OF STINKY FRUITS..

The house reek of fruits, mostly the seasonal ones.  Yes, tis the season of fruits after all usually between July to December.  What with durians, cempedak, bambangan, tarap, belunu  (wild fruits found only in Borneo) lying around the corner and so the mixture of the scents kind of become a little musty. I would of course eat some but how much can one eat. Except for the durians, most would just go to waste. (Must remember to give some of the belunu fruit to Agnes.) And then there are fruits that do not smell much like rambutans, langsat, pineapple and mangoesteens. 

Durians

"the king of fruits"

Above: My favourite - the Langsat

 Tarap fruit, found only in Borneo. Strong smell but sweet and taste heavenly

when chilled.  

(Tarap pic courtesy of the Web).

I was groaning with an acute tummy ache just a few hours ago..hmm.. must have been too much of these fruits - eating them on empty stomach is a no no.  Silly me, after piling myself with lots delicious food during the Hari Raya and made me a feel wee bit uncomfortable especially the waist area,  I thought I could pass the carbo, skip rice or proper meal and have these fruits.  Big mistake.. Anyway after taking some tables for acidic tummy and rubbing vigorously with some 'buang angin' medicine, am feeling a little better. No more of these fruits for a while.

 Some of the food that I indulged during the Hari Raya visits to friends.

But really the smell of these fruits triggers in me senses very familiar and makes it a little nostalgic.. that brings me down memory lane of those days when I used to live with my grandmother.  I spent most of my young childhood years with my grandmother and those were real happy times, being spoilt rotten by her, bless her.

 Fruit seasons were the best and I remember waiting with my "Ina Laayng" as how I called my grandmother a little away from the belunu tree to 'mokiloo' or wait for the ripened belunu fuit to drop usually after a little breeze and hearing the sweetest sound of 'crash buk' when the fruit fall from the trees.  There would be a scramble to look for the fruit among shrubs or bushes. As with belunu, this is also how we used to mokiloo for durians. Finding a perfect fruit would bring me so much joy as there were times when this joy would turn to dismay when fruits would have already been half eaten by squirrels.

 above: Belunu fruit (pic courtesy of the web). 
Remove skin, soft, white fleshy and sweet but there are some sour ones if unlucky.

This is the only way to get these fruits as belunu trees (at least those that I have seen) are very big and tall and impossible to climb. Also there is a danger of catching that illness 'bunduon' that would make your whole body swell and make you look like a monster.  It is non-life threatening but still unpleasant enough as it lasts several days. It is still a mystery why this happens. It however does not strike everyone.  Could it be that some are allergic to something from the belunu tree?  My late father was notorious for catching this 'illness'. The story goes that my dad only has to look at the tree from afar, and he would start to feel the itch and swell especially on the face!! Strange but true.  It was and still is, believed that the antidote is to tie a piece of red cloth around the trunk of the belunu tree and after that, the swelling will go down!

 Sunday: Belunu fruits which we gathered from the jungle.

Some are rotten... so just leave it there.

 My brother and sister looking up at belunu tree and also durian tree. Ensure no fruit fall on our head while we search for fallen fruits..

Belunu tree.. big and really tall. Trees takes maybe more than 10 years to bear fruits..

 A type of durian we call 'Dahit' looking like critters 

Flesh is orange, very rich, not very sweet.. doesn't stink too much too.
Love this.

Yours truly, sweaty, taking a breather on a hammock.. 

see behind me.. fertilizers for plants

Last Sunday, during one of our 'ladang' visits, my brother and I was talking about our childhood  how much the seasonal fruits used to bring us joy and how much we enjoyed eating them those days but that our kids nowadays seems not too keen on them let alone eat, with the exception of durians of course. 

Nangka tree

 our shed made of bamboo..

That orange coloured flesh durian is Dahit , rambutans and cempedak 

 first fruits of the rambutan

It brought us much delight that our 'ladang' or orchard which my siblings and I and our respective families started clearing and planted some fruits just about 1 1/2 years ago has borne fruits, namely the rambutans and pineapples, tapioca, some lemons and a couple of mangoes. Not much but still it is something. May the fruit trees continue to grow well especially the durians and bear fruits in the not too distant future.

durian flowers

Above: Pic courtesy of my sister in law, Zie.