Rambutan: R-167 vs. Seelengkeng

[BigIslandGrower]

Some recent images for comparison.  My daughter and her teenage friends were eating the R-167's like candy until I gave them some Seelengkeng, at which point they ignored the former fruits and devoured the latter.  Basically, my approach is the same.  In the trees, the 167 is the first, bright red fruit.

[BigIslandGrower]

In baskets.  R-167 is with Diamond river longan.

[Samu]

Look delicious!
Never tasted Seelengkeng, nor Pulasan. Are they similar?
Wondering if any of those can bear fruit in SoCal...

[fruitlovers]

I've never had Seelengkeng rambutan either. From what i remember this is a cultivar that was mostly promoted for its prolific amount of pollen in the male trees. The purpose of this is to avoid flattened hollow rambutans, like we were discussing previously. I have one male Seelengken rambutan planted in my orchard exactly for this purpose only.

[Mike T]

Silengkang is the alternative spelling for this variety and it is one of the 60 or so types trialled here in the 1970s and 80s.It has soft juicy flesh in the rongrien style.For fruit quality it ranked in the top 10 about a draw with R167 which now dominates silengkang  in abundance in Australian orchards.I have eaten these and all the top 10 but a showdown between these 2 would reveal that R167 is sweeter (mean brix 21.5 vs. 20),has crisper flesh,less testa clinging and has thicker skin so is more commercially acceptable.Binjai,jit Lee,R134,and yellow R156, surprizingly R9 and even R162 as well rongrien are the big guns fetching the highest prices.

[DurianLover]

Mike, you have seen more rambutan varieties in one place than anybody else. Do they all fruit and flower at the same time? Can grower extend season when growing several select ones?

[fruitlovers]

Silengkang is the alternative spelling for this variety and it is one of the 60 or so types trialled here in the 1970s and 80s.It has soft juicy flesh in the rongrien style.For fruit quality it ranked in the top 10 about a draw with R167 which now dominates silengkang  in abundance in Australian orchards.I have eaten these and all the top 10 but a showdown between these 2 would reveal that R167 is sweeter (mean brix 21.5 vs. 20),has crisper flesh,less testa clinging and has thicker skin so is more commercially acceptable.Binjai,jit Lee,R134,and yellow R156, surprizingly R9 and even R162 as well rongrien are the big guns fetching the highest prices.

These are all the same main rambutan cultivars here as well. I have them all growing in my orchard. Seelangkang is not an important cultivar here.

[Mike T]

The sequence of variety fruiting varies a little year to year and the actual ripening time varies between years just a little also.On any one farm with multiple varieties I don't think the picking season is ever longer than 4 weeks from my recollection, so there isn't a big seasonal spread.
I have heard growers talk about the best variety (starting with m?) being in Sri Lana but it has not become available elsewhere.I don't know if this is just loose talk around the packing sheds.
Hawaii I know has at at least the same range of types as here.Rambutans don't fetch the prices they used to and have been badly impacted by cyclones in the last 10 years so the industry has shrunk here.

[bangkok]

Malafa or so is the one from sri lanka.

But i never buy/eat rambutans because here the skin and seed sticks to the flesh. I believe you guys that there are better ones around, i just wished they were grown here as well. For me longan or litchi is a much better fruit then a thai rambutan.

If i had space i would go after good ones but i have pulasan on the wishlist. My grafted pulasan from singapore has 6 small white leaves after growing it 1 year.    When i planted it ( 1 year ago) there were 12 leaves.

[BigIslandGrower]

.. R167 is sweeter (mean brix 21.5 vs. 20),has crisper flesh,less testa clinging and has thicker skin so is more commercially acceptable...

Agree with all of this.  Nevertheless it is not as popular with anyone I've shared the fruits with.  Seelengkeng is juicier and more flavorful. 

[BigIslandGrower]

I've never had Seelengkeng rambutan either. From what i remember this is a cultivar that was mostly promoted for its prolific amount of pollen in the male trees. ..

Interesting.  Maybe the hermaphrodites also produce a lot of pollen, because I've never seen flat fruit on my two trees of this cultivar.  The two R-167 have had a few flat fruit, but not many.

[DurianLover]

Mike, I'm skeptical about variety starting with M being the best in the world, but since statement comes from the man travelling the world for planting material, I assume it won't be mediocre at least. I never buy rambutans when travelling in Asia, so can't compare. Also I'm guessing taste difference between rambutan cultivars is more subtle than with many other fruits, so it's best to have side by side moment to capture the difference.
Malwana special grown in the same name town, where every resident almost have a non written obligation to have rambutan orchard.  Its rambutan capital of the country and has been so for hundreds of years. I'm sure they had plenty of time to make selection for superior clone. There are Malaysian cultivars available, but they are harder to find because of perceived inferiority.

[fruitlovers]

I've never had Seelengkeng rambutan either. From what i remember this is a cultivar that was mostly promoted for its prolific amount of pollen in the male trees. ..

Interesting.  Maybe the hermaphrodites also produce a lot of pollen, because I've never seen flat fruit on my two trees of this cultivar.  The two R-167 have had a few flat fruit, but not many.

Yes, that may be the reason you don't have flat hollow rambutan fruit. Some hermaphrodites have flowers that function mostly as female, and other hermaphrodites function mostly as male, releasing pollen.