Strange Fruit, pt.3: Salak

Armadillo Fruit Firm, Dry, Woody Hard, Oblong, Smooth

I came back from my latest foray in the night market with a small bag of Buah Salak. These fruits are about the size and shape of a ripe fig. They are covered in a shiny, scaly peel that resembles snakeskin or armadillo hide. Inside, the flesh is firm, dry and crunchy, kind of like an unripe pear. As for the flavor, my report will have to wait till next time. You see, I got took. The whole half-kilo bag was unripe. I should’ve known I was about to be duped when I asked the innocent-looking 12-year-old running the stall how to tell a ripe salak from an unripe one. “These are all good,” he tells me. Yeah, right. There was enough hint of sweetness and flavor to make me definitely try again, but this batch was inedible. Kelat, they say in Malay: that woody, bitter aftertaste left on the roof of your mouth.

I wasn’t too happy with how the pictures came out, but I found some better ones. This site has artsy pictures of popular Balinese fruits, including the Salak. For you horts, this site has growing requirements and tips, as well as good pictures. This site has a lot of information, in bad english, about the Salak and the commercial Salak trade, which is big business in Bali. Finally, for the botanists: Salak is Salacca zalacca, formerly Salacca edulis. [Aside: You know, botanical names are supposed to provide a standard reliable name for describing plants, but I swear they change faster than common names. I can think of six or seven common Michigan plants that have had a name change since I last was last studying them.] This site has a catalog of the various Salacca palms in existence. Here in Kuching, Salacca conferta, Kelubi, is also readily available. It is smaller than the Salak, and is used as a sour ingredient in sauces. Apart from the size, they look pretty similar. I bought some a few weeks back thinking they were Salak…

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You’re currently reading “Strange Fruit, pt.3: Salak,” an entry on Bin Gregory Productions

Published:: 05.13.03 / 9pm

Category:: Malaysia

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Anwar Ibrahim and the Opposition: Malaysian Seeks End to Decades of Firm Rule - a pretty decent roundup of political developments in Malaysia, from the New York Times.

The Spiritual Aspirant: Sidi Khalil Moore will be in Singapore conducting a workshop for The Spiritual Aspirant, to be held 27 June to 5 July. I had the pleasure to hear Sidi Khalil speak in Detroit back in 2002 in conjunction with the US tour of Habib Ali Al-Jifri. I regret I won't be able to make the short trip across the South China Sea to attend, but I recommend it to anyone in the area. The workshop is being sponsored by Simply Islam, under the capable hands of some of the fine people who put on the Journey to Ihsan event a couple years ago, which I did attend and enjoyed immensely.

Collapse Preparedness: The transition from the USSR to the republic of Russia was a catastrophic event for the people who lived through it. The eventual (imminent?) collapse of the US will be much much worse, warns Dmitry Orlov. The USA has a Collapse Gap. Orlov realizes

that some people will react rather badly to having their country compared to the USSR. I would like to assure you that the Soviet people would have reacted similarly, had the United States collapsed first. Feelings aside, here are two 20th century superpowers, who wanted more or less the same things – things like technological progress, economic growth, full employment, and world domination – but they disagreed about the methods. And they obtained similar results – each had a good run, intimidated the whole planet, and kept the other scared. Each eventually went bankrupt.

Valuable lessons on what to expect and how to prepare follow. Read it yourself, but the condensed advice is this: Live on the margins of society. One encouraging sign that Americans are picking up the skills they will need to survive: haggling at the mall.