Buah Kedondong

Kedondong or kedongdong, one of tropical fruits, is a kind of greenish yellow, fibrous, sour, plum like fruit also known as Hog plum but also called as Tahitian apple. It’s scientific name is Spondias dulcis. In Sinhalese it is called Ambarella, and it is simplified and commonly called as Ampula or Ambra in Panang. In Sabah, it is of course also known as Kedondong.

Interestingly, Kedondong belongs to the same family as the mangoes. Apparently, it was introduced from the Pacific Island to Malaysia, Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka. It is fairly common but grown mainly as individual tree in the rural areas. It grows mainly to a height of 10-20 meters, and fruits all the year round. The flowers are tiny and greenish white in colour, grouped together as a panicle.

The fruits are bright green, on ripening turning yellowish with a lot of grayish brown freckles. Each fruits is about 7.5-10 cm long by 2.5-3.7 cm wide. It is eaten as and a fresh fruit or pickled. The flesh is white and crunchy when immature, becomes fibrous on ripening.

Kedondong has a single seed and contents of lots of fiber with many stiff filaments . The fruit can be eaten raw; the flesh is crunchy and a little sour.

In Indonesia and Malaysia, the fruit is cut into few piece and often eaten with sticky black prawn paste or “hay-ko” in Hokkien. It is also used as an ingredient in rojak (mixed fruits with sweet and hot sauce) and it is sometimes eaten cooked. It may also be juiced, and goes then under the popular name “Ampula” juice in Malaysia, particularly in Penang and the northern states. Penang is famous for its pickled nutmeg, mangoes, guava and papaya pickles. Kedondong is also equally delicious as pickles.

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