Santol fruits are similar to mangosteen with a different skin color with a mild tangy flavor. Santol is in yellowish brown color with fuzzy, thick and wrinkle skin. It has cotton like spongy white translucent pulp. The fleshy fruits have sweet to sour flavor, according to the ripening level. The sweetest santol fruits have a candy like taste with a hint of apple and peach flavor. Santol fruits are a good source of iron, calcium, phosphorus and Vitamin C. It delays the process of aging, providing firm and wrinkle free skin. Santol is used to treat skin allergies and acts as insect repellent.

Santol fruits are round to ovate, averaging 4 to 7 centimeters in diameter, and have a slightly flattened shape. The skin is leathery, somewhat fuzzy, and wrinkled, ripening from green to golden yellow, and is sometimes covered in a red blush. Underneath the surface, the thickness of the peel will vary, depending on the variety, and can be thin and fibrous to thick and spongy. Santol fruits also have a translucent to white pulp that encases 3 to 5 inedible seeds. The pulp has a cotton-like consistency and is juicy, slippery, and soft. Santol fruits range in flavor from sour to very sweet, depending on maturity and variety. The sweetest Santol fruits have a candy-like taste with mild peach and apple notes, while in the sour varieties, a strong umami aftertaste may linger on the palate.

Santol fruits are a good source of iron, which is a mineral that can help move oxygen in the blood and fiber, which can help regulate digestion. The fruits also contain calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin C.

Santol fruits are best suited for raw applications as their sweet and sour flavor is showcased when consumed fresh, out-of-hand. To eat raw, the flesh can be sucked from the seeds, but caution should be taken not to swallow the seeds as they are inedible. The flesh can also be sprinkled with salt and spices, consumed as a snack, or it can be soaked in fruit juices and blended into a beverage. In addition to raw applications, Santol fruits can be cooked into jellies, jams, and syrups, canned for extended use, cooked into chutney, or candied as a sweet treat. The rind and flesh are also used in cooking to add a slightly bitter flavor in curries, sauces, and soups. In Filipino cuisine, Santol is grated and cooked in coconut milk in a dish known as Sinantolan. Santol fruits pair well with flavors like coconut, citrus, lemon, lime, ginger, sugar, and tamarind. The fruits will keep up to three weeks when stored whole at room temperature.

Rose apple is a bell shaped fruit with waxy skin. The fruit might be in green, yellow or red in color. Rose apple does not resemble apple as the name suggests. Rose apple is crisp from outside and has its unique texture, fragrance and sweet-sour flavor. Rose apple can be eaten raw like apple and can be used to prepare exotic desserts. Rose apple has a lavish amount of nutrients like protein, fiber, calcium, iron, Vitamin A and Vitamin C. It helps in digestion and very effective against diabetes.

• Fights Free Radical Damage
• Reduced Risk of Stroke
• Boost good HDL Cholesterol
• Prevent Diabetes
• Prevent Constipation
• Prevent muscle cramping
• Skin Health

• A decoration made from astringent bark is used in folkloric medicine of Malaysia to treat thrush.
• In the childbirth ceremony, it is served as a salad.
• In India, it is used to boost the liver and brain functions.
• Rose Apple is undoubtedly a stimulant for the brain and liver in India.
• The sweetened prepared from the flowers used to reduce fever.
• The sore eyes and rheumatism is cured with the decoction made from the leaves.
• Dysentery, diarrhea and catarrh are treated with the seeds.
• The infusion of roasted and powdered seeds is used to treat diabetes in Nicaragua.
• Rose Apple is believed to contain the pain-killer properties in Colombia.
• Epilepsy is treated with the use of root by the Cuban people.

• It could be eaten raw.
• People preserve Rose Apples in the form of jellies and jams.
• It is also added to the desserts.
• It is used in the preparation of sauce or fruit syrup.

• The rose Apple preparations possess high risk of toxicity.
• The roots and seeds are also poisonous.
• Hydrocyanic acid (cyanide or prussic acid) is present in the stems, leaves and roots in the numerous amounts which could be harmful to the body.

• Rose apples highly perishable and easily bruised.
• It is non-climacteric.
• The trees of Rose Apple bloom as well as fruit less in summer.
• 2 kg (5 lbs.) fruit is yield by the matured rose apple tree.
• Rose Apple enhances the liver and brain.
• The fruit acts as a stimulant for the liver and brain.
• The fruit infusion performs as a diuretic.

Biriba is large, conical or oblate shaped fruit that looks like a large custard apple. It is green when unripe and ripening to yellow. Pulp has whitish creamy pulp ,with tropical sweet sour flavor. The surface has a soft spiky protuberance which gets damaged easily while handling. Biriba is high in calcium, phosphorus, iron and Vitamin C. It also contains proteins, carbohydrates and amino acids like lysine, methionine, threonine and tryptophan. Biriba is used to make refreshment drinks, ice creams and raw desserts.

Thought to originate in northern Brazil, near the Amazon, Biriba is a fast growing tree that grows up to 15 m high with large glossy leaves and white flowers. The fruits are round or heart shaped and 5-15 cm around, green to yellowish, with prominent bumps. The pulp is white, with a creamy texture with somewhat sour to sweet taste. It contains numerous brown, shiny seeds about 1.3 cm long and elliptical in shape.  

The fruit are eaten raw or cooked in deserts. The fruit overripen quickly and should be eaten soon after harvest. In Brazil, a drink is made by blending the fruit with milk. The seeds are used as beads and are ground up as an insecticide. The wood is used in boat building.

• Elevation – up to ˜ 900 m (150-600 m in Puerto Rico; 91-914 m in Hawaii)
• Rainfall – requires regular rainfall; tolerates periodic flooding but not drought
• Soil Types – prefers fertile, well-drained soil high in organic matter
• Temperature Range – good for hot, humid areas; intolerant of frost  
• Day Length Sensitivity – n/a
• Light – prefers full sun but tolerates some shade

Loquat seems like an apricot with oval or pear shaped fruit with edible yellow flesh. Loquat grows in clusters and the color varies from yellow to red. Loquat has the succulent pulp of sweet to subacid or acid flavor. The fruit has a thin skin which can be removed to eat fresh raw fruit. Loquat are made into syrup, jam and jelly. Loquats are low calorie nutritious fruits with various vitamins and minerals. Loquat acts as a sedative and it is eaten to quench the thirst. It promotes heart health and metabolic health.

A tree of moderate size, the loquat may reach 20 to 30 ft (6-9 in), has a rounded crown, short trunk, and woolly new twigs. The evergreen leaves, mostly whorled at the branch tips, are elliptical-lanceolate to obovate lanceolate, 5 to 12 in (12.5-30 cm) long and 3 to 4 in (7.5-10 cm) wide; dark-green and glossy on the upper surface, whitish-or rusty-hairy beneath, thick, stiff, with conspicuous parallel, oblique veins, each usually terminating at the margin in a short, prickly point. Sweetly fragrant flowers, borne in rusty-hairy, terminal panicles of 30 to 100 blooms, are white, 5-petalled, 1/2 to 3/4 in (1.25-2 cm) wide. The fruits, in clusters of 4 to 30, are oval, rounded or pear-shaped, 1 to 2 in (2.5-5 cm) long, with smooth or downy, yellow to orange, sometimes red-blushed, skin, and white, yellow or orange, succulent pulp, of sweet to subacid or acid flavor. There may be 1 to 10 seeds, though, ordinarily, only 3 to 5, dark-brown or light-brown, angular -ellipsoid, about 5/8 in (1.5 cm) long and 5/16 in (8 mm) thick.

The loquat is normally pollinated by bees. Some cultivars such as 'Golden Yellow' are not self-fertile. 'Pale Yellow', 'Advance', and 'Tanaka' are partially self-fertile. In India, it has been observed that cross-pollination generally results in 10-17 % increased production over self-pollination. 'Tanaka' pollinated by 'Pale Yellow' has a lower yield than when self-pollinated, indicating a degree of cross-incompatibility. Whereas, when pollinated by 'Advance', the normal yield of 'Tanaka' is nearly doubled. When cross-pollinating for the purpose of hybridizing, only flowers of the second flush should be used, as early and late flushes have abnormal stamens, very little viable pollen, and result in poor setting and undersized fruits.

The skin of the loquat is easily removed. Peeled and seeded fruits are eaten fresh, sometimes combined with sliced banana, orange sections and grated coconut. They are delicious simply stewed with a little sugar added. The fruits are also used in gelatin desserts or as pie-filling, or are chopped and cooked as a sauce. Loquats canned in sirup are exported from Taiwan. Some people prepare spiced loquats (with cloves, cinnamon, lemon and vinegar) in glass jars. The fruit is also made into jam and, when slightly underripe, has enough pectin to make jelly. The jelly was formerly manufactured commercially in California on a small scale.

A 5-year-old girl in Florida ate 4 unripe loquats, fell asleep and was difficult to awaken and seemed dazed. After about 2 hours, she was back to normal. There have been instances of poisoning in poultry from ingestion of loquat seeds. The seeds contain amygdalin (which is converted into HCN); also the lipids, sterol, b-sitosterol, triglyceride, sterolester, diglyceride and compound lipids; and fatty acids, mainly linoleic, palmitic, linolenic and oleic. There is amygdalin also in the fruit peel. The leaves possess a mixture of triterpenes, also tannin, vitamin B and ascorbic acid; in addition, there are traces of arsenic. Young leaves contain saponin. Some individuals suffer headache when too close to a loquat tree in bloom, The emanation from the flowers is sweet and penetrating.

• Wood: The wood is pink, hard, close-grained, medium-heavy. It has been used instead of pear wood in making rulers and other drawing instruments.
• Animal feed: The young branches have been lopped for fodder.
• Perfume: In the 1950's, the flowers attracted the interest of the perfume industry in France and Spain and some experimental work was done in extraction of the essential oil from the flowers or leaves. The product was appealing but the yield was very small.
• Medicinal Uses: The fruit is said to act as a sedative and is eaten to halt vomiting and thirst.

Langsat is oval shaped fruit measuring 2 to 7 cm long with fuzzy and yellow brown skin. The outer surface of langsat gives resemblance to baby potatoes. The inner part is white translucent pulp that gives a flavor of grapefruit with a hint of bitterness. The juicy flesh contains sucrose, fructose and glucose. There are two types of langsat, thick and thin skinned langsat but both taste good. The skin of the langsat has a nice aroma which is dried and burned as incense. The resin of the langsat is used to treat diarrhea and intestinal spasms.

Langsat or Lanzones are trees from the Mahogany family, scientifically known as Lansium parasiticum. Langsat is a plant that bears small edible fruits. These fruits are similar to potatoes on their outer appearance and inside they have a white flesh containing inedible, bitter seeds. Langsat originated in the Southeast Asian regions.The larger size variety of langsat is known as Duku. Langsat grows in clusters and is widely cultivated in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Sumatra. In India, it grows in the southern hills of Nilgiri from April to September.These fruits have a tangy, sour and sweet combination of flavors, and tastes a lot like grapes. Some people find its taste similar to that of pomelo. Its aril is juicy and translucent when ripe. Once ripe, the taste of langsat is really refreshing and exotic. Only the fresh langsat tastes the best because if kept for days after plucking, it may lose its taste and become bland.

Ingredients:

• Fresh langsat juice 1 cup
• Fresh lychee juice 1 cup
• Fresh pomegranate juice ½ cup
• Lemon juice 1-2 tsp
• Sugar, if desired
• Crushed ice

Method:

• In a mocktail glass, pour langsat juice and lychee juice
• Add sugar and lemon juice to it
• Add crushed ice and shake it well
• Now, add pomegranate juice and mix.
• Serve chilled

Cempedak is similar to jackfruit in appearance and taste .Cempedak has a thick outer layer with spiky or raised surface, not as sharp. Cempedak is said to be the ugly cousin of jackfruit. The inner pulp is bell shaped, less fibrous yellow flesh the same as jackfruit and with a hint of durian. The smell of cempedak can be sensed from quite some distance away. Cempedak has a good amount of Vitamin A, Vitamin and Potassium. Cempedak prevents the risk of stroke and lowers the cholesterol level. They are used to improve the health of the heart and eyes.

Cempedak fruit is an evergreen, medium–sized, mid-canopy, branched, monoecious tree that grows about 10–30 m tall. The plant is found growing in secondary forests and locally abundant in primary lowland rainforest, often on wet hillsides. The plant thrives on humus-enriched, loamy, acidic and well-drained soils, but prefers a fairly high water table. However, it does best in deep alluvial soils of open texture. It can also survive periodic water-logging. Stem has white sap; brown stiff, reflexed hairs 3 mm long cover the twigs, stipules and leaves.

1. Heart health

Antioxidants, dietary fiber and vitamin C present in cempedak help in maintaining heart health. High potassium content helps in lowering blood pressure. It decreases cholesterol levels and reduces hypertension that makes the cardiac system healthier.

2. Healthy eyes

Cempedak fruit consists of good amount of Vitamin A which helps to increase health in our eyes. There are many fruits and vegetables that contain Vitamin A but Cempedak fruit becomes one of the sweetest and delicious fruits to be consumed as a supplier of Vitamin A in the body.

3. Maintain digestion

Cempedak fruit is also able to help and keep the digestive in our body running smoothly. Vitamin C content in this fruit is able to avoid us from constipation or difficult to defecate.

4. Prevent the risk of stroke

Stroke disease becomes a disease that mostly suffered by people who continue to use. But not a few of them are still young age of these disease even children. Cempedak fruit also provides benefits in this regard by preventing the risk of stroke.

Cempedak fruit also has benefits for our body in terms of lowering cholesterol levels. Vitamin C content can repel bad cholesterol to prevent blood flow and help good cholesterol to flow smoothly. Bad cholesterol can cause many serious illnesses like heart disease.

6. Relieve tumor

There are many health experts who say that Cempedak fruit is able to help treat tumor diseases. But until now there has been no definite thing about it. Seeing from its content such as bioflavonoid most likely can indeed help relieve tumors.

7. Slimming body

Consuming Cempedak fruit will give a sense of satiety. This makes Cempedak fruit suitable for their food ingredients or you are committed on slimming. The nutritional content is enough to give a sense of satiety as well as forming the body.

8. Malaria treatment

Several compounds like artioindonesianidin and heteriflavon C present in the bark and fruit of cempedak help in prevention and treatment of malaria. It can eliminate the malarial parasites to complete extent.

9. Expel the parasite

In the body, we can roam many parasites that can disturb the work of organs. In addition, these parasites can also cause unexpected diseases, Cempedak fruit has benefits to expel parasites – parasites that are not needed by our bodies.

Traditional uses and benefits of Cempedak fruit

• In traditional folkloric medicine, the Iban in Sarawak apply a paste of the inner bark to heal wounds and prevent infection.
• Juice of the roots has been used for fever in Peninsular Malaysia.
• Ash from burnt leaves, maize and coconut shell has been used to treat ulcers.
• An infusion of the root ash is mixed with Selaginella ash and prescribed as a protective medicine after childbirth.
• Bark is used in poultices for painful feet, hands and for ulcers.
• Leaves are heated and applied to wounds in Philippines.
• Pith has been reported to cause abortion and the wood is sedative.
• Unripe fruit is astringent and ripe fruit laxative.
• Jackfruit intake prevents Obesity and Heart Diseases.
• It regulates the cholesterol level and reduces high cholesterol or bad cholesterol in the body.
• It contains good amount of potassium and treats high blood pressure and maintains the Blood Pressure level in the Body.
• It prevents digestive disorders and treats indigestion and constipation.
• It boosts the immune system and aids in the production of Red Blood cells.
• It helps in reducing the high blood sugar level in diabetic person.
• It strengthens the bones and prevents osteoporosis.
• It combats skin diseases. It hydrates dry skin.
• It slows the aging process.
• It combats against cold, cough, flu, piles, weak eyesight and asthma.

Goreng Cempedak

Ingredients

• 1 Cempedak
• 3 tbsp. Self Raising Flour
• 2 tbsp. Corn flour
• 1 tbsp. Rice Flour
• 1 tbsp. Wheat Flour
• Salt as required
• 1 cup of Water

Direction

1. Combine all the flour and salt in a bowl.
2. Also add water to it and combine into a batter.
3. Cover cempedak in batter and deep fry in hot oil until crispy and golden brown.
4. Remove and serve.

Other Facts

• In Kerala and Bengal in India, the leaves are used as fodder.
• Ripe fruit is fed to cattle and the fruit, leaves and bark are used to feed elephants.
• Bark can be used to make rope and the resinous latex for the preparation of bird- lime and vanishing material.
• Bark is also rich in tannin.
• Dark yellow to brown wood is strong and durable and is used for building construction, furniture, boats cabinet-work, brush-handles.
• Wood is used for musical instruments, furniture, cabinet-work and tool-handles in Philippines.
• The wood also makes a good fuel-wood.
• Buddhist used the timber for construction of sacred buildings on account of its yellow color in Indo China.
• With alum, the extract of heartwood provides a yellow dye that is moderately fast on silk.
• Yellow dye is used in coloring the saffron-colored robes of Buddhist monks in Indo-China.
• Tree has been planted in conjunction with cash crops such as Carica papaya, in reforestation systems.
• Tree has been used as shade tree for coffee but was found to be not ideal.
• Bark yields a fiber that is used in making ropes.
• Resin can also be obtained from the tree and it is used as a varnishing material.
• Each fruit can weigh from 600 – 3,500 g.
• All parts of the tree contain milky latex when cut.
• Trees begin to bear fruit at 3-6 years for trees planted by seed and at 2-4 years for clonal trees.
• Total edible portion (perianths + seeds) is 25-50% of fresh fruit weight.
• Tree is well suited for reforestation projects in association with other species.
• Latex obtained from the plant can be used for making lime.

Precautions

• Avoid use during pregnancy as it may cause abortion.
• It may cause allergic reaction in people suffering from birch pollen allergies.
• It may increase blood coagulation.
• Cempedak fruit contain much ascorbic Acid is recommended not to consumed in excess amounts as it can make gas in the stomach.

Gac is green in color in early stages and turns to orangey red when it is matured. Gac is a bright orange fruit covered with spines on the thick skin that looks like a baby jackfruit. It has a fleshy and oily sac with mild taste. It is harvested for only two months, making it a rare food. It is used on special or festive occasions. Gac is rich carbohydrates and fibre which is used to treat cardiovascular and eye diseases.

Benefits of Baby Jackfruit

• Helps in controlling cholesterol levels
• Blood Pressure
• Supports Heart Health
• Enhances Immunity
• May Improve Sleep
• Cancer
• Strengthens Bones
• Lowers Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
• Blood sugar levels
• Wound healing
• Digestive health






How to eat Baby Jackfruit

Many specialty supermarkets and Asian food stores sell fresh, canned, or frozen jackfruit. Canned jackfruit may contain syrup or brine. The flesh of unripe jackfruit is green, and it changes to yellow as it ripens. A person can eat the flesh of fresh, ripe jackfruit on its own or use it in a range of recipes, including desserts. Also, many people use fresh, unripe jackfruit as a meat substitute in curries, pies, stir-fries, wraps, and other dishes.




To prepare fresh, unripe jackfruit:



1. Cut the fruit into halves, then into smaller chunks, without removing the skin.
2. Boil the chunks until the flesh is soft and has a stringy texture similar to pulled pork or chicken. This may take 30–60 minutes.
3. Peel off the skin and remove the seeds and their pods.

Baby Jackfruit is a good source of vitamin C, potassium, dietary fiber, and other important vitamins and minerals.