Tropical Fruits and Its Value

Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) is the name of a type of tree and its fruit at all. Breadfruit does not have seeds and has a padded section, which is similar to the bread after it is cooked or fried. Because of this, the Europeans know it as "bread fruit.”  Artocarpus altilis This plant is Polynesia origin, then spread to the South East Asia region.  Now, breadfruit is an important food source of carbohydrates in the various islands in the tropics, especially in the Pacific and Southeast Asia.  Breadfruit can be cooked in different ways: boiled, fried, roasted, or grilled. To make it durable and stored longer, cooked fruit is sliced and dried in the sun or in a furnace.  In Pacific islands, the excess harvest breadfruit will be buried in holes in the ground and allowed to ferment a few weeks away, so it turns into a paste like cheese lasting, nutritious and can be made into a kind of baked cake.  Characteristics of the tree: Breadfruit tree is bas...

Cashew Cashew (Anacardium occidentale) is a plant from the Anacardiaceae tribe, originally from Brazil. In botany, the plant was not a member of the  guava group (Myrtaceae) or legumes (Fabaceae), but actually more closely related to the mango (Anacardiaceae tribe).  As a fruit, Cashew is unique, because the seed is not located inside, but located outside of the flesh. The seed protected by thick and hard outer skin, what commonly known as cashew fruits (flesh) actually only a pseudo fruit, the “fruit of cashew” only functioned as nutrition supplier to the seed. And then what we knows as Cashew Nut actually  is the core of the fruit, after going through several treatment processes. What is commonly known as the "fruit", actually is the flower base (Receptaculum) which expands after conception. This flower base is green or yellow when young and then turn into red, old yellow or reddish yellow when old / ripe. The main producer of this agro commodity are Nige...

Coffee (Coffea) , almost people entire the world love to drink coffee, from ordinary coffee drinker up to crazy coffee lover. However, did you know that coffee drink which is made from a seed of plant scientifically identified as Coffea species and have two major varieties named Arabica Coffee and Robusta Coffee originally come from Ethiopia about 1000 BC? Yes, this exotic drink has a long history before come up to our table in the morning as a first friend that comes to us in the morning. Some expert of coffee said that since 800 BC, people of Africa especially Ethiopia already enjoyed coffee; they mix coffee seeds with wine and animal fats to fulfill their protein and energy for the body.  From Ethiopia, hundreds years after enjoyed by Ethiopian then bring to Arab, Arab peoples then proceed coffee seeds better than the Africans proceed. They not only cooked the seeds, but also then take the quintessence of coffee, used it as the raw of a kind of drink as now we recognized...

Soursop (Annona muricata L.) is a useful plant origin of the Caribbean, Central America and South America.  But known that Graviola has also been long recognized in Africa, especially in Somalia, Mozambique and Uganda. Currently the plant has also been a part of the "traditional" plant in some Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia. Utilization was already happening in a broad scope ranging from fruit to leaves, fruit utilized as a food ingredient and the leaves used as part of herbal medicine. Annona muricata L. This plant can be grown in any place especially in tropical lands, but the best is if planted in an area that is quite watery. Soursop fruit is not true, because the so-called "fruit" is actually a collection of the fruits (fruit aggregate) with a single seed and losing limits coincide between pieces. Soursop size is large enough, can reach up to 20-30cm long and weigh up to 2.5 kg. Soursop fruit flesh is white and has b...

Snap Bean or Green Bean or France Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is a vegetable fruit including Leguminosae family, originally from Central America and South America.  This plant is more suitable to be cultivated in the medium and highland plateau. Bean plants can be divided into two types namely vine type (indeterminate nature) and upright type (shrub-shaped and determinate nature).  The vines type have more branches; have a lot more flowers anyway, so it has the potential for greater returns. This type can reach 3 feet in length and easy to fall down, so it takes a trellis / stake in order to grow well.  The  upright type generally short with no more than 60 high cm. This nut is known throughout the world and is one of the raw materials of various types of popular processed foods.  Snap Bean are generally harvested when the fruit is still young. There are a lot of soup recipe that include Snap Beans as part of the raw material.  Although physi...

Aubergine or eggplant  is a plant belonging to the family of Solanaceae and genus Solanum. This plant is a native of India and Sri Lanka, and is closely related to tomatoes and potatoes. The fruit commonly used as a vegetable for cooking and has botanical name Solanum melongena. Eggplant is a vegetable that is well known by most people, especially in the tropics regions. The fruit is composed of various types, but majority of them has two kinds of color, which is light green and purple. Eggplant can be enjoyed straight or other cooking materials. The fruit trees also have so many kinds of varieties. Plant characteristics: Eggplant is a green plant that generally cultivated annually especially in dry session.  This plant can grows about 40-150 cm (16-57 inches) in height. The leaves are large, with a rough lobe. The size is 10-20 cm (4-8 inches) long and 5-10 cm (2-4 inches) in width. The types of semi-wild bigger and grow to as high as 225 cm (7 feet), with leaves...

Pomegranate (Punica granatum) is a fruit crop that believed come from and Persia or Iran now origin. However, has been known since a long time in the Mediterranean.  Now well known and popular in South China and Southeast Asia. Description of tree: This tree is in the category of high herbaceous plant with between 2-8 m, woody, round, branched, spiny; tree bark turns dark brown after a brownish green. This leaves a single, lanceolate, flat edge, pointed, 1-8 cm long, and 5-15m width, surface shiny and green. Single flower, growing on the ends of branches, short flower stalks, petals attaches, red or pale yellow. Crown rounded, curved flower stalk, yellow, white pistil, red or yellow. The pomegranate can be grown in lowland tropics and sub-tropics to a height of 1500 m above sea level,  better in the clay and the long dry season and summer. Currently in Southeast Asia in particular has become a garden or yard plants. Pomegranate plants rooted riding, yellow to brow...

Sugar Apple Sugar apple (Annona squamosa) , is a plant belonging to the genus Annona and shrub. This tree comes  from tropical areas of America and now widely grown in Colombia, El Salvador, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and the Philippines. Sugar-apple fruit is round with a lot of cutting edge skin (like soursop). The flesh is white. Including semi-green perennial shrubs or deciduous tree reaching 8 m in height,  intermittent leaves, simple, javelin longitudinal, 7-12 cm in length, and width of 3-4 cm. The flowers appear in bunches of 3-4, each flower 2-3 cm wide, with six petals, yellow-green spotted purple at the base. The fruit is usually round or cone-like evergreen, 6-10 cm diameter, with skin bumps and flaky, white flesh. Plant characteristic: This plant grow better in hot climate, grows well in a variety of waterlogged soil conditions and adapt well to the humid and hot climate,  and will thrive with adequate irrigation. Propagation can be by see...

Palm Oil - Fruit (Elaeis) or called Kelapa Sawit in Malaysia and Indonesia,  today is an important part of the horticulture industry of Southeast Asia; Malaysia and Indonesia are the two largest countries in the world producing this product. Although there are, concerns over the impact of tropical deforestation that converted into large-scale plantations palm oil. Plant characteristics: Palm Oil is one of the large palm families, as well as other type of palm oil palm has root fibers, pinnate compound leaves composed and colored green. Native plant oil palm can reach a height of 25m, the former plant stems covered with bark and the tree will last until the age of approximately 12 years. After reaching the age of the stem will flake shaped like palm trees so.

Durian is a kind of very popular fruit in the countries of Southeast Asia. A tropical fruit that have tough skin and sharp, has a pungent and distinctive aroma, this fruit is an origin of the region and growth in countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, and the Philippines. In this region, the typical Durian even earned the nickname as the "King of Fruits.” However, there is also mention that the real durian is a  "controversial” fruit , because that as well as many of his ardent fans durian was also rejected by many others because of its aroma. Characteristics of the tree: Durian is not a single species, but a group of plants with the genus Durio.  In botany usually called Durio zibethinus. Durian fruit tree merukan hardwood tree species, high growth between 25-50 m, depending on the species. Durian trees often have buttress root (root board). Pepagan (bark) reddish brown, peeling irregular. Leafy canopy and tenuous. Leaves elliptic to lan...

Mango (Mangifera indica) is one kind of tropical fruit that goes into the genus Mangifera that consists of about 40 members and Anarcardiaceae tribal. Mango trees including higher plants the stem structure (habitus) group included arboreus, woody plants with stem height of more than 5m. Generally, the tree height can reach 10-40m. Naming mango comes from the Malayalam language, in Kerala, India. Spread to Europe and the rest of the world after brought by the Portuguese. Believed the fruit came from the border of India and Myanmar, and has spread since about 1500 years ago.

Papayas (Carica Papaya) are part of tropical fruits, the regions of the world in roomates they are grown. Botanists commonly agreed that this fruit is a Central America origin, particularly Mexico. In Mexico, the  cultivation of papaya believed to be first performed. Papaya then spread and become famous globally and now cultivated in many tropical regions, both Central America and Asia.  Papaya has skin generally green to dark green fruit when young, and then turns yellow to blush at the old and mature. Content of the fruit is usually dark orange to red, has a high water content, soft ripe fruit and sweet. Carica Papaya Health Benefits Papayas offer not only great taste but are rich also of antioxidant nutrient such as carotenes, vitamin C, Vitamins B, Vitamin E, pro-Vitamin A – caroteinoid phytonutrients, potassium, magnesium and fiber. All those are nutrients that need by our cardiovascular system also believed as colon cancer protector. Papaya also contain the digestiv...

Ananas also called as Pineapple and botanically named as Ananas comosus Merr is a kind of thick and rough-skinned fruit, but the fruit has a soft texture and watery inside. Ananas Comosus Merr Some sources say that the fruit came from Brazil and Paraguay, but now spread throughout Latin America, South Asia, South East Asia, Africa, and Australia. Currently there are over 2000 pineapple species identified worldwide. According to UN-FAO the biggest pineapple product now come from South Asia Countries; the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, the second region contributor come from Latin America; Costa Rica, Chile and Brazil. Pineapples are a composite of many flowers whose individual fruitless fuse together around a central core. Each fruit let can be identified by an "eye," the rough spiny marking on the pineapple's surface. Pineapples have a wide cylindrical shape, a scaly green, brown, or yellow skin, and a regal crown of spiny, blue-green leaves and fibrous...