Saturday, August 1, 2009

THE FRUIT THE THAI'S CALL NOI NA---SUGAR APPLE















This is my favorite time of the year in the LOS , when all the different kinds of fruit trees are bearing all their great tasty and healthy fruit for us to eat and enjoy. Of course we can pick bananas, and papaya all year ,what a treat and most of the time out of our own backyards or the next door neighbors, who are more than happy to share with us, as most fruit trees produce an abundance of fruit and much more than one family can eat , and since almost no Thai families ,can or freeze ,or make jams , for the winter months ahead ,the fresh fruit has to be eaten when its ready and a lot of times that means sharing with all your friend and neighbors and taking to your families that live in areas where the fruit in season at the moment does not grow where they live and what a treat is to take and share with them , Thai folks love to do this and always think of friends and family when they have a abundance of anything.

We have watermelon all year round and papaya, and bananas , but the first fruit that I anticipate all winter is one of my favorites and that is the arrival of the mangoes ,eaten green or ripe, what a treat after the long, rainy season and winter . I eat them every chance I get any way you can fix them , (my favorite, being ripe manago and stick rice with sweet coconut milk drizzled on top ) have you ever tried them that way ? they come but once a year on the trees ,in our very own backyard , then come the small rose apples , followed by the lychee. then the longan, then the durian ,called the king of fruits and then another of my favorites, the mangosteen , healthy and delicious ,followed closely by the rambutan , one of the strangest fruits I have ever seen and from what I hear, the best rambutan grow just up the road from us. The jackfruit, seem to always have fruit in various stages of ripeness, we have a tree in our yard and maybe we will eat two a year , lots of work and messy to get the sweet fruit out , we let the farmers come and get it for their pigs and cows. its a lot eaiser to buy already cleaned at the Thursday market.


NOW----- for the subject of my post today , the sugar apple or as some call it the custard apple and the Thai name for this fruit is Noi Na, what ever name you call it , if you have never eaten one you just don't know what a treat and heavenly sweet custard, taste you have missed.The ripe fruit is usually ,broken open with you hands into two halves and the flesh segments scooped out with a spoon or your tongue and enjoyed ,while the seeds are separated in your mouth and spat out. It is so luscious that it is well worth the trouble.in some countries the flesh is pressed thru a sieve to get rid of the seeds and is then added to ice cream or blended with milk to make a cool and refreshing beverage.It is never cooked.

The fruit left on the trees to ripen ,do not do very well and most of the time will just turn brown and rot on the tree.The fruit is picked when it is almost mature and about to ripen,it is then left to sit at room tepperature for a couple days and will ripen ,ready to be enjoyed.You can keep them a few more days if you wrap them in newspaper or straw, then they will maybe, last 5 or 6 days ,maybe,but no more . It is a seasonal fruit and one to be enjoyed fresh and not a fruit that you can store for later use.

The Spaniards, it is told, probably carried the seeds from the new world (it is native to the Americas) to the Philippines around 1590 and then it begin to show up in other Asian countries as well.Grown extensive in India, where the tree is a escape tree, and the fruit is very popular and abundant in the markets.The sugar apple is one of the most important fruits in the interior of Brazil and in the markets of Bahia.The sugar apple requires a tropical or near-tropical climate , therefore it does well in most Asian countries. It is a favorite fruit for many in Thailand and is a great money crop in some areas of the country.Not far up the road from us ,there are large sugar apple garden and when in season these folks sell them by the kilio or by the baskets full for wholesellers to come and buy and take to the big cities and all around the country to sell at the week-day markets all over Thailand .We have two trees in our yard , one I planted and the other is from a seed that the squirrels dropped while stealing them from my tree. I have not yet, in 3 years got to eat one off of my tree , you can see the squirrels come every morning and smell them to see if they are ready to eat and the day I say "I'm going to pick them the next day" ,when I go to pick them, there is not a single one on the tree , its like they can read my mind ,ha ha ha

Now for the more scientific and medicinal uses of the fruit ,leaves ,bark , and the root of the sugar apple tree.

1. the seeds are acrid and poisonous when dryed and crushed and powered it is sometimes applied to the head to kill head lice.
2. if applied to the uterus ,it will induce abortion.
3. in Mexico the leaves are rubbed on the floors and put in the hens nest to repel lice.
4. the oil from the seeds has nbeen used as a substitute for peanut oil in the making of soaps.
5. sometimes in perfumes , giving them a woody and spicy accent.
6. in India the crushed leaves are sniffed to overcome hysteria and fainting spells.
7. crushed leaves are also applied to ulcers and wounds.
8. it is used thru out tropical Americas , for a tonic ,cold remedy,digestive or to clarify the urine.
9. in India crushed fresh fruit is mixed with salt and is applied to tumors.
10. a decoction is also added to bath water to alleviate rheumatic pain.
11. the bark decoction is given as a tonic to halt diarrhea.

WOW I never knew any of that , not that I am going to be trying any of these remedies anytime soon , but who knows as folks are turning more and more to all natural and holistic and alternative medicines, I might even give it(sugar apple tree) a try sometime . I have, and I do at the present time take a herbal tonic daily, and Ciejay and I, use some herbs as a preventive measure. What about you ? do you use or have you ever used a herb or the leaf,bark or tea from a friut tree, for a medical problem?

I hope you have enjoyed this rather long post, and learned something new too, , I know ,I learned a lot of new stuff myself, even if I don't use it for medical purposes, when I eat this wonderful fruit ,that from now on I will think about all its uses and I hope you do too.

The source for a lot of the information about the sugar apple, I found, from NEW CROP resource online program from Purdue University on the http://www.com/
Thanks for the read Malcolm














15 comments:

Mike said...

Malcolm Very informative it was too. Like a lot of tropical fruit custard apples seem to have originated elsewhere and ended up in LOS. Personally I love them, but don't see them down here except occasionally in the market.

We have a glut of ranbatans and dragon fruit at the moment. When I went to HH yesterday dragon fruit was 50 Baht for 5 Kilos at the side of the highway. Nearer to $2 a fruit in the UK!!!

Don't you just love living in LOS?

Camille said...

Custrad apples are indeed lovely and ranked among my fave fruits as well here in the LOS.

Right now we have plenty of Durian on Samui.

Malcolm and Ciejay Burgess said...

Mike , How many bushels baskets do you think you could sell there , I can buy them for about 15 baht a kilo and it's only a 6 hour drive from here , maybe a good excuse for a little trip . Wish I had some of that dragon fruit up here sounds like a good deal too anyway happy fruit eating while it last . Malcolm
Camille, one of my favs too, do they grow a lot of them there where you live? Malcolm

Camille said...

Hi Malcolm,

Yes, there's tons of Durian on Samui and when we get them from family, they're not sprayed with chemicals.
I only like the Mon Thong variation of Durian though!

Talen said...

Excellent article Malcolm. I have seen this fruit many times but I have yet to try it for some reason.

I will definitely make sure to do so the next chance I get.

Martyn said...

Malcolm a few posts about nuts and you will truly be the fruit and nut case of all Thailand. Your love of fruit is only topped by your love for Ciejay who is your own well wrapped bundle of passion fruit. These custard apples look very sturdy things, not the sort you would want landing on your head. Their uses are amazing and reading your list shows they are utilised to the full in India, a country steeped in self remedy natural health treatments. Maybe you were a squirrel in your previous life because they seem to like fruit and ......

Tipper said...

How neat! I've never even heard of the sugar apple. Malcolm-you seem to live in the real Garden of Eden.

Anonymous said...

Hеllο! Someone in mу Facebook group sharеd thiѕ websitе with us so I сame to give it а
look. I'm definitely loving the information. I'm bоokmarking and
will be tweeting this to my fοllowers! Wonderful blog and
grеat stуle and design.

Μy ωeb рagе - irving taxi Service

Anonymous said...

When instructing children to fish, you must start with placing a floating bobber on the range. Each time a seafood bites the lure the bobber will leap underneath the water permitting the youngster to know they have a chew. Bobbers are used by lots of anglers along with young children. [url=http://www.x21w12w21.info]Unu44yysed[/url]

Anonymous said...

Link exchange is nοthing else but it is οnly placing the
other pеrѕon's weblog link on your page at suitable place and other person will also do same in favor of you.

My web blog :: tens units for sale

DFW Limo Service said...

Our Main Services are Dfw Limo Service, Airport Limousine Service, Wedding Limousine, Bachelor & Bachelorette Party, Night Out, Corporate Limousine, Special Events, Sight Seeing, Prom Nights Limousine entire Dfw metroplex area.
Contact us now for book a Limousine @ +1 972 594 9291 any time 24 hours a day.

Dfw Limo Service
Limo Service DFW

Website Design Company in Bangladesh said...

Website Design Company in Bangladesh - Creative Tech Park Dhaka BD is the Ultimate Web Design and Development Company Bangladesh to Ensure Creative Technology all over the world with full customer satisfaction than ever. Best web site design company to develop your web page design and custom website package with top graded SSD web hosting and website domain name registration with an affordable price.

careful Bolger said...

Smart Outsourcing Solutions is the leading web development, ecommerce solution, offshore outsourcing development and freelancing training company in Dhaka Bangladesh.
Website design company in bangladesh

Runa said...

Being a Website design company in Dhaka Capital of Bangladesh, we work for an organization, individual or any group of companies also could do some outsourcing job (USA, Canada, Austrilia, Eurupe, Singapore). Being a successful website design company we only focused on our valuable clients and gives services at their preferred time and preference.

BooksOnFinanceEducation said...

Bhavitra TechSolutions is the most reliable web design company in Bangladesh where one can have the best SEO friendly web design service at a reliable cost. We are here to help our valuable customers reach their online business goals. Contact us today.