Once kids frolicked amongst fruit trees

Agnes Winarti ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sat, 06/21/2008 12:21 PM  |  City

ENDANGERED FRUITS: Jamblang, another rare fruit in Jakarta, used to be sold preserved by street vendors near schools, Jamblang trees were once a favorite for children to climb.(JP/J.Adiguna)

Years ago, it was not uncommon for parents to find their children at home with purple lips and tongues after playing all day long in the neighborhood.

"You've been eating buni fruit, haven't you?" they would ask.

Nowadays, trees bearing the sweet purple buni and many others backyard fruit trees once abundant in the city have become a rare sight for Jakartans.

"Those fruits have vanished from Jakarta in past years because much of the backyard-farming land owned by Betawi people has been sold for urban development," plant expert A.F. Margianasari "Riris" said.

"Most Betawi people have been forced to move to the outskirts of Jakarta, while their backyard farms have been turned into empty plots of land ready to be built on," Riris said.

Riris said the fruit grew incidentally in some backyards. "That's why, when the landowners move to other places, the plants were left behind unattended," she said.

Fruits native to Jakarta include the sweet yellow alkesa or sawo Belanda, the brown sawo Betawi, the duku Condet and the salak Condet, named after its home in Condet, East Jakarta. Jakarta is also home top the sour purple gowok, the sweet oval grape-like jamblang, the green-yellow fruit kecapi and the sweet and sour menteng.

"Some are now produced in the outskirts of Jakarta, like Depok, Bogor and Cileungsi," Riris said . "Sawo Betawi are produced in Depok, while duku Condet in Bogor."

Betawi resident Adi Purnama concurred with Riris that scarce land for community backyards was the reason such fruits have vanished.

"The last time I ate jamblang and kecapi was when I was still in high school," Purnama, 35, said. "I remember when I was still in elementary school, I bought preserved jamblang sold by street vendors in front of my school gate," Adi said.

He also still remembers how he often climbed jamblang and buni trees in his neighbors' backyards and even at the nearby cemetery.

He said he and his schoolmates used to eat kecapi after cracking the fruit's hard skin by clamping it to the school's gate.

"It was exciting for me as a kid to break and eat kecapi," said Adi.

RIPE RARITIES: Salak Condet, which used to be abundant in Condet, East Jakarta, is now rare in the city. It is now cultivated at the Mekarsari Tourism Park in Cileungsi, Bogor.(JP/J.Adiguna)

Buni, jamblang, salak Condet and alkesa are currently in season and can be found at the rare plant garden in Mekarsari Park. The garden has cultivated about 100 varieties of rare fruits from across the archipelago, 14 of which were once popular in Jakarta.

"When those fruits are ripe, we sell them at our fruit shop. When visitors see the fruits, they usually share memories about them with their children," said Riris, who is also head of food production at the Mekarsari tourism park in Cileungsi, Bogor.

Even though the fruits are not all originally from Jakarta, Riris said they were once popular among Betawi people because the fruit trees grew from generation to generation in most people's backyards.

"So, everybody knows them. Some areas in Jakarta are even named after the fruits found there, like Menteng in Central Jakarta and Gandaria in South Jakarta."

BACKYARD BUNI: The sweet purple buni fruit used to be popular with children, who often picked them from their own backyards in Jakarta.(Courtesy of Mekarsari Tourism Park)

Round and green Gandaria fruit is produced in Bogor and is used in the Gandaria hot sauce, popular among residents of Bogor, Bekasi and Depok.

"Gandaria is now sold at a higher price than it was previously," Riris said. She said duku, salak Condet, alkesa and sawo Betawi were among the few fruits commercially traded in traditional markets.

The traders are usually older Betawi people, she said.

Some fruits are worth ore than others "because some fruits are seen as second-class, like kecapi".

Riris said some fruit trees, like alkesa, buni and gowok trees, were now commonly planted on green lanes along highways, in city forests and parks, like the National Monument park and the Indonesia miniature park's bird park.

"The fruits are used for bird feed there," she said.

"Some housing complexes also plant the trees for their green spaces, but I doubt the people realize the fruits were once eaten by people," Riris said.

Adi also said local fruit had been replaced by fruit produced elsewhere.

Jakarta's markets have now turned into a haven for fruit produced elsewhere. Some are the Pontianak orange, the Indramayu mango, the Malang apple, the Bali salak, the Bali orange and the Palembang duku.

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