Rattan fruit
They’re about an inch and a half from top to bottom. The skin is beige, not smooth but of a soft woody texture, and with overlapping layers. You press, the skin breaks open and inside is the rattan fruit — stoned like the rambutan and the soft watery texture of the flesh is not too dissimilar either.
But because they had been sitting in the fridge for almost a week, I was careful about how I was going to taste them. Strange things happen to fruits after several days even when stored in the fridge. And since it was going to be my first taste of the rattan fruit, I took the tiniest bite. If it had been my fingers rather than my teeth, it would be like pinching with the fingernails. The bite I took was that tiny but it was enough.
Ang asim, maryosep! And it wasn’t even anything like the citric sourness of lemon, lime or kalamansi. It was just plain sour. The kind that cuts through the tongue and lips. I washed out my mouth with water several times to get rid of the sensation.
Then, I tried to do some research. The foremost question on my mind was — was it actually meant for eating? That was my presumption because I bought the rattan fruits from the fruit section of the supermarket. But, my goodness, I couldn’t see how it could be eaten raw. I figured there must be some special way of preparing them — some magical way that will transform them into something memorable for the tongue, mouth and tummy.
Market Manila was among the search results and it seems that Marketman had it even worse because he popped the rattan fruit into his mouth. Gee, I cannot imagine…
A botanical site has a photo of the rattan fruit with a short commentary that they were sold in Baguio City. I never noticed. Another site includes the rattan fruit in a list of fruits used for pickling while another mentions the rattan fruit as a coloring material and as cosmetics. It was from the last site that I found the reference to Dragon’s Blood and Daemonorops draco, the botanical name for rattan.
It appears that the rattan fruit produces a reddish color known as “Dragon’s Blood” that serves medicinal uses. There is even a claim that it has magical uses and maybe someone ought to send the link to J. K. Rowling.
But for eating… well, unless you’re the type who enjoys eating raw kamias by dipping it in salt, and the rattan fruit is much more sour than kamias, I really wouldn’t recommend it. Me, I learned an important food lesson here. No more rattan fruit for me.
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i miss this sour fruit.
I’m not really sure pero nakakain na ata ako nyan, ang asim nga hehe! Mapapa-maryosep ka talaga!
Btw, I’ve been meaning to ask you if you know how to make Shrimp Okoy, yung malutong na nilalako, yung ganung style. I searched here wala eh.
Thanks!
Hi Ms Connie,
Natawa po talaga ako sa reaction niyo na, “Ang asim, Maryosep!”
When I first saw the photo of the fruit,sabi ko sa isip ko,”Naku,natikman na kaya niya ito?”
I am from Isabela and sobrang talamak sa amin to, at ganun pa man bihira lang po ang may kayang kumakain ng straight-from-the-tree kumbaga.
Usually binuburo po ito sa pamamagitan ng pagbabad dito sa mxture ng sukang-iloco (basi),tubig, asin at asukal. Usually at least a week. Maasim pa din pero masarap naman kasi parang pickled na:) Di naman po siya inuulam, side-dish o ano man, libangan lang siguro hehehe Marami po ito kapag summer sa amin. May tindahan po ng ganito sa tapat ng school namin, they also sell santol, pipino, rattan fruit (tawag po sa amin, littuko (lit-tuko) or uway.
Thank you po! Sana bigyan niyo po ng second chance ang littuko
Regards,
May
Hmm…strange! I’ve tasted rattan fruits and they’re not sour as you stated. It’s more sweet than sour. We call it “alimuran”. It’s the same fruit in the pictures. Maybe they’re “hilaw” or possibly a different variety (if there’s more than one)
The way rattan fruit is prepared by the Ilocanos is by pickling them in a sweet solution–my guess is just sugar and water. My aunt used to put several fruits into a jar in some sort of sweet liquid. I guess after a while, the fruit becomes quite edible. I’ve also seen these sweetened pickled rattan fruits dunked into a glass of ‘lambanog’.
mitch, allergic ako sa shrimps eh kaya madalang ang recipes dito na may shrimps sa ingredients.
May, pag nakahanap ako ng pickled version, I won’t hesitate to try. I love achara. Pero wag lang talaga raw rattan fruit. Grabe. Akala ko nabiyak yung labi ko.
kidlat, sweet? talaga? i guess another variety because the ones I tried were ripe based on the texture of the flesh. Malambot na eh.
JC, dunked into a glass of lambanog same way siguro as olive in a glass of martini?
Alimuran – yan, yan ang tawag nang auntie ko from Quezon. And yes, I don’t remember it as asim..sweet sour pa, yon ang natatandaan ko. I have been wanting to find this fruit.. its like old memories. Also with the sago plant, na meron ding fruit na parang sago. At saka anybody knows “katmon?” What about you Ms. Connie. Maasim din yon, kulay green, na parang binabalatan (like artichoke hearts), tapos you get a fuzzy red-orange thing, (hindi ito kinakain), but the flesh of the layered “fruit?” yon maasim yon at makatas. Yikes nangangasim ako while typing this.
Tama po kayo Miss Connie, hinog na po yan. Ang hilaw ay medyo matigas at maputla ang kulay. Maasim at mas matindi ang pagkapakla nung hilaw.
Baka meron din po sa Market!2 na nababad, pero usually po nakakabili lang kami ng pickled version sa may Sante Fe ata yun.. pag pauwi kami galing probinsya. Nakalagay po sa garapon – same garapon at label na ginagamit sa halayang ube sa Baguio.
– ooohhh baka meron sa Baguio!! 
Baka pwedeng gamitin for sinigang?
These look like the “snake fruit” we experienced whenever staying in Singapore or Bali (in several good hotels). They were always available at the buffet breakfast. My daughter enjoyed them.
I never thought na kinakain pala yan. Maganda din yang gawing Xmas decor siguro….
natawa naman ako sa reaction nyo sa rattan.
sa province namin, we used to eat this with salt lang. Ok lang naman hehe. I remember nga the sidewalk vendors used to sell this sa labas ng school namin. So pag uwian na, kanya-kanyang bili. Asin lang ang katapat ng asim nito.
Hi Connie! Greetings of Peace!
I read this entry on rattan fruit with interest for I have eaten rattan fruit many times and they are not always sour. There are some really sweet ones. I do not know if there are different varieties of those fruits because I never had the chance to eat rattan fruits from Baguio. The ones that I had eaten were from Samar. All the best and keep up the good (mouth-watering) work. Thanks a lot.
Ebba, am not familiar with katmon.
May, will check out Market! Market! They have all sorts of pickles there. That was where I found the pickled ubod ng niyog.
peasmom, i thought about that too. pag lumambot yung flesh nya, that would make the sinigang broth thick.
Ozi Chris & Mayette, baka nga ibang variety. Can’t imagine eating this raw.
Brenda, hmmmmm nice idea. Save the skin and preserve then spray with gold. Ok ah!
Thanks, too, Fr. Jim.
maryosep! pati ako na buntis ay nangangasim sa description.Mas maasim ba ang rattan fruit sa kamias?
I just saw some rattan fruits today (what a coincidence). Tapos isip ako – pwede kaya itong pampaasim ng sinigang? Pang sinigang na hipon baka pwede. Hindi lang ako nakabili kasi nasa sasakyan ako and couldn’t stop. Siguro next time I’ll try it – I know hindi ka pwede kasi allergic ka sa hipon. Will let you now how it turns out.
Did taste the fruit before pero never got to taste any of the sweet variety. Talagang nakakaiyak sa asim!
Ako, I can tolerate kamias sawsaw lang sa asin, payts na. Hahanapin ko nga ito pag punta ko ng Baguio sa October.
Ngayon ko palang nakita ang prutas na yan. Bakit ganun?
Ngayon lang ako nabisita dito sa blog o connie at ako ay napabilib. Marami matutunan.
Bakit di mo inomina sa aking “Agimat ni Pepe” Award?
Ang detalye ay nasa: http://pub27.bravenet.com/sitering/show.php?usernum=2261217153
Salamat!
soloops, mas maasim by leaps and bounds. grabe, naluha ako sa asim.
good luck, kulasa. ako, i’ll try to find the pickled rattan fruit. yun lang ang kaya ko hehehehe
brenda, ibang klase itong rattan fruit, naku… LOL
hi con! ann here… maraming rattan fruit sa baguio (my hometown), all season pa nga yata yan…lagi kong nakikita yan na nakasabit sa mga fruit stand… when my husband went to baguio with me to meet my relatives… he saw this at the market…katabi ng longgan… i told him to try longgan… but he picked the wrong fruit, instead of the longgan he picked and opened a rattan fuit, smiling to the tindera while opening it… then all of a sudden i saw a twisted, and sobrang pangit na mukha! grabe ang reaction nya! i told him not that one but this one… pointing out the right fruit…pero ayaw na nya… the tindera was laughing and said “sir try nyo isa pa”… she picked one and hand to my husband, e gentleman ang asawa ko… ayaw nyang mapahiya yung tindera kaya tinanggap nya… it was sweet and his face went back to normal… isa lang nasabi ko… ang pogi mo hon!!!
I just migrated to Isabela that time and was asked if I wanted to try those fresh and pickled. ANG ASIM is really an understatement susme! Sabi ko baka ok pag pickled. waaaaaaaaaaaaa I wonder how anyone can enjoy it. Wala ka malasahan kundi asim.
But since someone mentioned sinigang…baka nga masarap isama sa manok at iwan lang sa crockpot.
tawa muna ko — hehe —
I have fond memories of this fruit! My childhood friends & Elementary classmates often buy Rattan fruit (“ale, bunga nga po ng rattan”) & yes dip them in salt. Nangangasim tuloy ako.
Tama ka siguro re: liking kamias & rattan fruit. I used to eat kamias with salt. Nagbuburo pa nga ako ng kamias, na yung “sabaw” ginagawa naming alternative sa suka (maasim na manamis-namis). Since may puno akong very productive, pinamimigay ng nanay at lola ko yung mga garapon ko ng burong kamias, to the point na sila na sumusuko sa sobrang dami
Ann LOL kung asawa ko yun, away na hahahahaha
solraya, i thought about that too — can anyone really eat them raw and ENJOY them? ako, surrender ako hehehehe
Auee, your classmates did… eh ikaw you also ate raw rattan fruit? bilib ako sayo if you did hehehehe
my friends told me about this fruit. so when i saw a package in the grocery, i got curious and bought one. i bit one section, got a tissue and spit the thing out! susmaryosep talaga!
it was left in the fridge for so long and was eventually thrown away because nobody knew (nobody still knows) what to do with it.
Oh yes! Parang nalalasahan ko pa yung magaspang na texture hehe
Just showed the picture to my waray, he says he ate (& liked) them, too.
Kasi naman “pumapangas” kami pareho ng hilaw na mangga at hilaw na sampalok.
LOL Misao. The ones I bought too went to waste. WEll, at least I was able to take photos and share the UNFORGETTABLE experience hehehehe
Auee, and lupit mo! hahahaha
Just looking at the picture makes me salivate, not in a nice way though! Maasim talaga yan, Connie. I remember tricking one of my cousins who grew up in the US by telling him na super tamis yung rattan. He wanted to kill me when he popped the whole fruit into his mouth LOL. My sister, who drinks the vinegar like water, eats rattan like candy! yeck.
hmmm.. it just looks like.. Japan’s famous ume fruit or umeboshi (the picked version) which you can find unexpectedly in the middle of rice bowls (usually reddish in color) or floating in some alcoholic or cocktail drinks (like Chu-hi). i haven’t tasted the raw one but even the pickled version don’t taste good to me! =) But my pregnant Filipina friend loved the taste of it when she was still at the ‘paglilihi’ stage of her pregnancy… a nice substitute for Philippines’s green mangoes! (^-^)
‘ love your work Ms. Connie! More power!
Pnupukp0k ko mna ng pwet ng b0te bwat isa bgo ko i-pickle pra ms manu0t ang lasa at mdali balatan pg redy 2 eat na…
Matigas ksi at matalim ang balat (o kaliskis?!).. Usually nga pgkakain ko..(mga 1 mangk0k)…may mga sugat n daliri ko…Prang maliliit n hwa ng blade!..
Greetings! My frend, Andy, who is interested to be a rattan farmer shared this site with me and I am glad he did. I am from Baguio City and I honestly say that this fruit tastes like venigar in solid form, geee, so maasim, grabeee! There are lots of rattan fruits in the market these days, will buy a small bundle tomorrow and will use it for Sinigang na Bangus instead of the usual kamias mix, i will share with u the result later.
Thanks, Connie and more power.
ano ka ba. it’s the first fruit i’ll ask everyone to look for when i go home to nueva ecija during summer. hahaha, nostalgia nueva ecija
Ipangsi-sigang mo?
Maryosep sa asim talaga Ms. Connie! I almost fall off my chair when I read it hahahahaha!!! My one year old baby was staring at me and confused why I was laughing then he laughs at me!!!
hi..i just want to know where i can buy rattan fruit in metro manila..i really need to get some because my girlfriend has been craving for it..so if anyone here knows where i can buy some, please reply to this message..please..please..the future of our love affair depends on this..heheh..thanks..ΓΌ
hahahaha ang dami nyan dito sa tagum city, I Have my own way of eating the rattan fruit first babalatan ko lahat tapos ilalagay ko sa plastic container lalagyan ko ng asin tapos I JUST leave it in the fridge about an hour, actually the sourness of the fruit is stays pa rin pero may halu na syang saltiness
san pu yang tagum city? im just so desperate na mghanap ng rattan 4 her pra d nya q iwan..heheh..kya nga the future of our love affair depends on it..heheheh..xe i offered a deal na pagnagawa qng mahanap at bigyan xa nun, she won’t leave me..e pumayag nman xa sa deal q..kya il do everything to find one..i know merun sa nueva ecija,baguio and ilocos..pro ang layu eh..im juz hoping dat i can find somewhere in metro manila pra d na q punta dun..
Actually, there are really sweet rattan fruits too.
What’s a rare find though would be the seedless ones, you can peel them, puncture them then soak them in vinegar and salt, and eat them with a spoon!
In my hometown, they have a smaller red version called giwi (which I haven’t tasted yet). They are kept in solutions of vinegar and salt. I think you can pop them in your mouth then spit the seeds and skin…
Rattan fruit pala ang tawag diyan. Meron niyan sa amin sa Romblon ang tawag namin, for lack of name to use, “wild strawberry”. Ang asim nga niyan and we really have no idea how to make use of it. Eventually, ginagawang holen ng mga bata.
this fruit should be called snake fruit. why? the skin looks like the skin of a snake.
kidding aside, has anyone ever tried to cook the fruit in sugar solution, thus making it into some kind of a sweet-sour candy? I am just imagining it.
Actually, it’s a common way to preserve it. Most of the extreme sourness is lost when you do it.
Hi po!
I came across your page because i’ve been dying to get some of these fruits for a couple of years na. I am describing it to my collegues yet none of them seem to know what I am saying…
My Lolo would get/buy me some once in a while whenever he and my Lola would go home to the province (Nueva Ecija) and i think the variety they usually get comes from the mountains of Dingalan, or from Sierra Madre. As a kid, i remembver having these with all my aunts and uncles, being the eldest grand child. when we moved to Manila, we rarely have it as it is quite hard to find, even from the famous Farmer’s Market. We usually take it as it is, not “binuro”, but my Lola would always say it is nice as well, but since we would eat them all up, wala na natitira for her to make as buro
I am so glad to find it here as you posted… Yes, i agree with one of your friends who commented that littuko is sweet than sour, but like mangoes, you’re jsut too unlucky to encounter the “sour” type…
We had the same first-time encounter with the fruit though. My aunt tricked me by making me believe it is like macapuno candy lang, so, I ate the entire piece, and you can say it again “susmarya!”… My tears jsut involuntarily rolled down my cheeks!
Back in high school, i took my revenge over my overly excited-unsuspecting classmate… she was even wondering why i had prepared iodized salt alongside the frui.I just said, “ganyan talaga kainin ‘yan.” (at least hindi naman ako masyado brutal to her taste buds) he he I also did the same to my husband, and they both cursed the fruit and vowed never to try it again no matter how I lure them that i found a sweeter type!
You can compare the taste of this fruit to Yakult. At first it is sour, but as you drink it often,a nd gets accustomed to the taste, you will appreciate the sweetness masking its sourness…
Hope this would somehow convince you to try the fruit again should you find some in the market!
Thanks!
-Vanessa