Wednesday, January 31, 2007
1/31/2007 11:21:00 AM

Buah Terap - Exotic Tropical Fruit

posted by Francis Ho

I took my old classmate Tiong Kiat, who now lives in Auckland and works at the University of Auckland's Bioengineering Institute as a Systems Manager and her ten year old daughter Kimberly (who loves kayaking), when they were on holidays in Kuching; out kayaking at Borneo Highlands. Tiong Kiat is only one of a handful of people I know that writing code in assembly language is “easy”! To say that he is ‘smart’ is an understatement and Tiong Kiat was horrified to learn that an almost as smart classmate like me does not know what it is, much less tasted a ‘buah Terap’ – one of the mandatory exotic fruits he must take whenever he visits Sarawak; when we chanced upon some villagers at Kg Danu returning with their harvests of fruits which included buah Terap. Incidentally, 'buah' in malay means 'fruit'.

So after he left Kuching, I resolved to find out more about this mysterious buah Terap, whom Tiong Kiat claimed tastes better than durians! That I would certainly like to find out!
And as luck would have it, on one of my weekend kayaking trips where we take out at Kg Git; I sawnot one but a big pile of the buah Teraps at the patio of one of the houses in the village! The house owner confirmed that it was indeed buah Terap and showed me the huge tree that grew next to the river that bore these fruits. The tree must have been over 3 stories high and there were still some hard to reach fruits up on the tree. The tree would only fruit once a year and not every year. So it's a rare treat when the fruits are in season which must also be plucked while still on the tree as by the time it fully ripens, the fruits would fall and get smashed on the ground as the outer shell would be soft and not protective. It is not readily available in the market and are sold quite expensively; assuming that you can even find them. So it was my lucky day.
I was given 3 fruits and told to wait for a couple of days for it to ripen fully before eating. The fruit would give off a nice distinctive fragrance and would open easily then. Finally after the third day I opened one of the fruits and tasted my first buah Terap which to me tasted a bit ike a chempedak -some similarity but more delicate, aromatic and sweeter. I like it but I still prefer my durians! Have anyone of you tasted a buah terap? I would highly recommend that you do!

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  At Wednesday, 31 January, 2007 Blogger day-dreamer said:

Buah terap? Tak pernah nampak...

Apa rasanya?

  At Wednesday, 31 January, 2007 Blogger Wuching said:

how could it be better than durians..chey!

  At Wednesday, 31 January, 2007 Blogger The Moody Minstrel said:

That sounds wonderful!
What's a chempedak?

(Damned ignorant Americans...)

  At Thursday, 01 February, 2007 Blogger batukawa said:

Believe it or not, I have tasted Buah Terap more than 30 years ago! But I think Chempadak is better especially if you have it in a river with your friends!

  At Friday, 02 February, 2007 Anonymous Anonymous said:

did you know that the terap seeds can be eaten as well? Just wash and dry them, then dry fry them in the wok. Taste like peanuts.


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