A boy’s tropical medley
School break is over, and yet memories of summers of long ago linger in my heart. Before the influx of game apps, my cousins and I roamed the wilderness near the place where we used to live.
Our equivalent of today’s game apps was real Waking Mars type of excitement, looking for plant forms. We experienced real (The) Bard’s Tale whenever we searched around caverns and rolling mountainside for anything, from stones shaped like arrowheads to edible wild berries.
Some songs or movies or television features awaken our dormant memories. They wake up when the stimulus hits the memory button.
A television show hosted by Jessica Soho featured exotic tropical fruits found in the Philippines. “Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho” highlighted lipote tree or Jambolan plum. Lipote is indigenous to our country. It bears dark purple, globular fruits that grow in clusters.
Jessica’s feature started me down memory lane. I also researched on other exotic fruits found in the Philippines.
SAPINIT or wild raspberry can be found in Mt. Banahaw and Laguna. It is typically made into jam or juice.
GALO is locally known as salungugapit. The tree bears oblong fruits that have thick pulp. They can be eaten raw or boiled.
HAGIS typically grows in Sorsogon and Bicol. Its juicy flesh has a sour taste, and so people often eat it with salt. To improve its flavor, Bicolanos turn it into jelly or jam.
BIGNAY or bugnay in Cebuano is one berry-like fruit my cousins and I feasted on during our forages in the wilderness. Also known as salamander tree, the deep purple berries grow in long clusters.
BIRIBA is like an armored fruit due to its pronounced spikes. It is actually wild sweet sop. The cultured sweet sop has less pronounced “scales.”
RIMAS or breadfruit or in Cebuano, kulo. Locals often boil the fruit and serve it in wedges along with a dip made of coconut jam. It can be caramelized or just fried.
KALUMPIT or Philippine wild cherry also belongs to my boyhood memories. My family once had such a tree in the backyard. Fruits turn deep red to maroon when ripe and have a pleasant sweet taste.
KAMANSI or camansi is botanically known as Artocarpus altilis. When I was a boy, I loved playing under the shade of this big tree. It is often mistaken as bread fruit, but it is not, although it is the ancestor of the modern bread fruit. Kamansi is called breadnut in English due to its seeds, which can be boiled or roasted. Its fruit is locally used in veggie dishes with coconut milk.
NANGKA, durian and marang are other exotic fruits that have spikes protecting the sweet segments with one seed each. They belong to the Artocarpus genus.
BERBA is also called lemon drop mangosteen. DULCE MARIA resembles the caped gooseberry. My cousins and I found a lot of this bush which bears fruits covered with “netting” and turns yellow when ripe.