What is this fruit and its origin?

Greetings:

Does anyone know what this fruit is and its origin?

Thanks.

Bak Phee Puan (transliterated from the Isan language).

Apparently quite a rare, little-known fruit. It grows around here in the rainy season, on vines attaching themselves to trees, I believe.

They're sold along the road about 15 kms before Nong Khai, among other places, along with coconuts.

Very sour, Isan folk eat them with "nam prik" (chili paste). When they're riper and redder, they're apparently somewhat sweeter.

That's about all I could gather. It can serve as a start.

Looks like Passion Fruit to me ??

Definitely not passion fruit, we have a tree in the garden, they're round and orange in the middle with many seeds.

Golden Passion Fruit Scroll down for picture

The missus agrees with Jed, but does also say she only eats this when they're red in colour. Not sure the size of the plate in 2 of the pics but herself says these fruits are usually small. Apparently we bought a bunch the last time we went to NK..

Whoever was the first person to try that fruit to see if it was edible was brave. I suppose the same could be said for the first person that thought eating Balut eggs was a good idea.

OT can think of a lot of things to call that fruit.

OT.......................

Thank you all for your help.

I find out from another forum that it is called Paw paw. You can google it and will find many similar picture.

Interesting. Endemic to N. America, cultivated and spread by American Indians.

Related to the custard apple or sugar apple (noi na), but not noted as existing in SEA.

Curious fruit. Wonder why we can buy them on the highway here? Paw paw / pee phuan ...

Sounds like a story. Who planted them here? Where are they available? What's the deal?

Is there a field of academia called Fructo-Anthropology, maybe, tracing peoples and cultures through fruit?

Reminds me of ear wax: Thais' and other Asians' ear wax is typically white & hard -- they like to get it out with bird feathers. Many farangs have yellow, oilier ear wax. This method has been used in autopsies, etc., for determining the race/identity of the deceased.

Nowt so queer.

njchen24 wrote:Thank you all for your help.

I find out from another forum that it is called Paw paw. You can google it and will find many similar picture.

I always thought a paw paw was a papaya.. The fruit in the OP isn't a papaya.

Chriss wrote:

njchen24 wrote:Thank you all for your help.

I find out from another forum that it is called Paw paw. You can google it and will find many similar picture.

I always thought a paw paw was a papaya.. The fruit in the OP isn't a papaya.

You are correct about that

It's a native american fruit. Here is the link Pawpaws - KYSU provided by other member from gardenweb.com forum. I have no clue how it does end up in Thailand.

Driving into NK today, stopped at the Paw Paw stand... (sounds like a blues song).

She said she just sold the last one. Bummer, I'll get one yet this year, though not much time left.

Got home and checked out NPR. Lo and behold: a story and a video on "The Pawpaw: Foraging For America's Forgotten Fruit:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2011/0 ... tten-fruit

Good enough for Thomas Jefferson, good enough for Isan... will do more research one day, I'm sure the church farming project near there will know something about it -- need to ask Geoffrey.

My wife just said she's sending her brother off into the jungle to scavenge for the Paw Paw Tree... Stay tuned.

My bro-in-law managed to find a few of these little buggers.

Some things just don't grow well over here.

The ripe, red ones are pretty tasty, but lot of work for a little flesh.


Think I'll try the ones in the US next time...

My boy liked them, though!

Here's another unusual fruit. A sizable tree in our back yard that's over 15 years old suddenly has fruit this year. Small shiny yellow fruit with a small pit. They're edible and on the sweet side. Branches from the tree were used to scrub teeth in the days before toothpaste to help cure cure pyorrhea. Extracts from this tree are used in the brown herbal toothpaste that's commonly sold in Thailand today. If you're ailing from filariasis, leprosy, toothache, diarrhoea, or cancer, you might find relief from extracts of this tree.
It's called Siamese Rough Bush or ต้นข่อย Dohn Kawy.
Of the more unusual uses for the tree, the wood is used throughout South-East Asia as an ingredient mixed with cannabis which reduces the throat irritation associated with inhaling cannabis smoke through a water pipe or bong.

http://www.treeshistory.com/2011/11/sia ... -bush.html
http://www.mistercleanweb.com/sisaket_s ... en-18.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streblus_asper

If you happen to have a ต้นข่อย Dohn Kawy tree in your area (actually, I've since learned they're quite common), and want to show off you native dexterity with your kids/family, try this:
Give a the lower part of a mature tree a good whack with a machete...white sap should ooze out. Dab a cotton ball with the sap. Attach the cotton ball to the end of a long thin bamboo pole. As the sap dries, it becomes very sticky. Now find one of those cicada beetles (จั๊กจั่น) that are making a racket this time of year. Tap the cotton ball onto the cicada and you'll have the first spoon of supper for the family. They'll be impressed with your prowess....and you'll be a shoo-in for the next episode of Survivor.