Buah Kedondong / Ambarella

  

This is the  Buah Kedondong (Spondias dulcis / Ambarella). The tree is a tropical tree with edible fruit containing a fibrous pit. The traditional varieties are big tall trees of up to 20 feet tall or more. When I was a kid, I used to go to the farm of my maternal grandparents where they have a couple of these trees beside the pond in which they reared fresh water carps. I love the ripened yellow fruits. Peeled and dipped in sugar, it makes for a delightful snack! We also snacked on the pickled kedondong which we called bakolong in Hakka.

At the beginning of last year, my youngest sister-in-law, Ling, gave me a dwarf variety of the ambarella which she had collected from her mother's place. It was planted on the right side of the house beside my mum's apartment. This was what it looked like three months later .....

.. and it grew and grew.....  :-)

 

This tree is a prolific producer and even though we continuously picked the fruits, there are still some twenty or more clusters of fruits at all stages from flowers to ripened fruits all the time and each cluster can have 20-30 fruits! The fruiting is so heavy we had to propped up the branches with belian posts!

The flowers ....

 

 

The fruits as they set, grew and then ripened ....

 

 

 

 

 

 

So how to eat this fruit?

Well, you can eat this fruits at all stages ...

The whole young fruits can blended with some dried sour plum and sugar. Add ice to make a truly nice and refreshing drink. 

Both the unripened green and ripened yellow fruit can be peeled and segmented and eaten as they are or with a sprinkling of sugar. I prefer the ripened yellow fruits!

The fruit contains a spiky fibrous pit - see the above picture.

Of course, who can forget the pickled kedondong! The peeled kedondong is segmented and sugar is added to the fruits. You can also add in dried sour plums and/or salt. No need to add water. Keep in the fridge for 2 or 4 days.

Yummy!