Nipa palm fruit

What it is

The whole fruit cluster measures 20–25 cm (8–10 in) across. Each individual fruit has a fibrous coat, an angular tip and one seed inside. It is 8–11 cm (3–4 in) long.

The white, egg-shaped seed is harvested young for its jelly-like interior. This is attap chee: the chewy edible part inside the fruit's fibrous coat.

Where it comes from

Nypa fruticans is native to India and Sri Lanka, through Southeast Asia to New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Australia. It grows along calm estuaries and shallow lagoons where rivers bring in plenty of fresh water.

In Singapore, it grows in mangrove forests and in the freshwater of Kranji Reservoir. Nipa can grow with its roots flooded by fresh water as well as in coastal mud.

How it's eaten where it grows

In Singapore's ice kacang, attap chee sits with red beans and jelly beneath a mound of shaved ice. Colourful syrup and sweet corn top the mound. The young nipa seeds are usually boiled in sugar syrup before they go into local desserts.

The palm also supplies sweet sap from its flower stalk. That liquid can be boiled down into sugar or fermented into toddy and vinegar; it is a separate food from the seed.

How it's grown

Nipa's trunk runs sideways through the mud, mostly underground. Its upright fronds can reach 9 m (30 ft) long. It grows best in soft, silty mud beside calm waterways, and new plants can be raised from seed.

Male and female flowers grow separately on the same flower stalk. After fruit develops, air spaces in the seed and fruit coats help the young plant float away.

When and where you'll find it

In Singapore, look for attap chee at the bottom of a bowl of ice kacang. It reaches the bowl as a young seed boiled in sugar syrup, and its translucent-white colour and chewy bite stand out among the red beans and jelly.