We are forever grateful for the many ultra rare fruit trees that Joe shared with us this year to support my daily planting mission. After 363 days of planting something every day, our food forest is like a mini arboretum by now. I’m happy to report that all of the trees are growing well!
Today I planted a Xanthophyllum amoenum also known as buah langgir which is a rainforest tree from Sarawak, Malaysia. It produces a sweet and sour fruit that the kids like to eat like candy. The shells of the fruit are full of saponin and can be dried and mixed with warm water to produce a natural frothy shampoo thats been used by the indigenous peoples for ages.
Scientists are looking into the potential of developing a natural polishing agent with buah langgir to substitute synthetic metal polishes which is harmful for aquatic life and the environment.
One of the funniest things that happened this year is that I was researching one of the plants that I got from Joe and the first YouTube video that popped up was one with him featured in it. MAHALO X1,000,000 Joe!!!
Originally posted on 2021-12-29, part of the daily planting journal behind Ha’a Chocolate’s food forest on Hawai’i Island.