Do you know what is Tico Berry?
Have you ever heard of Tico Berries?
I think most Malaysians would have never heard of tico berries until they watched the 47th episode of Ugly Betty titled, "Ugly Berry". In this episode, Ugly Betty found out that super sexy super gorgeous supermodel Adriana Lima was a fan of this super rare fruit, the tico berry!
Is tico berry a fictitious name created for the show?
Well, most of us who saw the ' rare berry' know that it looked like our rambutan. If you google for tico berry, wikipedia will lead you to rambutan!
Rambutan is a Malay word. "Rambut" means hair while "rambutan" means lots of hair.
This is a young rambutan tree at KLCC Park. It is our indigineous tree. Rambutan trees grow wild in the tropical rainforests of Malaysia and Indonesia.
In the "Eat, Pray, Love" movie, Julia Roberts and her Brazilian partner went shopping at the wet market in Bali and came across this exotic, 'hairy fruit' called the rambutan.
Scientific name: Nephelium lappaceum
Family: Sapindaceae
Common name: Rambutan
Origin: Malaysia, Indonesia
Sapindaceae is also known as the soapberry family and it include lychee, longan, maple and horse chestnuts.
“We Have Tico Berry at KLCC Park”, a copyrighted post, was written for My Nice Garden blog by Autumn Belle @ http://www.mynicegarden.com/ on November 5th, 2010.
The rambutan fruits turn from green to bright red or yellow when riped.
Rambutan trees are commonly found here, especially in the villages and countryside. When I was little, we had a rambutan tree in my house compound. Whenever rambutans were in season (usually twice a year), the tree would be loaded with rambutan fruits and we would have so much we could not finish all, so we distributed them to our neighbours in bunches and baskets. The tree was just next to my bedroom window and I used to fantasized how nice it would be if there was a tree house/playhouse with a ladder from my window to the tree!
If there was a rambutan tree at home, there was bound to be a family member who can climb this tree. In my case, it was my dad. Some moms, grandmas, sisters and kids could achieve this feat too. It was quite necessary to climb the tree to harvest the fruits, eventhough we had a long stick or pole with hook attached. When rambutan fruits were not in season, people might also climb the tree e.g. to get a clearer view of certain exciting events or happenings, e.g. a street magic show, street medicine man demonstrating his stuff within a large crowd of people. That was old times, old times .....
When I got married and moved to the city, I had a big rambutan tree, a jackfruit tree and also 2 mango trees in my corner house compound. The trees provided shade for my children to play their outdoor games and they enjoyed riding on the wooden swing that was tied to the branches of our rambutan tree. It was home to the birds, some ferns and even provided food for the bats. It also was a good aiming target for some neighbouring kids to practice their lastic (catapult) skills on the poor little tweety birds.
When I moved to my current house, the new owners didn't want any plants or trees because they wanted to cement the whole area for parking their lorry and cars. I had to cut them down. Soon the trees were gone forever, and now, only cherised memories remain.
The rambutan is closely related to the lychee and longan. To eat the fruits, we need to peel off the skin first. We can just do this using our fingers. We eat the whitish, translucent flesh wrapped around the single seed. The best varieties have thick, sweet flesh. Rambutans are full of vitamins and minerals. When buying rambutans, it is better to select those that are still attached to the branches as these fruits last longer in storage.
As a safety precaution, we do not give the whole fruit to young children as they may accidently swallow it and choke to death. You can see that the fruit is round and slippery, so we peel off the flesh before serving it to them. Peeled rambutan flesh can be easily stored in the fridge.
Rambutan flesh can be used to make rambutan jam. You can buy canned rambutans stuffed with pineapple and use them to make fruit punch.
Rambutan trees can be propagated from seeds, by air layering or grafting.
Andrea has a picture of the young shoots of the rambutan tree in her latest post titled, "New Growths New Life!
Do try the rambutan when you visit Malaysia!
Do you have a rambutan story to tell?
Wishing all my Hindu friends,
Happy Deepavali!
Updated: 1st Feb 2013
The following are some pictures of a matured, fruiting rambutan tree taken in Kampung Baru Kampung Timah in Tanjung Tuallang.
Good morning Autumn Belle, it's 5 min after midnight and both of us are still awake. I've just posted the young shoots of rambutan, we have to make links, hehe. You have not commented so i still do not answer my question. BTW, the species is not lepaceum as you wrote it but lapaceum, just to correct your typo error. I hope i am the first commenter as there is nobody here in your post yet.
ReplyDeleteThose are some funky looking fruits. I would never guess that they are edible. Thanks for the information!
ReplyDeleteRambutans are yummy. There are quite a few trees growing where I used to live near Cairns in northern Australia. I didn't know they have originally come from Malaysia.
ReplyDeleteWe call them rambutan as well. Yummy!
ReplyDeleteAndrea, actually I was already fast asleep and dreaming by midnight. This is a scheduled post. So sorry I missed your midnight appearance ;-D
ReplyDeleteI'm so delighted we can link to each other's post again. Thanks for the spelling correction. I can always count on you to check on me and I like this, haha!
Rosey, they look and taste quite like lychee. I hope you can find canned rambutans at the grocery stores near your area. You can make some fruit punch.
Aaron, tico berry sounds glamourous and rambutan sounds exotic.
Missy, it would be so unique and exotic to have rambutan trees in Australia.
Bom, our contries do have many similarities, e.g. the climate, culture and even the language terms.
Autumn Belle, I have tasted Rambutanin Hong Kong. I liked them. It is a pity you had to cut down the tree.
ReplyDeleteI love tico berry! Now I know the other name. Happy holidays :)
ReplyDeleteTico berries indeed! Good old rambutan is a must-have when I was pregnant with my 3 sons everyday without fail..even when not in season, I have to have the canned ones! Happy weekend..
ReplyDeleteI certainly learned something here today...thanks!
ReplyDeleteTico berry, the name tickled me:). I like the yellow rambutan better. Although the red one are much juicier.
ReplyDeleteTico berry aka rambutan. That's a hairy new word I learned today. tQ
ReplyDeleteThe first thing we did when we moved into our house was to chop off the rambutan tree in the yard, as it attracted so much ants and termites to our home. Last week, our neighbour behind, chopped off their rambutan tree too. It's ok, we still have FOC rambutan from our another good neighbour next door :)
ReplyDeleteThat's news to me. Thanks. Fyi, I have 2 mango trees, a jack fruit tree and a rambutan tree but they are all still small.
ReplyDeleteI know the Rambutan, but did not know
ReplyDeletethe name Tico Berry. I wished to grow it in my garden, but it is not tropical enough. I can grow Litchis.
It is a wonderfully useful tree. You have provided excellent information about it. Well done.
I love rambutans (almost as much as mangosteens!). I used to live in Malaysia, and these fruits were a favourite tea-time treat for us. Unfortunately we can only get them very rarely in the UK, and they are often old and brown by the time they reach us. Now tell me about the Durian please...
ReplyDeleteI am very envious! I planted some seeds last year, they were all doing well but couldn't survive after about 7 inches. Wahwah! I would love to know how you are so successful with them. I love rambutans!
ReplyDeleteI did think it was a lychee. I have heard of rambutan but didn't know what it was. This is an interesting post. I like to learn a little something.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite fruits! I consider them as lychees as well. I splurge every year when it's lychee season and they are sold off the streets of New York City...ridiculously expensive but, YUM!
ReplyDeleteRambutan! Is it the season now?
ReplyDeleteYummy rambutan! I have a yellow variety in my garden. it is one of my favourite fruits. Just waiting for it to flower.
ReplyDeleteWow...very interesting! I am not very good at growing things..but I try. I've never understood cutting down trees! For a parking lot?? *sigh*
ReplyDeleteLoving your photography.... can't wait to return to see what you share next.
ReplyDeleteI had these at Thailand when on a visit there. I found them delicious.
ReplyDeleteI always see something I would not have seen otherwise when I pop over here! I love the way they look!!!!
ReplyDeletethanks so much for linking in. I know I haven't been around much lately...hope to change that soon
Thank you for such an interesting article!
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of such a plant.
If you visit Malaysia, do try this fruit if you see it on the stores. It is a seasonal fruit.
ReplyDeleteVery informative and interesting article to read. I'm from Malaysia but I never really think much about rambutan fruit. I just like the idea that in Malaysia we add "an" at the back of the word when it refers to "a lot". So since it appears to have lots if hair (rambut), the name is rambutan. Just like durian got a lot of "duri"(torn).
ReplyDeleteSkrona, in the old days in the kampungs, the rambutan tree is so common, it is a part of our house, just like the banana and coconut palms. Foreigners regard the rambutan fruit as an exotic, tropical fruit and may need to learn how to open it to eat the flesh.
Deleteis rambutan can treat kidney stone?
ReplyDeleteCy Vergara, I am not sure about this because I am not an expert in medical treatments. I'm so sorry about this.
DeleteWe had a rambutan tree when we first moved to Klang. My pet monkey KiKi lived on that tree!! Rambutan are so delicious but can be annoying to eat if they stick to the seed! Wish I could grow them in San Diego. I am so sorry you had to cut down all your fruit trees :( When did you move? Are you still in the house where the Bunga Kantan is almost to the 2nd storey????
ReplyDeleteMom on Blog, hahaha! I used to dream about having a monkey as a pet when I was little. I moved house about 8 years ago. The BKs (in the ground and in flower pot) is growing in my current house.
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