Buah means fruit in bahasa Malaysia. So buah engkalak (engkala) simply means engkalak fruit. All of our three trees are fruiting again and this week we harvested a big basketful. Not too many fruits this time because the trees are being attacked by borers and have lost their lower branches. Engkalak or Litsea garciae belong to the same family as avocado. I didn’t like this fruit before, it truly is an acquired taste much like avocado too. But now, I love it! Rich and creamy and especially tasty with a pinch of salt, I think it’s a lot nicer than avocado!
As the fruits mature, they will turn a bright pink. However, they are only ready to be eaten when they turn a deeper red and the flesh has become soft. When consumed either green or pink, the flesh will be tough and tastes bitter-spicy. The after taste when consumed like this (spicy) is especially bad. They are sold from RM2 to RM4 per basket like this.
All of our three trees are bearing fruits this season but not as much as the previous fruiting season. They fruit once or twice a year and as the fruits near maturity, flocks of birds especially starlings descend on the trees and feed noisily on the fruits. There is a parasitic plant on the left upper corner of this photo.
Here’s an unripe green fruit on the tree. The fruits are normally borne in bunches but this season the fruit count is much lower.
Some fruits attain quite a large size. To give an idea of the fruit size, that is the hand of an 11 year old girl, by the way.
These are actually not ripe enough (pink) to be eaten yet as the flesh will be tough and taste bitter-spicy. Wait till they are very soft and a much deeper red such in this photo (click here).
To prepare the ripe fruits, simply place them in a deep bowl and pour hot water at about 80 degrees Celsius. Leave for about 5 minutes and the fruits would have “fattened” up and the flesh turned soft.
Simply squeeze out the large, round and hard seed inside and eat the soft creamy white flesh (minus the skin of course!). Very tasty with a pinch of salt!!
Engkalak is also known as butter-fruit locally. When planted from seed, it takes about 4 or 5 years for a tree to reach fruiting size. The tree can attain a large size with large leaves and branches that spread out several meters from the bole. It grows to about 15-20 or more meters high so this isn’t your normal garden tree as it requires a lot of space. Expect the first successful harvest around the fifth year. Well worth the wait, especially if you love avocado type fruits. This is a tropical tree so unfortunately, not everyone will be able to plant this and enjoy the fruits!
17 comments:
Hi..do you know more about this fruit? the advantages of eating this fruit perhaps..thanx
Saya memang suko post ini. Terima kasih.
Hi, May I cited some of your photos in this post at my website(here)? I will wait for your answer. Thanks!
@Ahock, hi, yes you may as long as you keep them as is (do not remove watermark) and include the original link back to this post.
Thanks! :)
I have made some research on Engkala. Some literature said it is dioecious plant (they should have separate male and female plants in the nature). Salak fruit tree also is dioecious tree. The male plant never produce a fruit. Do you know about this fact?
@Ahock, interesting. One of our three big trees used to produce flowers but never any fruits for the first few years. We used to think it was a "male" tree but eventually it did produce lots of fruit. I haven't done much reading about engkala to be honest so don't know more than what I've already written in my blog. I was told engkala is not endemic to Borneo as it's been found in West Malaysia as well and I've seen the photo of the fruit collected by the indigenous people of WM.
Hi Sarawaklens,
You have a big yard! From the literature, most of the plants belonging to the Litsea genus are dioecious. I have asked my friend in Sarawak about the nature of this plant last week. Unfortunately, they don't know any further detail about this plant.
Actually, this plant can be found in a island at the south of Taiwan. They are cutting the tree for built boat. Some time ago, they do believe this plant is endemic to Taiwan.
I'll try to dig more about this plant.
Here is the link about Engkala at Taiwan
@Ahock, boats? wow, I would never think the wood is good for anything except maybe to start a barbeque fire lol. I think the wood breaks easily, the branches easily break off from the tree and climbing this tree is a no-no. One time, I was trying to remove a parasitic plant from one branch and tugged just a bit too hard at the plant and the entire engkala branch broke cleanly off the trunk!
Your story is funny for me. It reminds my childhood at Kuching.
Yalah, they said it is wood for built boat at Taiwan. Here have more pictures for Litsea garciae Vidal at Taiwan.
Link
Do you think it is the same kind of plant?
Hmm, certainly looks the same. But I've never seen ripe fruits that colour before (could be camera colour reproduction issue). I do wonder though, are those found in Taiwan native trees or were they introduced somehow long ago... seeds travel far and wide these days with people all over the world interested in planting all kinds of fruits and plants.
Have you ever learnt about the ancestor of the native people of Borneo, Indonesia and New Zealand are coming from Taiwan? There is a theory about the dispersal of those native peoples. May be you can take a look at the dispersal map of Austronesian url:
Austronesian (Chinese reference)
Perhaps the ancestor of Engkala also come from Taiwan? Who know? Ha, just for fun. :)
The native people in Taiwan use it to built boat or houses. They do not use it as skeleton. However, they may use it for decoration.
@Ahock, have you been to the native museum in Taipei? I hear they've got a lot of traditional items such as gongs and costumes which are very similar to those of the Bidayuhs in Sarawak. They've even got similar sounding words (in native language) for numbers (one two three...).
If you find out more about the engkala found in Taiwan, let me know, interesting find. I think they could very well be from here (seeds could have been collected by visitors to Borneo and planted there?).
Hi, I have just post it on my website: here.
Please let me know if you have any concern about your photo. I will tell you if I have any update about engkala. You are also welcome to share with me if you have any update. Thanks!
Ahock
@Ahock, looks fine, nice entry by the way! The engkala season is nearly over now, there are still some fruits to be found in the Dayak markets but none left on our trees.
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