Borassus Fruits...

[Kris]

Dear Friends  

Have you tried eating the borassus fruit ? its very tasty and

juicy.and also cools our body during our hot summers in

india.if this fruit is not repead,then it becomes the hard

mango seed sized seed.in the entire city we have farmers

and fruit vendors bringing in this soft fruit plucked from the

city outskirts and from the wild !

here are the visuals and also i will show you the stages how its consumed and even the hard coat seed finally.

i hope all will enjoy the visuals as much as i had eating them daily here in madras  ???

Love,

Kris(India).

[Kris]

A close-up !

[Kris]

visuals of one edible fruit...alone.

[Kris]

the thin shell like tissue is removed gently and here are the visuals of that soft fleshy part,which is indded terrefic to

eat..

[Kris]

all these fruits are skinned...and the local here call this fruit

as Pana "Nungu" or "Nungu Pala"

[Kris]

Now a close-up of the above Nungu...

[chris.oz]

Kris,

Very interesting..... so what happens to the seeds ?

[Alicehunter2000]

Wow, very interesting indeed. So this is the beginning stage of the trees fruit production. I've tasted the outside of the mature fruit but never knew that you could eat it at this early stage. Great pictures Kris.

[Al in Kona]

Kris, I assume you are referring to Borassus flabellifer.  I'm wondering if the same can be done with the other species of Borassus such as B. aethiopium, B. sambiranensis or B. madagascariensis, etcetera?  

BTW, does anyone know anything about or what the other two species are called?  From what I understand there are six (6) different species of Borassus.

[mike453]

I don't know anything about B heineanus or B akeassii

but google does!

                                Mike

[Kris]

Dear Chris  

the soft fleshy fruit is from the Borassus Flabelifer which

is very common to S.India.and this palm resembles more

or less like the washy robustas_tall and week looking.

but the grouth rate in the wild of these palm trees are preety slow and can live upto 50 to 60 years if lightning does not strike.the trunk is plain oily black of the

matures palmera tree.

the speed of grouth can be compared to a talipot palm_

so slow.but totally drought tollerent.

and you asked what about the hard seeds.all the farmers & villagers who harvest these fleshy fruits make it

manditory to leave 2 or 3 sack of fruits to become seeds..

this is coustomery.

i must tell that their is one more stage in between the fleshy and the hard coat stage_in this stage the fruit is consumed as substitute for mangoes by the less fortumate. if i have accesses to this fruit i will post then in this thread.in this ripe fruit stage the sack contains usually

3 or rarely even 4 hard seeds with lots of yellow fleshy

muscles which smell & taste much like fibrious mango.

those seeds washed and cleaned if sowed in washed river

sand with temperatures ranging from 94 to 104 degrees

farentheat will germinate this seed.but the beauty of these seeds is that they hardly grow in containers or root

training pots.once you see the root they must be placed in the location you want it to grow_this is atleast applicable to our indian Borassus.F variety.

And dear david & dear mike thanks for droping in and keying in your comments.

And dear Al in Kona it seems you have exhaustive knowledge of all palms which includes even the borassus.

i wish to know wheather all the borassus will give out the

same kind of edible fruits in stages ? if so kindly state

those varities or if some one is growing those varities in

their place kindly start a new thread on it or share your stills in this thread.

keep visitng this thread i will post new stills pertaining to the evolution of soft fruit to hard seed fruit to the seeds

cleaning process....

thanks & Love,

Kris  

[Gileno Machado]

Hi Kris:

Thanks for the lesson on Borassus fruits.

Here in Brazil we don't have Palmira, the flabelifer species yet (got any seeds to swap?) but we have a few B. aethiopium, brought from Africa a long time ago. That species is beautiful and goes well with our climate. I'm trying to germinate 6 of the big seeds now, one has already sprouted. Their fruits are not commonly eaten here...I've heard they use it only in a sort of voodoo rituals (?) common in west African countries.

I bet the flesh in your pictures would make a delicious marmelade type dessert, cooked with sugar and wine, like unripe coconut flesh we cook here. Ever tried it this way?

[amazondk]

Kris,

Thanks for the great information.  I know it is hard to describe taste, but what is the general taste of the fruit?  

dk

[JakeK]

The flesh looks similar to lychee, but probably tastes completely different. I too am curious as to how it tastes.

[Kris]

Dear Gileno Machado  

its nice to know you have a different species growing in your

garden.as for my borassus.F seeds i will let you know.since it

has to be collected and i do not grow then in my house garden.

Dear Don  

its really nice to hear from you.and as jakek pointed out that it feels just like a leeche fruit and the fleshy part taste like inner flesh of a very tender coconut and the juice that is inside this fruit also taste like tender coconut water.

when place on the dinning table and if you see it suddenly

it appears like breast implants(Silicon Gel)of some super

model...seeing is believing.

Dear Jakek  

you are right in your observation.

and iam very glad that all the regulars of this forum had

visited this thread.a special thanks to you my friends...

Love,

Kris.

[Kris]

one jute bag full of ripe fruits have arrived...should i let the

cat out of the bag ?  

                        &

Here are the visuals...

[Kris]

Let's see what is inside this bag !

[Kris]

these are over riped fruits that is the reason it has become

shapeless.these are once ready for cleaning to have a clean

seeds..

each fruit sack has around 2 to 3 seeds and this fruit smells and also taste like a mango.but mostly we do not consume

this stage of fruit since its heat for the body.and not as

healthy as when consumed as they are young...see the old

still to understand !

[Palm Guy]

They look very interesting to eat Kris...I'll have to try them out one day. I can't wait till my Peach Palms (Bactris Gasipaes) grow to the fruiting stage. I hear those are quite tasty.

[FossilNypa]

Hi Kris,

wonderful explanation and very nice photos. How big are the seeds?

[Kris]

Dear Micheal & Dear Louis  

the ripe fruits that you are seeing above is sweet and tasty but here people don't consume that fruit considering it is hot for the body.

while the tender fruits that i have shown in initial stages are very good for the health.and is as soft as the leeche fruit.

you have asked as to what size it is,i will show stills holding it

in my hand and there are lots of stills comming,so stay put  

love,

Kris  

[Kris]

Now Lets see the quest for the search for the seeds process...

their are lots of visuals comming your way !  

[Kris]

Now the wrestling begins...

[Kris]

..

[Kris]

there are 3 lobes or 3 sections within this ripe fruit..see the

visuals...

[Kris]

here you can see clearly the 3 lobes resulting in 3 seeds...

[Kris]

now from indugual seeds the dark outer coir like covering is

removed in the seeds cleaning process...

[Kris]

and this is remains of the fibers removed from that fruit inorder to clean the seeds from the fleshy part..the bucket

contains the removed fibers of one fruit sack ! and to my

knowledge the palmera fruit is heavier compared to a

matured cocnut...

[Kris]

now look at the seeds which has cleared stage one process,

there are more processes to be gone through !

[Kris]

Now these fleshy & pulpy seeds are socked in a barrel of

fresh water,so that the next process of drying these seeds in shade and the fiber trimming will commence...in days to come !

[Kris]

And after socking the fresh seeds for half a day,the water

has changed the colour into orange yellow.now the water is

renued with new fresh water and the seeds are continued to sock for a day at least...

[The Germinator]

I always enjoy your stories with the pictorals. This is another interesting and educational story. I guess the seeds go to the Barber shop next.

Kris,  how old do you think the palms are before they start to fruit.

[Alicehunter2000]

How common is the hybrid Borassus flabellifer x aethiopum? And why isn't the Borassus species more widely planted here in the U.S. ? We could all be trying this wonderful looking fruit ourselves.

[Darold Petty]

Kris, thank you very much.  I enjoyed this thread  a lot!

[Kris]

Dear Friends  

stay tuned to this coloum,more visuals are on their way !

and as for any new commers into this palm arena,and if they are wondering from which kind of fan palm has these seeds

derived,for those friends here is a beautiful link to Borassus

trees fully grown & matured specimens_Courtesy our friend

Komikrit(Redvdox)_Thailand.and those who are willing to buy

these seeds contact him.

here is the link to it,just in case you friends have missed it_

http://palmtalk.org/cgi-bin/forum/ikonboar...=ST;f=12;t=5243

Thanks & Love,

Kris(India)

[Kris]

now the seeds are air dried say for 3 days in natural indoor

temperatures..

here are the visuals !

[Kris]

Now to some trimming work ! to reduce unwanted fibers which

assist insect grouth.so this is trimmed.this also reduces the weight of this big & heavy seeds to a great extent.

here are the visuals !

[Kris]

at this stage lets's have close up !

[Kris]

Dear Friends  

thanks a lot for your comments.

Dear Germinator_this indian palmera fan palm is a slow grower and it last for around 50 to 60 years.

but i was told that even in out hot tropics to reach 4 to 6 feet in around 10 to 12 years and fruiting should start from 8 to 10 years old.and they grown in wild no one has cultivated this palm extensively(that is if fed with fertz may be it will grow lot faster than the regular)..but the fruit is delicious and villagers even harvest liquor from padanier.and i was told that it is very tasty and very good for the health too !but i do not consume alchalol.

Dear David_yes even i felt that this variety of palmera should replace all the diseased or infected CIDP in california...now its up to you american public to keep

trees that are beautiful & also edible.this would include

dates palms varities from around the world.

Dear Darold Petty_thanks very much for your comments.

and iam very happy you folks all enjoyed this feature on

palmera fruits to seeds..

there are some more visuals to come so stay tuned !

love,

Kris  

[Kom Thai Palm]

Dear Kris,

Your are a nice barber........ just kidding

I have experience cutting this disheveled hair.

This is result,  not so bad?