Rambutan Topics

• Fruit
• Thailand
• Malaysia
• Market

Related Images

Source

del.icio.us Tags

• food
• health
• fruit
• fruits
• wikipedia
• foods
• newthing
• asia
• tropical
• tree
• om_nom_nom_nom
• rambutan
• travel

Rambutan, Rambutan

There is a second species regularly for sale at Malay markets which is known as "wild" rambutan. It is a little smaller than the usual red variety and is colored yellow.

The leathery skin is reddish (rarely orange or yellow), and covered with fleshy pliable spines, hence the name rambutan , derived from the Malay word rambut which means hairs. The fruit flesh is translucent, whitish or very pale pink, with a sweet, mildly acidic flavour.

It is one of the best known fruits of southeast Asia and is also widely cultivated elsewhere in the tropics including Africa, Cambodia, the Caribbean islands, Central America, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. Thailand is the largest producer from Surat Thani Province Thailand. Rambutan production is increasing in Australia and, in 1997, was one of the top three tropical fruits produced in Hawaii.

Malwana, a village located in valley of Kelani River holds high popularity for its rambutan orchards. The production comes to market in the months of May, June and July. In these months it is very common to observe seasonal traders around roads of colombo. In Sri Lankan context it is also possible to observe off season rambutan production in the months of januaery and February in areas like Bibile, Medagama and Monaragala.

Evergreen rambutan trees with their abundant coloured fruit make beautiful landscape specimens.

The trees do best on deep soils that are high in organic matter and thrive on hilly terrain as they require good drainage. Rambutan is propagated by grafting, air-layering, and budding; the latter is most common as trees grown from seed often produce sour fruit. Budded trees may fruit after 23 years with optimum production occurring after 810 years. Trees grown from seed bear after 56 years.

There is usually a single light brown seed which is high in certain fats and oils (primarily oleic acid and eicosanoic acid) valuable to industry, and used in cooking and the manufacture of soap. Rambutan roots, bark, and leaves have various uses in medicine and in the production of dyes.

K. Vong in Ban Na San. An annual rambutan fair is held in beginning of August.

Female flowers produce 2-3 times more nectar than male flowers. Nectar sugar concentration ranges between 18-47% and is similar between the flower types. Rambutan is an important nectar source for bees in Malaysia.

Although apomixis may occur in some cultivars, research has shown that rambutan, like lychee, is dependent upon insects for pollination. In Malaysia, where only about one percent of the female flowers set fruit, research revealed that no fruit is set on bagged flowers while hand pollination resulted in 13 percent fruit set. These studies further suggest that pollinators may maintain a fidelity to either male or hermaphroditic flowers (trees), thus limiting pollination and fruit set under natural conditions where crossing between male and female flowers is required.

The seeds were given by representatives from a World Relief / European Union joint team in 2001 to organizations such as APAC (Ascociacin Pueblos en Accin Comunitaria) to distribute the seeds to more than 100 farmers throughout Nicaragua. Some of Nicaragua's farmers in 2005-2006 saw the first production of Rambutan from their trees. Commercial production of the fruit for domestic use is sought in the country, as it is finding favor among Nicaraguans, but it will be several years before growing practices and distribution of the fruits are perfected. Other than seedling trees, the only known commercial cultivars in Nicaragua are R134, R162 and a Yellow Rambutan that lost its name when it was smuggled from Honduras in 2004-2005 (Frankie, J. A., Winrock International).

Those commonly found visiting rambutan flowers include bees ( Apis spp. and Trigona spp.), butterflies, and flies ( Eristalis sp. and Lucilia sp.).

In Thailand, A. cerana is the preferred species for small scale pollination of rambutan.

Source: Wikipedia > Rambutan