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Exotic Fruits of Borneo Island

by Yovita Siswati on 09/01/09 at 2:43 am

Borneo or Kalimantan Island is very rich of exotic fruits.

Other than the famous exotic Dorian fruit of Borneo (please see my article: Exotic Dorian Fruit of Borneo), there are other exotic fruits grow in this island. Here is the list.

Nephelium spp (local name: Klembuku)

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It has hairy skin just like rambutan fruit. The size is small, smaller than the size of an egg. The fruit will grow in bunch, just like grape. It has blood red skin color and white flesh. In the centre of the flesh is the seed. Please be careful not to swollen the seed when you eat this fruit. The flesh tastes rather sour.

Nephelium mutabile (Maritam)

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This fruit is also within the family of rambutan fruit. It has hairy skin. It appearance is very much like klembuku. What makes it difference is the black purplish color of its skin. It has white flesh and like klembuku taste rather sour. It grows mainly in Malinau District, East Borneo.

Mangifera caesia (local name: Wanyi or Wani)

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This fruit is in the family of jack fruit. It is also grow in Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Sumatera and the Philipines. The fruit has an oval shape, green thin skin, and white flesh and a rather disturbing odor. The taste of the fruit is a combination between pineapple and mango. This fruit is mostly growing in the forest of East Borneo.

Mangifera foetida (local name: Asam Payankg)

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This fruit is in the family of mango, also known as horse mango because the tree is so tall. Its shape is rather oval, and the size is quite big. The average weigh is between 0.5 – 3 kg. It has thick brown skin and yellow flesh. The taste is between sour and sweet. The skin contain mucus which can cause mouth irritation, thus, it is never consumed before it is ripen.

Artocarpus adoratisimus (local name: Tarap)

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This fruit is also within the family of jack fruit. It grows in various places in Borneo Island from East Borneo, Indonesia to the north of Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam. The fruit is oval and heavy. The average weight is between 1 – 3 kg. It has white sweet juicy flesh with sweet odor. Beside the flesh, its seed can also be eaten after being roasted or grilled.

Dimocarpus longan (local name: Lhau)


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The size of this fruit is very small like marbles. It grows attached to the branches of the tree with light brown or dark green skin and white flesh. The taste is sweetly sour. Within each fruit, there are 1-4 seeds. The seeds can be eaten but it can caused constipation if consumed excessively. It mostly grows in November to February.

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49 Comments

Jasin

Jan 9th, 2009

Great article, weird fruits.

Inna Tysoe

Jan 9th, 2009

Thanks for that.

Inna

Laura Lee Salinas

Jan 9th, 2009

Again!!! You give us the most beautiful and descriptive pictures! What amazing texture! Your articles are always rewarding to read, thanks :D

Christine Ramsay

Jan 9th, 2009

I enjoyed your article. I had no idea there were so many strange fruits there.

Christine

jimy1666

Jan 9th, 2009

Nice and helpful article I like it.

nutuba

Jan 9th, 2009

Informative and interesting! I enjoyed it and look forward to someday trying these fruits.

Bick Parker

Jan 9th, 2009

They all look and sound delicious – it’s just a shame about their names, I can’t pronounce most of ‘em! Nice article.

OhSugar

Jan 9th, 2009

Beautiful display. I learned about a different fruit today. I like it.

Morgana

Jan 9th, 2009

Interesting fruits. They look very exotic.

Darla Smith

Jan 9th, 2009

Great article!

lindalulu

Jan 9th, 2009

Great article, I love fruit but am afraid I could not find them here.

Carolyn Ann Aish

Jan 9th, 2009

Amazing article – such fruit new to me. Very well presented.

Angie0000023

Jan 9th, 2009

This article is very informative. I liked it very much!

Thank you for you comments. They help keep me going on here. It is hard to do this with school, swim, church, and everything going on but everyones kind comments keeps me going so I do not give up… thank you for that.

Betty Carew

Jan 9th, 2009

Thank you once again for a very informative article Yovita, I was wondering and looking for what you would publish next, I wasn’t disappointed. Unfortunately we cannot get these great fruits where I live but great knowing they exsist.

Monica Sappleton

Jan 9th, 2009

Excellent presentation, and very informative.
Monica.

PR Mace

Jan 9th, 2009

Well done article with good information. I have never seen or heard of these fruits. Thank you, I learned something new today.

Ruby Hawk

Jan 9th, 2009

I have never seen or heard of these fruits. I would love to try them.

CA Johnson

Jan 9th, 2009

Great job. I, like Ruby, have never heard of these fruits. They do seem like they would be good. :)

AC Hamilton III

Jan 9th, 2009

Thanks for a great lesson from an exotic place, now I can dream of it happening someday.

Sotiris

Jan 9th, 2009

Didn’t know that there were such fruits! Thanks for sharing :)

Bren Parks

Jan 9th, 2009

Hard to believe that these are all fruit! =)

Eunice Tan

Jan 9th, 2009

Nice presentation, Yovita!

trishia

Jan 9th, 2009

Such exotic fruits! It’s so nice to learn of these fruits. Thanks for sharing.

nobert soloria bermosa

Jan 9th, 2009

i like the first and the last one,we call them rambutan and longgan respectively,

Benjamin Bright

Jan 10th, 2009

great job…love the pics too!

Westbrook

Jan 10th, 2009

We learn more every day. Thanks

Jose Monaca

Jan 10th, 2009

I’d like to taste some of them, great article Yovita.

Michael Eboh

Jan 10th, 2009

MMM that’s so lovely. You really did a careful job. Five Stars for you!

Mr Cool

Jan 10th, 2009

Those are some pretty cool looking fruits that I would love to try one day, great article

Lisa Clayton Williams

Jan 10th, 2009

Great information, great pictures!

LBA

Jan 10th, 2009

Good information and nice article. This is stuff I can use in my classes.

Holly J. Yarrington

Jan 10th, 2009

I love fruit and I love how this article was presented.
Thank you for the information. Will come back here to read again.

papaleng

Jan 10th, 2009

another very interesting article, Is Klembuku the same as “Rambutan”? just asking Jovita..

Liane Schmidt

Jan 10th, 2009

Great, interesting article!

Blessings.

Sincerely,

-Liane Schmidt.

Joni Keith

Jan 10th, 2009

Yovita, I love what you offer. That tarap looks very interesting. Another great article.

M J katz

Jan 11th, 2009

Your articles definitely open up the world to the rest of us who haven’t traveled to these countries and islands! I’d be willing to taste these fruits providing I had someone along who could tell me what parts to eat…what parts to cook first…and what parts to leave alone!!! Ha ha!

Lorenzo A. Fernandez Jr.

Jan 11th, 2009

hmm, i wish i were in borneo so that i could taste all these yummy fruits!

Mythili Kannan

Jan 12th, 2009

I never seen or heard about these fruits so far :-) Thank u

s hayes

Jan 12th, 2009

Excellent, interesting and unusual article

Yovita Siswati

Jan 12th, 2009

Thank you all for stopping by and commenting on my work.

Papaleng: klembuku is whithin the family of Rambutan fruit. The difference is that klembuku’ size is smaller compare to other type of rambutan fruit. The taste is also rather sour.

Abdul Sabour Ayoubi

Jan 12th, 2009

I gree with S Hayes, it is different and that s what we need, thanks for sharing.

weegysgram

Jan 15th, 2009

It would be very interesting to be able to try some of these though I am affraid I would never be able to find them here. Great article!

Sarah Elizabeth Hume

Jan 15th, 2009

I loved the pictures, they were very rich, and your descriptions made me want to try some for myself, I enjoyed learning again..

eddiego65

Jan 15th, 2009

Great article. I like longan.

LG

Jan 16th, 2009

Nice Pictures.

rutherfranc

Jan 19th, 2009

mmmm, mouthwatering!

nesita

Feb 3rd, 2009

it certainly is a. different fruit.

Melody Arcamo Lagrimas

Feb 11th, 2009

They all look delectably sweet. Tarap, I guess, is known in my place as marang/madange, i love it so much, but it is not found in Manila, only in the Mindanao region. The first one indeed looks like rambutan, another favorite fruit of mine.

Laura Tamayo

Feb 24th, 2009

I’ve heard that there is a delicious fruit that has such an unpleasant odor that certain Indonesian hotels won’t let guests bring them on property. The friend who told me this calls if ’stinky fruit’ and says there are signs actually posted forbidding you to eat that fruit in the hotel. Would that be the wani?

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