sentul, santol or lolly fruit

some tropical fruits like the sentul, abiu, egg fruit and butterfruit which do not originate from malaysia or singapore are sometimes cast aside by singaporeans as being inedible or avoided because we do not know much about the fruit as we have not tasted or eaten them. however, some of these fruits that we side-step are actually sought after in their country of origin and in some of our neighbouring countries.

if you have been to qian hu fish farm you will have seen the egg fruit on some of the trees lining the road that leads to the farm. nobody seems to be interested in the fruit as the ripe fruits are strewn on the ground near the tree. along the same stretch you can also find the sentul fruit tree. again, because we know next to nothing about this fruit, the ripe fruits are left to rot. if you turn into jalan semangka, you will find many of the surinam cherry trees fruiting. the over-ripe cherries are all over the ground.

today, i took a drive to track 14 and jalan lekar as i wanted to check out the place mentioned in chun see's blog. it was at the junction of the two roads that i came across the sentul trees.

the sentul, which is known by the name 'santol' in the philippines, is a fruit popular with the filipinos. in indonesia, the same fruit is called kechapi. another name for it is the lolly fruit because you have to suck it to get the flavour. the seeds of the sentul are not edible.

the fruit looks like an over-sized duku. one variety has fruit as big as a softball. some filipinos eat the santol with rock salt. they also made the pulp into a jam, after removing the seeds.

what are these structures for?















saw these structures at a farm at sungei tengah. in fact, quite a number of farms that grow food crops are cashing in on the popularity of this fruit. the red variety seems to be the preferred one. do not have the idea that you can get them cheaper from these farms. the one at lane 4 lim chu kang sells it at s$4.00/kilo - used to be $5 - but their produce is bigger and juicier compared to those from vietnam. i find the fruit quite bland, more like a kiwi fruit, but some people say that it is tasty.

















i was surprised when i learnt that the dragon fruit came from a climbing cactus vine. i first saw them when i visited kok fah technology farm at sungei tengah end. subsequently, i saw many more when i visited my wife's relatives in kluang, johor. in malaysia, many families grow this plant in their own garden. the flowers are white and large. they produce a nice smell when they are in bloom, which is for one night only.