Pudau

What it is

Pudau's botanical name is Artocarpus kemando. The rounded or slightly oval fruit cluster reaches 4.5 by 3.5 cm (1.8 by 1.4 in). Its skin is light green at maturity and can be smooth or knobbly.

What looks like one fruit is a cluster of much smaller fruits, each up to 8 mm (0.3 in) long. The flavour is mild rather than sweet.

Where it comes from

Pudau is native to Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra and Borneo. In Sarawak, pudau is a Malay and Iban name; in Sabah, it is called pudu. Kemando comes from a Sumatran name for the tree.

In Singapore it grows in the Central Catchment Nature Reserve, including Nee Soon Swamp Forest. It is critically endangered there.

How it's eaten where it grows

Pudau is harvested from the wild and eaten locally. The small fruit has about eight segments, all edible, with little waste.

The tree also supplies milky latex. Small amounts can stand in for milk in cold sauces, and it tastes like coconut milk.

How it's grown

Pudau grows in lowland evergreen forest, often on swampy ground. The tree reaches 35 m (115 ft), with short supporting flanges around the base of its trunk. Both male and female flowers grow on the same tree. Fruit clusters sit beside the leaves or on twigs just behind them. New trees grow from seed.

When and where you'll find it

Pudau is mostly a wild fruit, harvested and eaten where it grows. Outside its forests it turns up as a tree to plant: Veliyath Gardens, a nursery in Aluva, Kerala, in India, lists pudau seedlings, also naming it Padau and Squirrel's Jack.