By Wilfred Pilo
KUCHING, Feb 9: It was fascinating to stumble upon an unusual fruit sized slightly smaller than a ping pong ball in circumferences at a farmer’s market.
When asked about the fruit, the friendly vendor revealed that it is a wild fruit called “Buah Si-kun” (as pronounced by the vendor) or in Iban, it is called “Buah Sindik” or “Sindu”.
She said it is an edible fruit that could be mixed with other vegetables, meat or fish to make a savoury dish.
The fruit appears not to be widely known nowadays and may be easily missed or overlooked even when encountered, except by those already familiar with it.
The fruit’s skin feels hard and rough to the touch.
The vendor explained that these days, the fruit is seldom found and only occasionally sold in the market. She sells it at RM5 per plate.
“The fruit skin is green and we peel it to get the seed or the pod. We usually forage for it in the jungle and harvest it from the tree. But now the fruit is hard to get. We got these few fruits from a local supplier foraging in the jungle near Sirikin, Bau,” she said when met by DayakDaily recently.
The vendor explained that before consuming the fruit, it needs to be cracked open. The flesh (cotyledon) of the fruit is the edible part and is prepared by cooking it on its own or mixed with other ingredients.
She added that the young leaves of the tree are also edible and when cooked, eaten as a vegetable.
At home, to answer my curiosity, I cracked open the fruit with a steel kitchen mallet and a distinct garlicky aroma filled the air.
If you know the smell of garlic, then this rare fruit has the same aroma.
An online search revealed that the fruit is a species of jungle garlic or garlic fruit found in this part of South East Asia countries and is scientifically known as scorodocarpus borneensis.
In Peninsular Malaysia, it is called ‘Buah Kulim’ named after a district and town in Kedah.
A website on Malaysian traditional medicine literature revealed that garlic fruits can be made into a healthy beverage by boiling the succulent part of the cotyledon.
It is believed to promote natural healing and act as a natural blood cleanser in controlling diabetes, high blood pressure and gout and removing haemorrhoids and acne.
These days the fruit is commercially available in capsule form and sold online. — DayakDaily
