I have stayed away from Salacca for the most part in Thailand, because usually what you see in the markets is sour and used for cooking like limes. So they are not bad, but just like limes you don't eat them alone. I believe this is Salacca wallichiana variety. And I also believe but not sure that in Thai this sour variety must be referred to as "Lagum." Again I repeat, new knowledge I'm learning here so feel free to correct me.
And so there is another kind, "Sala". Which I just realized is basically the same species as "Lagum" just a different variety, so they can be crossbred or used as cross pollinators... But when I want to find "Sweet" Salacca I should be looking for "Sala" and not "Lagum."
So for the last few months I have been bombarded by posts in my facebook groups of sales of "Sala Indo" which I believed was what some people have referred to on this forum as Salak Bali, which is self pollinating. But I found out today that "Sala Indo" is not self pollinating. Today I was in the deep south near the border of Malaysia in Trang, and found "Sala Nampeung (Honey)", "Sala Indo Black" and "Sala Indo Brown" The brown Indonesian was smaller and more pointed then the Black. The Sala Nampeung looks almost identical to the sour "Lagum" however the taste is excellent!
I bought 1 kg of each kind, and went through that all today.
The Sala Indo Black is very plain in my opinion, neither sour or sweet, edible though unlike Lagum. It is very large though. I would not plant this in my opinion, I ate quite a few at different stages, and even the sweetest of the bunches could not compare to the other two. It is a bit dry.
Second place would be the Sala Indo Brown, which is also a bit plain but has fruity hints of like a green apple, but a green apple would be more sour tasting than this. It is also a bit dry.
First place, Sala Namepeung, or Honey Salak. Now I must admit.. I have seen pictures of brown and black Indonesian Salak being called Sala Nampeung Indo, or similar.. so this is definitely a source of confusion. But for reference it is skinny, the skin peels right off and does not stick at all, it is red in color, and usually contains 2 seeds, occasionally 3, and sometimes seedless. It is very sweet, very flavorful, very juicy, and there is a hint of sourness, but it only accentuates the sweetness like a great pineapple. The slight sour tinge is not astringent like in Lagum, and I am a good judge of that because I have sensitive teeth. In fact I stay away from all limes, lemons, and bilimbi in my garden as these do open up the enamel on my teeth very fast. So in summary, not astringent, but sour notes are present.
If anybody can point me to some verifiable information on Sala Nampeung, like species name and so on please help. Also some people have said this variety is self-pollinating, so that would be great, as currently I'm interested in only planting 5-6 trees in between coconut trees.