I managed to find a spot to plant a santol tree that I got from Joe. These trees can get pretty tall and I’ve been always searching for one to plant. It’s a tropical fruit from Indo-China and Malaysia. The fruit can be eaten fresh and it has a sweet and sour taste. It’s full of pectin so it’s great for making jam, jellies, syrups and there seems to be some sort of soaking and re-heating process to extract the flavor. In the Philippines the fruit is cooked in a variety of ways. Grated into stir fry, stewed with fish or poultry and turned into desserts too. It seems like it goes well with sweet, sour, and spicy recipes which Julia and I really love. Can’t wait to try it out.
Originally posted on 2021-11-04, part of the daily planting journal behind Ha’a Chocolate’s food forest on Hawai’i Island.