We have two varieties, the native whose fruits are smaller and more acidic, and the 'Bangkok santol', which is bigger and sweeter. Native santol is diploid (2n=22), while 'Bangkok' is tetraploid (2n=44), this explains the bigger fruit size. It is reported that Fairchild Botanical garden has a Bangkok santol tree, and there are other trees in Florida. Some Bangkok santol fruits are exported to the US, so they call it 'Manila' santol.
If eaten fresh, the mucilage around the seed is the most preferred part. The thick pulp can also be processed into pickles and/or jams. It can also be used as souring agent to fish recipes. Other provinces in the country also have many recipes for this fruit. The trunk is also very good for furniture making.
Some fruits in season in July to August: santol, avocado and atis (custard apple)
The top canopy of our fruiting Bangkok santol tree (taken last year). Last month that right branch broke at the base because it was not able to keep the weight of too much fruits. It hit the electric wires that gave us a few hours of blackout. It also gave a loud sound which scared all of us.
fruits at different stages of maturity
immature green fruit
ripening fruits
a fallen ripe fruit
these are fallen fruits, so had lots of bruises
The pulp is rich in pectin that bruising exposes it to fast browning. Those big ants share some of the pulp, while that wound was done by birds while still on the tree.
Because we are far from Metro Manila, we don't sell these fruits. Nobody also buys from us to be brought to the markets, so they are just left on the tree or left to rot. One enterprising man in our area who for sometime harvest our fruits for the market already died. So our fruits don't reach the consumers.
One of the things that fascinates me about tropical trees are that they will get rid of a branch when needed. That is a large tree. Looks beautiful and I'd love to try the fruit. I always worry about trees too close to the house...especially after a strong wind storm. Two days ago we had hurrican force winds. Crazy!! Another fun and educational post. Thanks for sharing. Hope your week is going well. Kreesh:)
ReplyDeleteIt actually is far from the house, maybe 30 meters. It is already outside the garden, near the goathouse! We dont really plant trees too close because our typhoons are very strong too. I am very well, coughing left already, thanks.
DeleteLearning about this fruit made me remember a fruit from my adolescence in Panama that we called a ginnup: a small (1" - 1 1/2" diameter) round fruit with a thick green rind that you could split easily to reveal a huge round seed covered with a thin, sweet-sour pulp. There was little pulp, comparatively, and the only way you could get it off was to pop the seed with pulp into your mouth and scrape the pulp off with your teeth, but they were tasty and a fun snack. Do you have any fruit that sounds like that? (I never saw them growing - they were just for sale on the street corners - so I can't even tell you if they grew on a shrub or tree or ???)
ReplyDeleteHi Gaia, so you were once from Panama! I can visualize what you described, and somehow that is really how we get the taste from santol, however the fruit you are describing with green rind that easily splits open with a round seed doesn't get into my mind. That is different from this santol, and we don't have that. I searched ginnup and maybe you mean Ackee, Melicoccus bijugatus. We dont have it but it is also in Sapindaceae Family related to lychee and longan which we are more accustomed with.
Deletemasarap magbakasyon sa inyo, dami prutas.
ReplyDeletethey have santol in brine and i've tried it, but the taste is all gone.
Yes, they also do that here, maybe people like you who missed their beginnings will try it, but yes too it might pacify the cravings but will not really give you the excitement of eating the fresh santol with the skin. The thrill is also in pricking it with your thumbnail and cracking it open with the help of your knees! Hahaha, do you remember that!
DeleteCan't find it here. Save some for me when I go home
ReplyDeleteHi Hester, literatures say there is one tree, it could be very old and big now, at the Fairchild Botanical Gardens. Oh they can't wait till November, we don't do any processing. If only it can be preserved, it's not yet studied in postharvest because low commercial value, hehe!
DeleteInteresting fruit that I have not heard about..reminds me a bit of a grapefruit growing but the inside is more like an apple or pear...
ReplyDelete