Kubal
Willughbeia angustifolia
A forest climber with edible ripe fruit, but little practical guidance for the home cook.
Find it near DetroitGet to know it
Kubal is a forest fruit with soft orange pulp, a sweet-sour taste and a slight mouth-drying edge. In Borneo it is also called serapit or kubal madu. It grows on a woody climber that can reach high into the crowns of forest trees.
What it is
The rounded fruit can be about the size of a tennis ball. Its skin begins green, turns yellow, then takes on reddish-yellow tones as it ripens. Inside is juicy, golden-yellow to orange flesh. The skin contains latex, a sticky sap; when that sap mixes with the pulp, it spoils the pleasure of eating it.
Where it comes from
Kubal, Willughbeia angustifolia, belongs to the dogbane family. Its native range stretches from India’s Nicobar Islands through western Southeast Asia to Buru in Indonesia’s Maluku Islands. On Borneo it grows in Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei and Kalimantan. Serapit is its name in Sabah and kubal in Sarawak; surapit and kubal madu are other names for the same fruit.
How it's eaten where it grows
In its home range, ripe kubal is occasionally gathered and eaten fresh, just as it comes. The orange flesh is sweet and sour at once, with a little astringency: the drying feeling on the tongue. Eaters take care with the latex from inside the skin, because once it touches the flesh the fruit tastes less pleasant.
How it's grown
Kubal grows as a vigorous woody vine in humid tropical forest. Its stems can reach up to 60 m (197 ft) long, climbing other trees to reach the canopy. Glossy green leaves and fragrant flowers grow on the climbing plant. The fruit is usually gathered from wild vines, although kubal has also been grown at Taman Pertanian Sabah.
When and where you'll find it
Kubal’s food use centres on fruit gathered locally in its native range. In the US, the seed seller Trade Winds Fruit lists Willughbeia angustifolia under the name pitabu. That listing is for growing the vine, which needs a humid, tropical climate.
Get it near Detroit
What it tastes like
Kubal madu (also called serapit) is a little astringent, with a sweet-sour taste.
The pulp is soft and juicy, described as similar to orange sherbet.
Choose, eat
1ChooseYellow to reddish-yellow
Look for
- Yellow to reddish-yellow
Kubal madu is green when unripe, turning yellow and then reddish-yellow as it ripens.
2EatPulp
Eat
PulpThe ripe orange-yellow pulp is eaten fresh. Avoid letting the skin's latex mix into the flesh, since it makes the fruit less pleasant to eat.
Detroit, Michigan
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Sources
Sources
Kubal · Fruitopia · checked Sep 23, 2026