Wow Amazing Fruits And Fruit Trees

 PINEAPPLE  (MNOAS)

You will find delicious pineapples all year round in Cambodia. Small and with a very sweet yellow skin, or a little bigger and sometimes a little acidic, you can eat them as is, or with salt and chili.

Pineapples are also used in cooking, incorporated into dishes, some soups for example –Somlor Mchour Yuon, or in stir-fry dishes.

2000 riel per piece, the smallest between 1000 and 1500 riel.

Season: all year

AVOCADO - (PHLAE BUTTER)

With a bit of luck you may find avocados in the markets during the season, in September, from the Mondulkiri region. However, avocado cultivation is relatively underdeveloped, so be sure to prefer local fruits, rather than those, present in larger quantities, imported from Vietnam.

BANANA -  (CHEK)

Bananas are extremely common fruit in Cambodia. Many varieties are cultivated, of which some better kinds, such as Chek Namva, medium-sized bananas with green skin, Chek Pong moan - chicken egg bananas - very small bananas with yellow skin, are eaten as they are, while d 'others will be better cooked for dessert.

We also eat some bananas that are still green, which taste relatively bitter, with other raw vegetables to accompany various savory dishes and meats.
On religious holidays, the price of the bunches can sometimes double, bananas being placed as an offering with other fruits in front of the altars of pagodas and houses.

There are around a dozen varieties of banana in Cambodia, but only one, Daeum Chek Chvear, is not usually cultivated by the Khmer people who believe, according to legend, that this banana is home to an evil spirit, Priey. Cambodians will therefore avoid having such a tree on their land, and by extension, some Cambodians in cities simply refuse to grow any kind of banana near their homes.

Banana blossom, Troyong Chek, and banana heart are also eaten in local dishes, in salads or in soups. As with the sugar palm, almost all parts of the tree are used, for food, but also suitable for other everyday uses. Banana leaves, for example, are commonly used as packaging, for baking cakes or dishes, or for transporting various items.

Season: all year

CARAMBOL -  (SPEU)

Starfruit is a fruit that is consumed mainly in the countryside. It is a fairly light fruit, rather tart, with a crunchy texture that may remind you of redcurrant. Like all fruits with an acid flavor, it can be eaten with a little salt and chili.

Fruit tree - Carambola - Cambodia

This fruit should not be consumed by carriers of Ksae Changkeh, a cord encrusted with prayers and incantations that can be obtained at the pagoda and whose magical effects are supposed to protect their wearer. Eating starfruit would nullify the power of this amulet ...

LEMON -(KROCH CHMAR)

he small limes found in Cambodia are delicious and widely used to flavor local dishes. We particularly appreciate it associated with a mixture of salt and pepper, Toek Ambel Mrech, which will accompany many dishes of grilled meat, beef, chicken, etc ...

It is also used to spice up soups, kouy tiev and other bobor ... As a drink, it is served as a juice, or with iced tea and ... lots of sugar!

Lime is also found in beauty salons, this time used in manicures for cleaning and whitening the nails of these young ladies!

We buy these little limes individually, between 300 and 500 riel per unit.

Season: all year

LEMON KAFFIR OR COMBAVA - (KROCH SAUCH)

Much used in local cuisine, Kaffir lime - or "laughing lemon" in Khmer - is a lime with thick, lumpy skin, extremely fragrant.
The zest is used to flavor dishes, and the leaves are often minced and incorporated into curries and other local spice mixes.

Cambodians believe that the kaffir lemon has the particularity of repelling snakes, and therefore, sometimes have them in the countryside around their property in order to scare away the unwanted animal.

Season: all year

COROSSOL - (TIEB BARANG)

Soursop is called in Khmer the “French cinnamon apple”. It is a large fruit with green skin dotted with small spikes, which, like the jackfruit, grows directly on the trunk of the tree.
The flesh, in which we find large black seeds, is white and soft and has a tangy flavor that can make you think of the taste of certain sweets… chemical!

Soursop drinks are also sold in cans. You will find them for sale under the English name of soursop. Soursop is delicious in a shake, with milk.

In town, around 7,000 riel per kilo.

Season: six months a year, peak in March and April. Fruits eaten during the rainy season can sometimes contain small worms.
 

KANTOUT

On the Daeum Kantout tree, the leaves of which are edible and very popular in Cambodia - we find in particular coating the naem, these small fermented fish pies - we also find very small edible fruits also, the size of a small cherry. , with a pale green or yellow color.

Eaten as is, these fruits have an extremely sour flavor, and, children aside, it is often preferred to enjoy them lightly marinated in salt and chili to reduce the acidic taste.

DURIAN - (TOURAIN)

Durian is a fruit well known to all, famous in particular for the strong smell it gives off, much appreciated by a good part of the locals - in Thailand it is called the king of fruits - for its flesh with texture and taste. so particular, hated by others who can hardly bear the smell, so much so that in some countries, it is forbidden to enter certain shops or closed public places in possession of a part of one of these famous fruits.

 Durian, tree and fruit - Koh Kong Province, Cambodia

In Cambodia, it is cultivated in particular in the provinces of Koh Kong and Sihanoukville, the Kampot durian remaining the most famous. It can weigh up to 5 kg, can be sold whole, or already peeled, in quarters, appearing in the form of quarters of moon with light yellow soft flesh.

This fruit is also used in many desserts, as well as in the Toek Kolork drink, a local fruit shake. There are now also durian flavored ice creams

NONI FRUIT -(PHLAE GNOR)

The Noni fruit is mainly known in Cambodia for its medicinal properties. It would be effective in particular to fight against various and varied ailments, including fever, malaria, bone fractures and rheumatism, intestinal problems, intestinal worms, and hypertension ... They grow on trees of rather large size that we find even in town. When ripe, the fruit takes on a pale yellow hue.

The young leaves will be used for cooking Amok and other dishes prepared with steam, they will give a special flavor to the dish.

DRAGON FRUIT - (SROKANEAK)

The dragon fruit is recognizable among all. With a thick fuschia pink skin, dotted with green scales and which gave their name to the fruit - in Khmer "dragon skin" -, the dragon fruit is a fruit produced by the pitaya, a cactus originally from South America, brought to Southeast Asia by settlers in the 19th century.

Pittaya cactus, giving dragon fruit - Ampe Phnom, Kompong Speu, Cambodia

In Cambodia, it is in the province of Siem Reap that the cultures are considered to be the best, giving a fruit with a sweet and juicy flavor.

The flesh of the fruit, which can be white or bloody, is dotted with small seeds similar to those found in kiwis. Its sweet taste is light, and refreshing.

About 4000 riel per kilo.

JACQUIER FRUIT - (KNAO)

Probably the largest fruit in Cambodia, not to be confused with durian, which has a skin armed with real spikes, the ripe jackfruit also gives off a rather particular sweet smell.

The fruit can sometimes weigh more than 35 kg, is difficult to peel, releasing a viscous substance quite sticky that will not come off the knife if you go wrong to loosen the pieces. We will often be content to buy a few wedges of fruit at the market. The flesh of each wedge, which is rubbery in texture, may be slightly crunchy if the fruit is not quite ripe.

Inside each quarter, you will find a large seed, which is also edible.
The jackfruit fruit is also present in various Cambodian desserts.

SUGAR PALM FRUIT - (PHLAE THNAOT)
The sugar palm is the emblematic tree of Cambodia. We take advantage of the whole tree, from the sap to the fruit, from the leaf to the trunk, used for the construction of small boats carved out of the trunk.

Sugar palm fruit wedges - Mqrché Central, Phnom Penh - Cambodia

The fruits, similar in size to a small coconut, come in clusters. You need a good knife to be able to extract the edible parts, in the form of translucent pebbles, with a light taste and a rather gelatinous texture.

Sugar palm fruits on a dessert stand - Old market, Phnom Penh - Cambodia

The fruit of the sugar palm tree is often found on the market dessert stands. We eat it mixed with a little water, sugar and coconut milk, and we can add other kinds of sweets presented on the shelves, according to the tastes of each one.

Season: all year

PASSION FRUIT -(PHLAE TONHAR - PASSION)

Passion fruits are cultivated in particular in the provinces of Sihanoukville and Kampot. Inside a purple-skinned shell, dozens of tiny seeds surrounded by orange-yellow flesh with a tangy taste.

In Cambodia they are made into delicious frozen drinks, prepared with crushed ice, milk, sugar and sometimes ... a little Fanta Orange!

SANTOL FRUIT -  (KOMPINGREACH)

The Santol fruit is a fruit that grows quite commonly in the countryside. It is a round fruit, varying in size from that of a large plum for the smaller ones and an apple for the larger ones.

The skin is thick and there are quarters with large pits inside. There is not much flesh around, which has a rather tangy flavor, sometimes a little sour at the start of the season. You can eat part of the skin, if you take the trouble to peel the upper part. The taste is sweeter. The whole peeled fruit is often eaten after being marinated.

Season: the season starts after the Khmer New Year in mid-April. The peak is the following month, when the fruits are the tastiest. We can still find it for a month or two afterwards, knowing that the period when the trees give the fruits of Santol tends to be less and more months long.

GUAVA - (TROBAEK)

Guava is also an extremely common fruit in Cambodia. The size of an orange, the fruit is green and hard. You will sometimes find more elongated guavas, a seedless variety, from Thailand. While the fruit can be eaten with the skin on, you should avoid eating the seeds inside, which can cause mild stomach pain.

Fresh guava

This fruit is eaten here with salt and chilli, or even sometimes soaked in Kapik, this odorous paste, to say the least, made from shrimp.

Guava leaves have deodorizing properties, you can rub them with your hands to get rid of lingering odors ...

LOTUS SEEDS - (KROB CHOUK)

Lotus seeds actually originate from the heart of the lotus flower. The heart, green, contains dozens of small seeds that you can peel and nibble on. Their taste is somewhat reminiscent of fresh hazelnut. They are sometimes used in desserts.

POMEGRANATE - (TOTEUM)

The Phnompenhois often grow pomegranate trees in their yard or even in pots on their balconies. You will also find them quite easily in the gardens in the countryside. There are several reasons for this.

At first it seems that the Cambodians give the pomegranate some magical virtues, repelling evil spirits. For example, sometimes a branch of a pomegranate tree will be placed in the bed of a child who is prone to nightmares.

The fruit is also valued for the shape of the pips which are compared to diamonds –Tbong Toteum are diamonds similar in size to the shape of pomegranate seeds. Having such fruits in your garden is therefore synonymous with luck and good fortune ...

Season: March April

JUJUBE - i(POUTREA)

Jujubes are small fruits with a core, similar in color to green apples, and whose crunchy texture and slightly acidic taste evokes the flavor of apple or plum.

Fruits the size of a plum are called Poutrea kilo, while small jujubes, the size of an apple, are called simply Poutrea.

These are the smallest jujubes, which candied, are appreciated in bong'aem domnab desserts, and have a taste halfway between prune and date. Dried, you can infuse them into herbal tea.

KVIT

Kvit is a round fruit, which young, with a very hard skin that must be broken to access a flesh that is also very hard white, sprinkled with edible seeds with a bitter taste and sometimes astringent.

Merchant from Kvit, by the road

It is also sometimes served marinated –Kvit Tram– in a vinegar preparation including salt, sometimes a little alcohol and chili. Ripe, the flesh of Kvit becomes tender and black, and it is eaten with sugar.

The ripe fruit retains this tough shell, but the inner flesh becomes soft and brown. The flesh becomes floury and takes on a flavor similar to the jackfruit fruit but slightly more acidic, and the fruit is eaten as is with a little sugar for dessert.

KROKHOB PREY

You will often find this fruit by chance, in a small corner on a market stall, at the end of the rainy season. Similar to a small plum, this fruit is hardly cultivated, so it is always “wild” and 100% natural that you can taste it. A fairly thick and crunchy skin, a slight tangy taste, small hard seeds dot the flesh of the fruit.

Count around 1000 riel for 200 g of fruit.

KROSAING

Krosaing is a cousin fruit of lemon, used in cooking to give a tangy flavor to dishes, especially in Somlor Mchour Krueng soup, or mixed with Prohok, which will then be grilled or steamed with chicken breast. minced port.

The flowers are edible and used to flavor Somlor Korko. The bark of the tree can also sometimes be used for making incense.

It seems that snakes like to climb these trees and bite these fruits which in turn will be toxic to the people who eat them. People living in the countryside, however, seem able to recognize these fruits which have become dangerous for health.

LITCHI - (KULEN)

Litchis from Cambodia are succulent, plump, juicy and sweet to perfection. Trees are not the object of cultivation, and grow in the forest where they are harvested. As the fruits grow high, entire branches are cut for ease of picking, limiting the number of fruit harvests ... As the forest shrinks, there is also less and less lychee on the markets. It was previously found in abundance in the province of Siem Reap, where the fruit has given its name to a famous mountain, Phnom Kulen.

You will sometimes find very small lychees, very similar to the Khmer fruit called Semoan, which, having the particularity of not having a stone, are commonly called Kulen Ktey, namely Gay Litchi.

LONGAN - (MINE)

Longan trees are one of the trees commonly found around houses in the countryside. They produce "clusters" of small fruits quite similar to lychees, the stone is smooth, brown and shiny, and the flesh is translucent, juicy with a strong sweet taste.

Season: peak in January, February

LONGKONG

The Longkong are small fruits of the pgniev family. They grow in clusters, between June and October. The skin peels off to reveal slightly translucent quarters of flesh, some of which contain small, bitter-tasting seeds. The fruit itself has a very pleasant and refreshing tangy flavor.

MAK PRENG - MAK PRANG

These small fruits, which are found during the months of March and April, during the hot season, have an appearance, texture and flavor quite similar to plum.

However, these two very similar types of fruit have different tastes. The slightly larger, orange-skinned Mak Prengs offer a very sour flavor, while the slightly smaller and yellower Mak Prangs are much sweeter.

Season: once a year, from mid March to mid April.

MANGOES - (SVAY)

There are dozens of types of mangoes in Cambodia. They are eaten green throughout the year, and you will find sweet and juicy mangoes at certain times of the year, during the hot season, the best, Svay Kaew Chin for example, being eaten in March and month of April.

These ripe and sweet mangoes are appreciated in desserts or in Toek Kolork, sometimes eaten as we see more often in Thailand, with sticky rice, Svay tom Bay domnab.

However, most of the time, they turn green and are eaten as they are as a snack with salt, chili or kapik. They are also often made with different dishes, and their tangy taste goes particularly well with fish, as in the Trey chieng Toek trey svay dish, made with fish sauce, a little chili and sometimes a few shallots.

Kaev Romiet mango harvest, on Silk Island, near Phnom Penh - Kandal, Cambodia

Season: Krau Rodeuv mangoes, literally "out of season", can be eaten all year round. For mangoes, ripe, sweet, the peak is in April. You can find green mangoes all year round ...

Mangoes are generally sold in "lots" of twelve. In season, count between 10 and 14,000 riel per batch for Kao Chin mangoes (around 2 kg)

MANGOUSTAN -  (MKOUT)

Mangosteen is a succulent fruit whose flavor of the flesh, sweet and juicy, is probably the origin of its nickname "the Queen of fruits".

Known in traditional medicine for its many health-promoting properties, the fruit has a thick purple skin, which hardens a few days after picking. Inside you will find 4-7 white quarters, sometimes containing a seed, which you can eat.

You will be able to know the number of quarters contained in your fruit before opening it by counting the number of branches of the little star that appears under the bottom of the fruit!
In Cambodia, the mangosteen from Kampot province are the most popular.

Season: from the end of April, throughout the month of May and the month of June. At the start of the season, count between 10 and 12,000 riel per kilo, in high season, you will find between 3,500 and 7,000 riel per kilo, the price varies according to the size and the origin of the fruit.

PHLAE KOUY

e Phlae Kouy is a small fruit whose tree is not cultivated. The fruits are therefore collected in the forest, once a year, and look a little like small figs with orange-yellow skin.

Ripe, the fruit is quite soft, and when you open it, you discover small stones, one or two, surrounded by an orange flesh that is both tender and stringy with a very sour taste. Some sap escapes and makes the fruit quite sticky. It is eaten, like all fruits with an acid flavor, accompanied by a little salt and chili.

In town, around 10,000 riel per kilo.

Season: around the Khmer New Year in April.

CYTHERE APPLE

In Cambodia, the cythera apple is mainly eaten green, while the fruit is crunchy and the flavor still sour. It is therefore often prepared with salt and chili, or marinated in vinegar, then served as a condiment.

They make very good salads,- Gnoam Mkak, usually accompanied by dried or smoked fish.

The Kythera apple season corresponds to the hot and dry season of the country, between the end of March and the month of June. However, there are fewer and fewer trees giving cythera apples in the countryside ...

COCONUT - (DONG)

Coconuts are everywhere! Widely used in Khmer cuisine, you can eat them fresh, and taste the sweet coconut juice, or use the flesh, which you can buy grated to prepare ktis, coconut milk often incorporated in soups, curries and others. Local specialties.

The juice of the coconut, known for its nutritional qualities, was used during the war to replace missing serums in hospitals and infirmaries.

As with mangoes and bananas, there are actually dozens of different types of coconut. You will particularly appreciate the Dong Phleung, with yellow skin and a sweeter flavor, and the Dong Pro'op, of which you will find street-side stalls (in Phnom Penh, not far from the Silab market for example), and whose the bark has been peeled until the nut looks like a drop of water.

Note that for some time now, the bark of coconuts has been used to produce a kind of ecological charcoal, which pollutes less, burns better and for longer, and which aims to limit wood consumption.

Season: all year round.

CASHEW NUTS - (SVAY CHANTY)

A cashew nut, is widely cultivated in the provinces of Kompong Thom, Kompong Cham, Stung Treng and in Ratanakiri. It seems that the majority of the production is exported to Vietnam ...

However, you will appreciate, in season, to know that the cashew tree produces not only cashews, but also an edible fruit, the cashew apple, similar to a kind of small pear of yellow or red color, and whose flesh, rich in vitamin C, has a very pleasant light tangy taste ...

The nuts, attached to this fruit, are only edible after the very hard and relatively toxic shell is removed.

OY AVG

Oy Moy is a fruit that looks like a giant bean. It is mainly consumed by children, who like to climb trees and nibble on the fruits, which when ripe, turn black.

Oy Moy Tree - Ariyaksat, Kandal Province, Cambodia

Can reach a length of more than 30 cm, this "bean" is eaten without the skin and has a relatively repulsive smell that does not give in to the strong enough taste and ultimately, not very pleasant ...

GRAPEFRUIT - (KROCH THLONG)

The local grapefruit is bigger than the pomelos we mistakenly know as grapefruit in France.

When ripe, its skin remains green and very thick - sometimes up to two centimeters thick - and its flesh, crunchy, can be sour or sweet, but retains a very pleasant slightly peppery flavor. It is eaten here without the skin and with salt and chili, or as a salad, served with dried shrimp.

Kratie's and Kampot's grapefruits are renowned for their sweet flavor.
Between 5,000 and 7,000 riel per piece.

PAPAYA - (LHONG)

In Cambodia, papaya is generally eaten green, in salads, Bok Lhong, whose recipe is similar to Thai Som Tam, or Gnoam Lhong. It is also eaten a lot marinated and grated, as an accompaniment to grilled meat, or incorporated into various dishes.

Not yet quite ripe, it will be consumed in pickles, in a slightly spicy preparation, Mam Lhong, an excellent accompaniment to beer or other alcoholic beverages served in beer gardens in the early evening.

Some ripe papayas for sale in front of a house - Angkor Borei, Takeo Province, Cambodia

Ripe papaya has a variety of tastes, but it can sometimes be delicious, fragrant, and sweet. Eaten too ripe, it takes on a very unpleasant taste. Papaya seeds, crushed and mixed with water, have very effective laxative properties.

POTATO PEAS

This fruit looks like a round turnip. It’s actually a crunchy root with a slightly sweet flavor that you will be invited, as often here, to nibble with a little salt and chili.

It is a so-called cold fruit, the consumption of which would lower body temperature, and therefore good to consume during hot periods!

APPLE OF LOVE OR JAMBOSE - (CHOMPOU)

The love apple is a very refreshing fruit, far resembling a small pepper, with a very light and crunchy sweet taste.

MILK APPLE - (PHLAE TOEK DAH KO)

The milk apple is commonly cultivated here. It is a round fruit, about the size of an apple, with a shiny and usually pale green skin that can also be purple depending on the variety.

The whitish juice that flows from the fruit after opening, similar to milk, gave the fruit the name. The flesh is soft, juicy and refreshing and sprinkled with a few large seeds that cannot be eaten.

Season: December to March.

APPLE CINNAMON - (TIEB)

Apple cinnamon, or tieb, is a fruit with sweet white flesh and a cinnamon flavor, whose green skin is made up of kinds of scales that easily peel off when ripe. The flesh, white and soft, is strewn with many small, black, smooth seeds with insecticidal properties.

The picked fruit is fragile, it should be consumed quickly after purchase.

PHLAE SODA

You will find this fruit mainly in the country markets, during the hot period in April.
The fruit is also sometimes called by Cambodians "baby poo" or Hach Kon Ngaet, due to the yellow and slightly soft appearance of the flesh once the fruit is peeled ...

PGNIEV

Pgniew are small fruits that are found in the markets during the months around the Khmer New Year, from March to April. They group together in sort of small clusters. Inside the fruit, you will find quarters that sometimes contain seeds that look similar to those of longkong.

The slightly tart taste is also relatively close.

Season: from late March to late April.

PRING

Pring are small fruits about the size of a small olive with a slightly astringent flavor. To break this rough feeling, you can add a little salt to it.

There is an expression in Khmer to compare a Cambodian with dark skin to this small fruit with a very dark color… Black like a Pring !!
Season: months of April and May.

RAMBUTAN (SAVMAV)

Rambutan looks like a lychee with pink and green hairs added. The flesh, a little more crunchy and less juicy, remains sweet and its taste can evoke grapes. The kernel, edible, is flatter and often stuck to the flesh.

Cambodian fruit tree - Rambutan tree - Koh Kong Province, Cambodia

It can be found in Cambodia cultivated in the provinces of Kampot, Sihanoukville and Koh Kong, or wild –sawmaw prey. It will then be smaller, its skin will be rather yellow and green, and the fruit more fragrant.

Count between 4000 and 6000 riel per kg, more for wild rambutans, almost impossible to find in town.

Season: wet season, May to October

SALACCA FRUIT

The Salacca fruit, growing at the base of sort of thorny palms, is a surprisingly not very popular fruit in Cambodia, as many dislike its slightly sour flavor.

Apart from a slightly repulsive appearance of a fruit in the shape of a large, hairy brown shallot, the interior of which is divided into two edible parts each containing a stone, the fruit of Salacca is a refreshing fruit, which we would eat a little like a candy, its tangy taste reminiscent of the scent of certain candies coated in acidic sugar that children love

SAPOTILE - (LMOUT)

Sapodilla is a fruit similar in size to a kiwi, and whose exterior appearance can evoke a potato ... The skin cannot be eaten, and after peeling the fruit, you will discover a yellow to orange flesh, containing a few seeds. very black and shiny. The flavor of ripe sapodilla will remind you of the taste of a pear, with a little caramelized touch.

Cambodian fruit tree - Sapotillier - Cambodia

In season, sapodilla is also used in Toek Kolork, the local fruit shake.
A local expression has it that someone who has drunk too much smells of ripe sapodilla. The smell given off by lovers of alcoholic beverages would thus be very similar to that of ripe fruit ...

Season: between Khmer New Year - mid-April - until the Water Festival, mid-November.

AMPEL TOEK

Ampel Toek is a tree of the tamarind family. Similar in appearance, it also produces bean-shaped fruits, which differ in color from the classic tamarind. Light green beans tinged with bright pink, these beans form small edible coils very popular with children.
The flesh, surrounding small black seeds, is white and cottony in texture and rather dry. The astonishing taste is at first reminiscent of a still green hazelnut, then takes on a pleasant sweet flavor.
You can hardly find Ampel Toek for sale in the city markets anymore. It is by chance that you will sometimes meet a vendor with a basket of Ampel Toek and it is in the countryside, by picking it up directly from the tree, that you will have the most chance to taste this fruit.