sALak

The salak, or snake fruit which grows in clusters at the base of the plant has dark-brown shiny skin which is tough.
It is originated from Indonesia but is now also grown in Thailand and Malaysia.
Surprisingly the rough skin is thin and easy to peel.
Inside you'll find a light-tan firm, dry and crunchy fruit divided into three or more lobes, usually with a single seed in the largest section.
The fruit has a tannin content and if it is not properly ripe, the taste can be unpleasantly astringent.
A ripe salak is always creamy yellow colour and has a sweet acid taste rather like a pineapple. Salak is not juicy which makes them especially convenient to peel and eat.
The fruit has the firmness of a carrot and a distinctively agreeable flavour quite unlike any other fruit.
Beside eaten in fresh, people in Medan (Sumatera Utara) also make this fruit into pickled or hot packed into syrup.
Recently there is another newly innovated clone, the salak pondos which can be cultivated in hydroponics method and harvest all year round in 2 years time.
It is sweeter and allows higher yield.

_SYARA JESSICA BALQIS_