help those people tide over these troubled times in the hope of better days ahead:
For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? (Matthew 6:25-27)
Truly, God is merciful…
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 