Jaboticaba 7 Flavours in 1 Fruit

'Now we are heading to the jaboticaba garden,' said Simon Wong, the guide during the journey to Taiwan in April 2007. That sentence directly reminded Sardi Duryatmo, Trubus reporter, on a piece of information from Australia. From the kangaroo land, jaboticaba was only a snapshot picture. Therefore, when Simon took us to the garden, Trubus was straightly coming along.

The 4,3 acres wide garden which belongs to Pan Liang Hwa in Chou Zhou, Pin Tung, Taiwan, directly satisfied curiousity. There, 50 shady canopy trees 3 m tall are in rows neatly with 2 m x 3 m growing space. The blackish purple fruits which were in groups on the stem captured the attention in an instant. It is one of jaboticaba distinctive features.

Pan, then, invited Trubus to taste those ripe fruits. Rosy Nur Apriyanti, Trubus reporter, picked up the fruits. 'It tastes sweet,' she said as the grape like fruit flesh with soft texture was savored by the tongue.

Pan informed that the flavour of the Myrtaceae family member will change as the fruit gets older. On the last nine days before it is ripe-the fruit is ripe within 20-30 days after the flowers appear-the changes occured. On the first day, its flavour is like guava; the second day it is like mangosteen; the third day is lychee; the forth is passion fruit; the fifth is sweetsop fruit; the sixth up to the eighth is grape. 'The best flavour sensation is on the ninth day when the fruit is perfectly ripe: it tastes sweet and smells good,' said Pan. Unsurprisingly more than 10 fruits were absolutely wiped out from Trubus hand.

One thumb is for the flavour of the fruit, given by Gregori Garnadi Hambali, a botanist in Bogor, and Yayan Wahyu C Kusuma, a researcher staff in Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia Pusat Konservasi Tumbuhan (Plants Conservation Centre of Indonesia Science Institution) in Kebun Raya Bogor (Bogor Botanical Garden) when Trubus paid a visit.

The Brazillian grape

Just by a glance, the jaboticaba performance is similar to the black grape. The shape, colour, and the flesh texture are indeed the same. The ripe fruit is thin yet taut and its colours is blackish dark purple. The young fruit is green. The thin skin which wraps the transparant white flesh feels delicate once milipeded. Because of the nature of its skin is taut, in Brazil-its origin-the dried skin is used as a cure for diarhea, asthma, or inflamed disease. Therefore, it gets the Brazilian grape name.

In one tree there are 1-5 small seeds. In Indonesia, the fruit performance is vague with kupa Syzygium polycephalum. Gowok-kupa nickname in Java-indeed has the same colour, shape, and size as jaboticaba. However, both are from different genuses.

'Kupa tree is bigger, its height can reach up to 12-14 m, while jaboticaba is only 6-7 m,' said Greg. Besides, the flowers in kupa appear on the branches or the twigs while jaboticaba can flower and bear fruit on the tree stem. In Pan's garden, 3-7 fruits are grouping with their short fruit stalk as if they are attached to the stem. In addition, kupa skin fruit is not as smooth as jaboticaba.

Cauliflori

From the information collected, jaboticaba becomes the term for some different species which has an identical nature: complex flowers which appear on the stem, not on the edge of the branch-cauliflori. Despite so, according to the latest nomencalture of Kew Botanic Garden-one of the oldest botanical garden in the world-the Plinia cauliflora species is called jaboticaba. The name is synonym to Myrciaria jaboticaba, Eugenia jaboticaba, and Plinia jaboticaba.

Nevertheless, there is also an opinion which says that there are 2 types of plants known as jaboticaba, i.e., Myrciaria jaboticaba and Myrciaria cauliflora. Myrciaria jaboticaba has a smaller fruit size, with diameter around 1-2 cm, and dark fruit stalk. On the other hand, the fruit of Myrciaria cauliflora is bigger and the fruit stalk is short thus it makes the fruit seemed to attach to the stem.

'They are actually in one species, the only difference is in the fruit shape,' said Greg. Some Myrciaria cauliflora are big and sweet, called jaboticaba assu paulista, and some are smaller with a higher acid level and usually used as jelly ingredient called jaboticaba ponhema.

To be different with Myrciaria jaboticaba, jaboticaba cuscuda has a quite taut fruit skin that makes it is less cultivated, which is called jaboticaba cuscuda. On the other hand, jaboticaba pingo de mel has a smaller size with diameter 1-1,5 cm and it tastes like the 'not too sweet' mountain apple Syzygium malaccense.

Subtropical

Referring to Nesia Artdiyasa's traces, a Trubus reporter, jaboticaba is rare to be found in Indonesia. The plant which are mostly found in South East Brazil which has a subtropical climate, can only be found in Bogor Botanical Garden and Cibodas Botanical Garden. 'Naturally, for the tropical climate, it can grow well, but the flowers are not as many as in its original habitat,' Yayan said, a researcher staff of Myrtaceae division, Bogor Botanical Garden.

Bogor Botanical Garden has had 4 collection of Myrciaria jaboticaba since 1930. The plants are from Port Louis, Mauritius, Africa. The plants which usually bloom in August until September grow well, but the flower is not always abundant.

It is different from Taiwan which has a subtropical climate. That lancet leaves plants bear fruit rapidly in Pan's garden. It is obvious why the alumnus of Chao Zhao Academy has the guts to open a commercial garden. He brought in the mother tree from Hawaii, USA, 24 years ago. That mother tree yields seeds for his own necessity and to be sold as fruits in containers.

For the last 10 years, the 53 years old man has sold 50.000 seedling 50 cm tall with the price 100 NT or equal to Rp26.500 per plant. That amount is added to 4.000 plants, 1,5 m tall, 4 years age, with the price 4.000 NT, and 8-10 years old tree worthed 6.000 NT per plant.

Now, Pan's garden which was built 11 years ago has been productive. 'The first great harvest was in 2006,' he said. The crops were sold 500 NT or equal to Rp132.500 for 50 fruits. (Nesia Artdiyasa/ Reporter: Rosy Nur Apriyanti and Sardi Duryatmo)

Trubus 456, Pages: 128-129