Visit to Sleman, Java

[HIfarm]

I persuaded by wife to let me make some brief detours for fruit exploration on our recent trip to Indonesia.  We stopped at some salak stalls in Sleman on the way to Borobudur (on the main road).  They had 3 varieties available* -- pondoh super, gading, and madu.  For some reason, I mistakenly thought I already had madu (but it was miri -- DAMN!) so I did not try that one.  I got 1/2 kg each of pondoh super and gading -- that set me back 23,000 idr (or about $1.75!).  I didn't catch the price of the pondoh super but the gading went for 25,000 / kg. 
*From my research, it appeared that there should be at least 16 varieties of salak in the area, with 5 of those being various varieties of pondoh.

My recollection is that the pondoh super was sweet and the skin was dark colored and it had a pointed top.  It was a bit smaller than the gading.  The gading (means "ivory") was sweet with some sour aspect and a little astringent.  The fruits were large and had a light tan or "ivory" color; they also had a blunt top.  The gading was good but would have seemed better if we had not tried the pondoh super first.  The pondoh super fruit all yielded 3 seeds (although one had two normal seeds & 1 small seed) for a total of 26 seeds from 1/2 kg (& the one we sampled).  The gading had a few with 3 seeds but most had two seeds (1 only had one seed) for 17 seeds total from the 1/2 kg (& the one we sampled).

We had the same driver booked when leaving Borobudur.  He mentioned we could stop at one of the salak farms on the way for sightseeing up by Mt. Merapi.  For this trip, we left the main road from Borobudur to Jogja and took a smaller road up towards the mountain.  We passed many farms with farm stands out front but I assumed he was taking us to a special farm.  Finally after passing one that appeared to have quite a variety of salak.  I told him to stop at the next stand.  There were no more -- I am kicking myself that I did not insist we turn around & go back.  I was not too upset at the time since I was also planning on visiting salak country in Bali & the Balinese salak are monoecious rather than dioececious like their Javan cousins.  I will post on that misadventure later.

I was very disappointed by fruit stalls I visited at market -- none seemed to have anything we do not have in HI -- I guess it was the wrong season or I needed to try a market in a smaller town.

I have attached a few pics from the trip below:
- the salak stalls along the main Jogja-Borobudur road (those baskets all have salak in them)
- a comparison of pondoh super (L) & gading (R)
- a salak being peeled by my wife (for those unfamiliar with "snake fruit")
- a pic of a whole salak, one partially peeled, and a seed -- all of pondoh super

John

[jez251]

Great story and pics, John. I hope the visit overall was enjoyable.

Jaime

[Samu]

Thanks for posting those photos...!
They look delicious! "Sweet and some sour" as I recall them.
Too bad they don't survive South California mild winter...

[fruitlovers]

Sounds like a great trip. Surprised you don't say anything about the botanical garden in Java? With hindsight there's always things we could've done better. Main thing is you made it out there!

[HIfarm]

I assume you mean the one in Bogor?  I would have loved to visit it but it was about 9 hrs by car from the Jogja area, where the prime salak area is.

Sounds like a great trip. Surprised you don't say anything about the botanical garden in Java? With hindsight there's always things we could've done better. Main thing is you made it out there!

[fruitlovers]

I assume you mean the one in Bogor?  I would have loved to visit it but it was about 9 hrs by car from the Jogja area, where the prime salak area is.

Sounds like a great trip. Surprised you don't say anything about the botanical garden in Java? With hindsight there's always things we could've done better. Main thing is you made it out there!

Yes Bogor, supposed to be world class botanical garden. You went mainly for salaks?

[HIfarm]

I went mainly for vacation but was able to persuade my wife to indulge me in some fruit hunting. I had always wanted to visit Borobudur and it is a happy coincidence that the main area for Java's salak production is right there.  I was also on the lookout for other indigenous fruits.  I had a list of dozens of potentially interesting fruits along with local common names in the hope of finding something else but it was apparently not the season (or perhaps markets in smaller towns may have been more productive than Jogja).

I was also trying to schedule the trip when 1) the dry season was in effect (to avoid being rained out for sightseeing) and 2) when my wife could easily get time off from the university.  June/July was listed as a time when salak are in season on Java but evidently not so much on Bali.

Yes Bogor, supposed to be world class botanical garden. You went mainly for salaks?

[HIfarm]

I finally found my pack of seeds from Java at the post office yesterday.  Despite the fact that it took about a month to reach APHIS (I mistakenly used the airmail instead of EMS due to language difficulties), this shipment was not destroyed out of hand like the shipment that reached them in 6 days from Bali.  In that shipment from Bali, they claimed all 39 seeds had germinated and destroyed the entire lot.  In this shipment, all 26 of the Pondoh super and 13 of the Gading seeds made it through.  This reinforces my belief that something fishy went on with that first shipment.  Oh well, I have my fingers crossed that I get something out of these.

John

[fruitlovers]

I finally found my pack of seeds from Java at the post office yesterday.  Despite the fact that it took about a month to reach APHIS (I mistakenly used the airmail instead of EMS due to language difficulties), this shipment was not destroyed out of hand like the shipment that reached them in 6 days from Bali.  In that shipment from Bali, they claimed all 39 seeds had germinated and destroyed the entire lot.  In this shipment, all 26 of the Pondoh super and 13 of the Gading seeds made it through.  This reinforces my belief that something fishy went on with that first shipment.  Oh well, I have my fingers crossed that I get something out of these.

John

I've had similar problems with APHIS claiming seeds were germinated after only a few days via EMS in the mail. This germinating rule really hampers getting seeds from the tropics! They didn't used to be so strict about it a couple of years before, and would let germinated seeds through as long as no roots were forming.