Comparing apples & oranges

Unfortunately there's no apples & oranges here for comparison. Instead, there's a whole melange of exotic fruits for you to choose from here in Sarawak. Many of them look alien and bewildering. There's no end to God's creativity when He created them or maybe He was being mischevious and wanted a good laugh looking at our reactions on seeing them!

The prize for weirdest fruit definitely goes to:

Tarap

The buah tarap looks like the offspring of the jackfruit & breadfruit. There are soft spines on the exterior, akin to those of a Koosh ball (anyone remember them?). When ripe the smell can be pretty strong, some have compared it to the pong from a durian but milder! The flesh is silky & smooth, and taste like a cross between mangoes & jackfruit!

Dabai

Sally initiated me to the dabai. If I'm not mistaken, I think you can only get the dabai in Borneo. It's also known as the Sarawak olive. As its seasonal, the price for the fruit fluctuates. I remember paying RM10 per kong early in the season but at its peak, it was only RM3 per kong. To consume it, you need to soak the dabai in warm water till it goes soft. Only then can you consume it. The flesh tastes creamy but bland, just like avocado. Usually the locals snack on it with a black sauce & sugar dip but I prefer mine with a sprinkle of salt. Nasi goreng dabai is another seasonal speciality. BTW, Song apparently has the best dabai in the whole of Sarawak!

Isau

This has to be my favourite of all the local fruits. Externally, it looks like mini custard apples. Inside the translucent flesh encases a deep red-black seed. I think they must be from the longan or mata kuching family.  Usually, the appearance of buah isau marks the end of the fruit season. I've been buying them by the "kong"fulls from the local Iban ladies cause they taste sooo refreshingly good. Best when served chilled!

Isu

This must be the baby brother of the durian. Comparatively, they are tinier than normal sized durians. They have slimmer and sharper spikes than their big brothers and only 1 seed in each segment. As I'm not a big fan of durian, I'm adverse to even trying. From what I've heard, these babies taste better than durian!

Kakus

Another relative of the longan or mata kuching. While the isau is a greenish hue, the kakus is a yellow-brown.  The kakus fruit is also smaller than the isau. As the skin is thicker, opening the kakus takes more effort. Taste wise, I think they're slightly less juicy & sweet than the isau but I may have gotten a bad batch instead!

Pulasan

I think you find them in West Malaysia as well but they are not as common there. From a distance, I initially mistook them for rambutans. They have little soft spikes and to me they look like the offspring of a lychee-rambutan match (just realised there's plenty of hybrid looking fruits here)! The flesh is slightly more opaque than a rambutans but not as thick. The plus point is they taste better!

Salak

No prize for guessing what fruit this is. I initially thought the salak was only grown in Indonesia but was mistaken. I've not tried the local ones so really can't comment on them. The ones from Indonesia have a sort of sweet but acidic tastes and the best ones supposedly come from Acheh. I think they look outright weird, like some reptile's eggs.

That's all for now. If I do find some other interesting fruit, will add on later.
And ya...

BLESSED 2013!