Plants & flowers (Fruit and Flower season)

Flowers

The super hot season of May, the season of fruits and flowers. 
If you travel anywhere in Cambodia, you would see two common flowers blossom along the road this time. It is not like Tulip or Lupin but it adds beauty to the road. I love to go around and especially stroll along the road for such beautiful trees.
1. Queen's Flower Tree​ - purple flowers ឥន្ទនេល
2. Peacock flowers - red flowers ក្ងោកបារាំង ឬត្រសេក

Peacock flowers



Queen's Flower Tree




Fruits

Talking about fruits, it is the best time you eat fresh from the farms and plantations.
This time of the year, you will see fruits stall almost everywhere! 
I would like to show you some of the fruits we have these days. They are sweet and have got good aroma.
Mango











Litchie


Pineapple


Papaya

Avocado
Phniev


By the way, durian is just coming but not much yet and thus more expensive. May would be its season!

Durian or King of fruit

What I can say is that this is time of the year in Cambodia where you see durian stall on the street, everywhere. There are several species growing here. The special one is from Kompot - a province where it is very famous for pepper. The soil is just very good for various kind of plants, including durian, fruits and especially, pepper. Other areas are also famous for its durian, including Koh Kong province, Kompong Cham province and Samlot in Battambang province. 



There are various kinds of durian, you can find a few such as Mann-thong and Ouv-khak. Some people love to eat when the fruit is soft but I prefer the one with milky color and taste as shown below:



There is one time a couple of German tourists bought it because a Chinese guy introduced them. It was so smelly that they couldn't really eat it and the meat is too soft. Normally, if you go to the stall, please tell them 'not the overripe one'. One durian is from 1.5kg up - depends on small or big and the cost is around 5$/kilo. I don't think it is easy you peel it yourself. You can ask the seller to peel it already for you. 
ice-cream of durian taste is great I love them too. Perhaps, for starters it is better that way but for us, durian is another fruit. We are okay with the smell, no big deal!
It is not organic if you see durian along the way in months that is not its season. The fresh and organic season of durian is late April-Early June only. 

There are two kinds of ice-cream made from durian. First, the ice-cream itself made from durian and second, the ice-cream that they add durian outside. Have a look at these photos. 



Other way, you make a dessert of durian and eat together with sticky rice. We, locals, love durian sauce with sticky rice better than ice-cream​.




 Java Plum or Jumun







The season of Java plum fruit arrives here locally. It is known locally as Pring, Pring Bay or Pring Dos Krobey. It doesn't look luxurious and attractive like other fruits, but it has so much benefits to ones' health. It is known to be grown in many countries and known by different names too.

·   Java plum, Portuguese plum, Malabar plum, black plum, purple plum

·        Jamaica = damson plum; also Indian blackberry.
·        In India and Malaya = jaman, jambu, jambul, jambool, jambhool, jamelong, jamelongue, jamblang, jiwat, salam, or koriang.
·        Thailand, it is wa, or ma-ha;
·        Laos, va;
·        Cambodia, pring bai or pring das krebey;
·        Vietnam, voi rung;
·        Philippines, duhat, lomboy, lunaboy or other dialectal appelations;
·        Java, djoowet, or doowet – juvet.
·        Venezuela, local names are pésjua extranjera or guayabo pésjua;
·        Surinam, koeli, jamoen, or druif (Dutch for "grape");
·        Brazil, jambuláo, jaláo, jameláo or jambol.



We would see them at street food stalls, and they are sold by a bottle. It is believed to have rich nutritional value, counting from various types of vitamins (B1, B2, B3, B6, Vitamin C) to many others such as fiber, proteins, carbohydrates, and various kinds of minerals too (calcium, iron, potassium, sodium, magnesium and phosphorus. 

How we eat it?


 And here about the origin of the fruit: https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/jambolan.html


  • We can just wash it and eat as it is or do it other way.
  • Mix the salt and sugar and then mix these with the fruits by shaking them in a covered bowl for 1-2minutes. When they all mixed together, the fruit become softer and very good to eat!

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