Borneo fruit-Asam Kumbang (Mangifera quadrifida Jack)

Malaysia has more than 25 species of wild mangoes.  This fruit is called asam kumbang.  Kumbang in the Malay language means beetle.  Many local people call certain wild mangoes 'asam'.  The word 'asam' means tamarind.  'Masam' means sour in the Malay language.  This fruit is sweet and sour.

  A ripe fruit is dark green grape purple colour.  Peeling off the skin with a knife will reveal a juicy bright yellow mango fruit.  The fruit is a bit fibrous.  It is consumed raw or made into a sambal, with fruit slices mixed with pounded chili, garlic, dried salted anchovies, salt, sugar and belacan ( shrimp paste cake).  

A unripe fruit is dark green in colour.  Unripe asam kumbang are cooked with fish as a dish.  The scientific name for this fruit is 'Mangifera Quadrifida Jack.  This fruit is a member of the anacardiaceae family. 

 The fruiting season of asam kumbang is during the months of May to June, and November to December every year.

Borneo fruits-The Engkala Fruit of Sarawak.

This is the thumbnail image of my engkala fruit upload in YouTube taken in August 2013. Engkala is a unique indigenous fruit. The fruit is consumed by first removing the cap or cupule and soaking it in warm water.  The flesh is white greenish.  The taste is exquisite. Delicious.  A unripe fruit is green in colour.  It will ripen by turning pinkish over the next two days.  Green engkala are hit with spoons to cause it to ripen.  Unripe engakala tastes like an unripe ciku fruit, causing an irritation to the throat. It is eaten with a pinch of salt.

The scientific name for this fruit is Litsea Garciae.  In the local dialects, we call it engkalak, engkala, pong lobon, kangkala, medang, pengalaban, ta'ang fruit. The engakala fruit is found in great abundance in Nov 2013.  The fruit is bigger in size and has a attractive bright pink appeal.  Farmers have cultivated this fruit for the local market instead of collecting it from the jungle.  Fertilisers are used, attributing to its bigger size and abundant yield.  It was indeed a satisfying year 2013, eating a continuous supply of engkala. This fruit has high economic potential.

Borneo Wild Jungle Mango-Mangifera Pajang Kostermans

Wild jungle mango-mangifera pajang kostermans- a new hybrid clone with the tree from the Borneo forest produces a fruit the size of a canon ball. This one weighs more than 900 g.

The old fruit from the jungle cultivated by villagers in Asajaya.  These fruits are cultivated by seed.

This one weighs more than 300 g.

Cutting the fruit vertically.

Peeling off the thick skin to reveal the bright yellow fibrous sweet sour mango

To the Malays of Sarawak (a state of Malaysia in the island of Borneo), this brown wild fruit the size of a canon ball, is called 'asam embang'.The Ibans of Sarawak call it 'buah mawang'. In Sabah, it is known as 'bambangan'. This fruit is botanically known as mangifera pajang.  It is a wild fruit from the jungle and its availability today is due to their cultivation by the people  in Asajaya.

This fruit smells like the kuini (Mangifera adorato Griff), a popular Malaysian garden fruit.  The difference is the skin is brown and thick.  The fruit has to be cut on top across and vertically before it is peeled off.  The flesh is yellow and tasted sweet if the fruits falls to the ground but taste sour when it has a bit of green hue meaning it is not ripe yet.

Buah Mawang is eaten raw as a salad or eaten as an ulam (eating raw with sambal belacan or shrimp paste sauce). It is also cooked with fish. The flesh is fibrous and is cooked with chillies to give it the pineapple taste. As much as this fruit is the size of a canon ball, there are other varieties the size of a tomato.

Buah Mawang can be kept for a week because of its thick skin. It can be preserved in a jar. Even the leaves of this fruit can be eaten as an 'ulam'. A member of the anacardiaceae family, this seasonal fruit starts fruiting twice a year during the months of Jan-Feb and July to August.