Kapundung

What it is

Each fruit measures about 2–2.4 cm (¾–1 in) across, with yellowish-green or reddish skin. Peeling it exposes the fleshy covering around the seeds, which clings closely to them.

The white-fleshed form is called menteng and the red-fleshed one bencoy. Both include sweet and sour fruits, so the colour of the flesh doesn’t tell you how sweet a mouthful will be.

Where it comes from

Kapundung’s home is western Malesia, where people widely grow it in Java, Sumatra, Bali and peninsular Malaysia. Besides menteng, Indonesians call it kepundung or bencoy, and Malaysians jinteh merah.

Its scientific name is Baccaurea racemosa. Rambai (Baccaurea motleyana) and Burmese grape (Baccaurea ramiflora) belong to the same genus of trees, but they are separate species.

How it's eaten where it grows

The peeled fruit is eaten fresh, or made into asinan, a sweet, salty, chilli-spiced fruit pickle. In Bogor, West Java, cook Binti Sae briefly cooks peeled menteng in water with sugar, sliced chillies and salt. As it cools, the fruit’s sourness flavours the liquid.

In nearby Depok, cook Vel Ka adds chopped apple and pieces of menteng’s inner rind to the mixture, then serves it chilled. The pickle makes use of the rind as well as the flesh around the seeds.

How it's grown

Kapundung grows into a tree 15–25 m (49–82 ft) tall with a dense, uneven crown. It thrives in humid tropical lowlands; wild trees also grow as high as 1,000 m (3,280 ft).

Male and female flowers grow on separate trees. On females, flower strings 10–20 cm (4–8 in) long grow from older branches or the trunk. Growers can copy a fruit-bearing tree by air layering, rooting a branch while it is still attached, or by budding.

When and where you'll find it

Menteng has grown scarce in markets, but in Bogor it is still widely sold at traditional markets, and some sellers set up around the railway station. In Jakarta, look around Ragunan. Travelling fruit sellers are another local route: Binti Sae bought hers from one in Bogor, two bunches of about 40 fruits for her asinan.