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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Visit to Sleman, Java
« on: July 06, 2016, 02:00:53 PM »
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
*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
