The Sour-Sweet Tampui Fruit

Tampui (Baccaurea macrocarpa) is classififed in the family Phyllantaceae. This plant is close relatives to menteng and rambai, but the size is bigger and more thick-skinned.

This plant with the height 5-27 meters also known as merkeh (Kelantan); tampui leaves, tampui moon (Sumatera); medang, tampui (Bangka); pasin, pegak (Dayak Tunjung); tampoi (Dayak Iban); jentikan (Kutai); and tampoi (Kedayan).

Tampui fruit have sour and sweet taste but aside from this unique taste, people also looking for tampui fruit because it can bring the old memories. When childhood time the people in the villages especially from Riau province used to eat tampui fruit. Because tampui is one of the remaining fruit in Riau at that time, but now we are rarely seen this fruit anymore.

We can only find the tampui fruit in the certain time, because tampui is not planted yet then we have to search in the wild. During the time people pick up tampui fruits from the forest then eat for themself or sell the fruits in traditional market.

Tampui fruits is arrange in a long bunches until 15 cm, with the branch thickness 4-6 mm. They have round shape but we called it “square fruit” with wooden thick skin, and brown greyish color in the outside. The fruit don’t have much seeds just around 3-6 seeds and covered by white, yellow, or orange color of coated seeds.

Sources :

1. Haegens, R.M.A.P. 2000. Taxonomy, Phylogeny, and Biogeography of Baccaurea, Distichirhops, and Nothobaccaurea (Euphorbiaceae). Blumea Suppl. 12: 1—216.

2. http://www.asianplant.net/Phyllanthaceae/Baccaurea_macrocarpa.htm

3. Edible Medicine and Non-Mecinal Plants. 2012, pp 236-238 (http://link. springer.com /chapter /10.1007/978-94-007-4053-2_32)

4. Arif Rudiyanto http://biodiversitywarriors.org/tampoi-tampui.html