Thursday, December 13, 2012

Ceri Terengganu

 I would like to introduce a fruit plant that I have discovered on our backyard while cleaning up some space for planting food and came into my view. Oh what is that glossy smooth dark red skin fruit looks like a cherry fruit but growing in clusters like grape? So I asked on experts local medicinal plant in facebook group and many gurus said that it might be a plant called 'Ceri Terengganu'. Well ceri in our national language is an English borrowed word so 'Cherry' and Terengganu is one of Malaysia state. It is more seen in the Terengganu state or Johor state as well. Hence the plant is commonly known as 'Ceri Terengganu'. It does have other name known as 'Perupuk' or 'Kelelek' and the scientific name is Lepisanthes alata which belongs to tha Spindaceae family. This distribution of this plant is South-East Asia and it seem the plant does not have an English name yet. New leave shoots are interestingly in purplish colour. The plant fruits are edible but this plant is more used as ornamental plant for landscape by the council or providing some sheltered from the sun. The ripe fruit is said to be sweet (I have not tried it, I might pick some and let the turkey and geese have a taste of it first) with a little bit of  green raw fruit taste-like (I actually don't know how to describe the word 'kelat', may be other gardeners can help a bit). To enjoy the fruit sweetness and lessen the rawishhh taste, it is advice to rub the fruits  between your hand first. Make it a bit mushy. The fruits can also be roasted. The Ceri Terengganu ripe fruits attract bird and bats and they help dispersed the fruit seeds. The Ceri Terengganu tree fruits all year round, it does not have a specific flower or fruiting season.
 Our Ceri Terengganu tree is growing under our very tall tamarind plant at the moment so it is receiving filtered sunlight due to the tamarind plant big canopy. Not much known about this plant and only little scientific research has been done to understand the medicinal or nutritional value of its fruit. Traditionally it is said boiled water with this root plant can reduce itchiness or fever. The dark red colour of the skin fruit is said to contain anthocyanin that also aids as anti-oxidant. The fruit might also be used as natural colouring. 
 If you visit Malaysia, hope you can enjoy our local cherry plant :).

Mungkin mana tahu next MAHA kita dapat rasai jus ceri Terengganu pula (klik sini untuk info).
Sokong produk tempatan kita.

Mmmm...nak rajinkan diri ke petik buahnya buat jus.


I think I have to make an inventory what plants we have in my parents garden. So clueless at the moment. So that we siblings and our children will know what treasures our parents has grown for us and now we are the ones who really enjoy their fruit of labour.

23 comments:

nadia rashid said...

penah makan ceri ni...tp rasa nyer ada nama lain kami panggil..lupa dah lama zaman kanak-kanak ribena...rasa pun dah lupa mcm mnr..kelat2 manis kut

MaDiHaA a.k.a Ratna said...

ingatkan sama dengan buah kerkuk yang pernah MaDiHaA kongsikan di fotopages dulu... rupanya lain sikit.. buat kerkuk sebelum dimakan kena gentel2 dulu dengan kedua2 tapak tangan sebelum dimakan.. leh klik link bwh tu utk tgk buah kerkuk.. agak2 sama tak ye dengan ceri terengganu ni?

http://mamawandiha.fotopages.com/?entry=1660807

Mark Willis said...

Maybe you should be the first to give it an English name? Mind you, the fruit does look VERY like cherries, so I suppose "Terengannu Cherry" is the obvious one.

baguznet said...

how is the taste of the fruit actually? is it same as the one planted in Malaysia?

Liz said...

I sometimes wonder how many plants there are out there which are edible but no one has really managed to work out how they are best eaten. Thankyou for introducing me to this one.

Sunray Gardens said...

Not heard of this one before. Looks cherry size but interesting.
Cher Sunray Gardens

Daphne Gould said...

You will have to let us know what it tastes like when you finally eat it.

rainfield61 said...

Nampak cantik dan enak.

Sue Garrett said...

I hope you like it. It's always interesting to try out new things just as long as you are sure it is safe to eat.

africanaussie said...

so many of the tropical fruits have to be very ripe in order to taste good. they look very yummy

Umm AA said...

rs pernah tengok before..mungkin kelat2 sikit rasanya kan...tidak seenak ceri biasa....

Unknown said...

Its interesting to discover new things. Looks edible or perhaps just make jeruk out of it. Please try it out and let us know whether you survived! ;D

Stephanie said...

Wow they really look like cherries! Quite pretty as well hehe... I have never eaten this fruit before. Hope to try it one day. Happy discovering new fruit!

Kelli said...

The fruit plant looks like a good find. Hope it is safe and tastes good. Maybe would be good for jams?

KL said...

Hi There,
How are you? I have been away from blogging for a long time and the reasons can be found in my blog. I thought you live in Australia? But, from this post, it seems you live in Malaysia? The fruits look very interesting and yummy; at first, I thought they were chestnuts.
KL

kitchen flavours said...

Hi Diana,
This is very interesting! Have not seen it before! Kelat dan manis? Maybe kelat can be described as "pungent" in English, yes, I can't think of another word for kelat! What a lovely find!

donnyien said...

hai diana..
untungnya dapat pergi me MAHA 2012 hari tu.

Malar said...

Never seen them before....
Must be yummy fruit!
You're back to Malaysia for good?

Autumn Belle said...

Selamat datang balik ke Malaysia! I didn't know we have cherry di sini, hehe. Never tried this fruit before. Great info.

Jody said...

I would love to visit Malaysia. Seeing your garden(s) would be so much fun!

TukangKebun said...

Nadia- ya ramai kata rasanya kelat manis.

Kak Madihah - Nampak mirip seperti yang dalam foto link tu. Saya masih belum sempat nak rasa buahnya lagi nanti ikut tips kak gentel gentel dulu. Kerkuk juga nama panggilannya.

Mark- yes I think terengganu ceri will fit the name in English.

Baguznet- ini buah nadir Malaysia dikatakan rasa kelay sikit. Tapi mungkin lagi berkhasiat agaknya dari cherry atas kek tu.

Liz- yes there are still many fruits that even local people not sure how the best way to prepare it. There might be many that have more nutrition and medicinal value than the ones normally sell on supermarket racks.

Cher-it does look really interesting . I should posted some more pic of its pretty flowers and its purple colour young shoot.

Daphne- waiting for new fruits to develop which is within hand reach .

Rainfield61- Nampak menarik sekali kalau kita pakai ceri ini pula untuk hias kek yang manis di bakery.

Sue-I will make sure pets around the backyard to taste it first.

Africanaussie- yeah you are right some need to fully mature before consuming.

Ummuaidan- belum tasting lagi tapi lidah makin tua ni boleh masuk kut rasa kelat tu .

Stiletto-good idea making jeruk with this ceri.

Stephanie- you can drop by and enjoy them here :).

TukangKebun said...

Kelli- brilliant idea. I think it will be good to try making jem with this cherry like marmalade.

KL- I moved back to Malaysia recently. Its fun to learn native trees now and grow more of them.

Joyce- pungent is close yeah to describe kelat. Its one of the word in bahasa that does not have a direct translation.

Donnyien - pertama kali saya pergi tu MAHA . Penat juga rasa kaki ini berjalan banyak dengan hujan.

Dear Malar I am back for good.

Autumn belle we do have cherry and sadly not much given popularity. The plant itself is very interesting with purple shoots, beautiful red exotic bloom and fruits.

Jody-you are welcome anytime.

Hanie said...

I think this is what the vietnamese call Dalat cherries. isi dia nipis je and kat tengah ada biji besar?

I think kelat can best be described as 'astringent'.