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Welcome to the web page on tropical
fruits from the Pacific region, and
on curious attributes of these fruits:
We all know our typical
fruits, such as apples, pears, plums, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc.
We also know, that some of them, independently from the
excellent taste, nutritious values, and countless vitamins,
carry various other attributes and capabilities.
For example pears have the tendency to cause stomach
pains and release diarrhoea. But they also lower the
temperature and calm the temper. Forest blueberries
stop diarrhoea and solidify the stool. Cucumbers ease
and lower the pain of throat. Etc., etc. So it is also
about the time to learn the most basic kinds of
tropical fruits, their most important characteristics,
and the philosophy of their consumption.
Part #A:
Introductory information of this web page:
#A1.
What are goals of this web page:
The most vital goal of this web page is to
describe the key characteristics of tropical
fruits from the Pacific area. Especially
emphasized are these characteristics
which influence our health. Furthermore,
this web page also aims at the revealing
rarely known philosophies of eating
these Pacific fruits.
#A2.
What motivated me to prepare this web page:
Our planet has three
tropical areas, namely the American, the African, and the
region of Pacific. Although people plant many similar tropical
fruits in all these areas, for example bananas or oranges,
still each one of these areas have many other fruits - which
are unique just for it. For example, in the region of Pacific
quite unique is the fruit named "durian", which is not
planted neither in the American or in the African areas.
But what is much more important, in these three tropical areas the
culture, tradition, and the philosophy of eating subsequent
kinds of tropical fruits is drastically different. On this
web page I try to present tropical fruits that grow and are
eaten in the Pacific region. My experience with these fruits
originate mainly from Malaysia, although almost everything
that grows in Malaysia, grows also in all other countries
from the Pacific region, e.g. in Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo,
Indonesia, etc. Only that it may be known over there under
a slightly different name, and be eaten in a slightly different
form. The information presented on this web page about tropical
fruits from the region of Pacific, is characteristic mainly
for the culture, tradition, and philosophy of eating these
fruits in this Pacific region.
#A3.
The copyrights owner for this web page and for photographs shown here:
Photographs of tropical fruits which are
presented here, and also descriptions
of their taste, size, appearance, energy
content, and composition, are collected
and prepared by myself. Thus myself (i.e.
Dr Eng. Jan Pajak)
is the owner of copyrights for these photographs
and descriptions. Of course, I would NOT
have any objections if some readers utilise
selected from my photographs or descriptions
in their own publications - however under
the condition that in such cases they would
give some credit to my efforts and work
by adding a courteous comment near
such photographs or descriptions which
(the comment) would acknowledge my
contribution to documenting a given
matter, e.g. a comment of the type
"through the courtesy of Dr Jan Pajak".
The characteristics of tropical fruits, which are less
known to people, as well as philosophical aspects
of eating them, I am reporting here on the basis
of folklore descriptions that I heard and collected
in tropical countries in which these fruits grow, and
where people eat them on everyday basis. The majority
of these characteristics and philosophical aspects
I learned during my professorships in Malaysia
and on the tropical island of Borneo in years
1993 to 1998. While reporting these folkloristic
descriptions, I do not try to verify them from
the point of view how much truth they carry in
themselves, although if I know any evidence
in support of specific folkloristic claims, then
I indicate this evidence here.
Part #B:
The philosophy and culture of fruit consumption in the area of Pacific:
#B1.
Influences of ancient Chinese:
Ancient Chinese actually did NOT lock
themselves within the "Great Wall of China".
Their exploratory fleets travelled to various
parts of the world, while their traders kept
bringing to China everything that good the
world of their time had on offer. As I explained
this in item #E1 from the web page
newzealand_visit.htm - about message that God coded into hostile for humans conditions of Antipodes,
in ancient times exploratory fleets of
Chinese travelled as far as New Zealand.
But clearly warnings learned due to the
ancient knowledge of so-called "feng shui",
as well as the complete lack of any edible
fruits on Antipodes, caused that apart from
several exploratory arrivals, ancient Chinese
did NOT maintain permanent contacts with
ancient New Zealand, while completely
avoided arrivals to Australia. However, Chinese
knew perfectly well for thousands of years
that New Zealand does exist, and they knew
the exact location of it. They also recorded
in their chronicles every vital geological
event from New Zealand (e.g. they recorded
a powerful volcanic explosion which formed
the Taupo lake). The philosophy of Chinese
was such that if a given area had nothing
useful for sale, while the knowledge of "feng
shui" warned them against settling in that
area, then ancient Chinese stopped to visit
that specific area. In this aspect they drastically
differed from barbaric Romans, who used to
enslave every land that was unable to resist
them - even just for the sole pleasure of
having this land and ruling over it.
Chinese of course were very interested in
maintaining permanent contacts with countries
that produce, amongst others, tasty tropical
fruits. Therefore the culture, philosophy, and
tradition of eating tropical fruits in the Pacific
region is strongly influenced by the believes,
philosophy, culture, and knowledge of ancient
Chinese. We must remember that Chinese
since the oldest times visited these areas,
traded with local people, induced the demand
for specific fruits, and taught local tribes how
to eat properly these fruits.
#B2.
The philosophy of eating fruits and other foods disseminated around the world by ancient Chinese:
The ancient Chinese knowledge qualify all
fruits into several different categories, depending
on a type of energy that dominates in them. It deals
with fruits in a similar manner as it deals with all other
kinds of food, and also living organisms. According to this
knowledge, there are two basic kinds of energy, which can be
present in fruits, food, people, vegetation, etc. These are:
the energy "yang" and energy "yin". The energy
"yang" is the "male" energy, which in reference to fruits and
other food frequently is called the "heating" energy. In turn
energy "yin" is the "female" energy, which in case of fruits
and other food frequently is called the "cooling" energy.
Outcomes of my research on both these kinds of energy are
described in subsection H2 from volume 4 of the scientific
monograph which on my web pages is marked
[1/4],
and which carries the following editorial data: dr Jan Pajak,
"Advanced magnetic devices". (Notice that monograph [1/4]
has already a newer version, marked with the symbol
[1/5].
Copies of both these monographs, means
[1/4] and
[1/5],
are distributed free of charge from this web page via
"Menu 1" and
"Menu 4".)
Summarising this research here in one sentence, this male
energy "yang" is an ancient Chinese equivalent to all forms
of dynamic energy known to present science, means e.g. to
dipolar fields, to energies of flows, to energies of
acceleration, etc. In turn female energy "yin" is an
ancient Chinese equivalent to all forms of static energy
known to present science, means to e.g. monopolar fields,
energy of compression, energy of potentials, etc.
If a given fruit
(and also a person, animal, vegetation, food, etc.) contains
more male energy "yang" than female energy "yin", then
Chinese claim that it is of a "yang" kind, means it
displays the "heating" capabilities. Thus fruits of the
"yang" kind (and also all other food, people, animals
and vegetation of the "yang" type) are overfilled with
an excess of the male energy "yang" which frequently
in reference to fruit and food is also called the
"heating" energy. The ancient Chinese knowledge
recommends, that fruit and food of the male type "yang"
be eaten in moderation, especially if someone belongs
himself to the "yang" category (e.g. if someone is a
male - although one needs to be careful with categorising
people just because of their sex only, as there are females
in which also the energy "yang" may be this dominating
one). In turn, when we start to enjoy these fruits or
food and would like to eat a large quantity of it,
then ancient Chinese recommended to eat immediately
also a corresponding amount of fruit or food of the
female type "yin". To the category of male ("yang") type
of tropical fruits, means to the category of "heating"
fruits, belong, amongst others: durian, persimon,
ginger, lychee, langsat, longan berry, lotus seeds,
and several others.
However, if
a given fruit (and also a person, animal, vegetation,
food, etc.) contains inside more female energy "yin"
than the male energy "yang", then ancient Chinese state
that it belongs to the type "yin". Thus fruits of the
"yin" type (and also all other food, people, animals,
and vegetation of the "yin" type) are overfilled with
an excess of female energy "yin", which frequently is
also called the "cooling" energy. Ancient Chinese
knowledge recommended, that also fruit and food of the
female type "yin" should be eaten in moderation, especially
if someone herself belongs to the category "yin" (e.g.
if someone is a woman, although one needs to be careful
with categorising just on the basis of gender, as there
are males in whom also dominates the female energy "yin").
In cases when someone loves the taste of any "yin" fruit
or food, and wishes to eat a large quantity of it, then
ancient Chinese recommended to eat immediately after
them an energetically equivalent amount of fruit or
food of the male type "yang". However, in present days
this ancient recommendation does NOT need to be respected
so pedantically. The reason is that in present days the
majority of food eaten everyday by people belongs to
the "heating" or "wet-heating" category described here
(e.g. "heating" is everything that is fried, and also
all "fuzzy" drinks such as "coca-cola", "lemonade",
etc.). Therefore, in present days in our everyday diet
typically food from the "cooling" category is missing,
while we eat the excess of food from the "heating"
category. Therefore, everyday eating such a "cooling"
food to balance almost everything else that we also
eat and drink everyday, should be our highest priority.
In turn when we eat something "cooling", then we do
not need to compensate it by intentional eating also
something "heating". After all, this "cooling" food
itself is a balance to whatever we eaten previously.
To the category of fruits of the
female type "yin", means a "cooling" one, belong, amongst
others (in the order of their cooling power): mangosteen,
cucumber, pears, tapioca, tomatoes, coconuts, sea coconuts,
green bananas (e.g. from Ecuador), lemons, pineapples, starfruit,
melons, water chestnuts, and several others. (An interesting
on this list is our ordinary "European" cucumber, which displays
strong cooling abilities. About it in common use is even
a popular saying "as cool as a cucumber".) Amongst drinks,
"cooling" are, amongst others, beer and tea (but only this
tea which is drunk a la "Chinese" or a la "Japanese" style -
means without sugar and without any other additions).
Of course, the fact
that a given fruit or food is of a "yang" type does NOT mean
at all, that it does NOT contain any "yin" energy, and vice
versa. This is because the type to which a given fruit or
food belongs is decided by the excess of a given
type of energy that prevails in it. In this manner, e.g.
durian contains in itself both, the male energy "yang" and
also the female energy "yin". Only that it contains many
times more of the male energy "yang" than the female energy
"yin". If a given fruit or food contains in itself the
same amount of the male energy "yang" as female energy
"yin", then both these energies mutually balance each
other. In such a case ancient Chinese qualified a given
fruit or food to a "neutral" type. The fruit and
all other food of the "neutral" type are the most healthy,
and the most recommended for eating. Ancient Chinese claimed,
that if someone is capable and has a taste for them, then
in principle should eat almost exclusively fruit and
food that are energetically "neutral". Also one can
eat such neutral fruit and food in as large quantities
as only wishes. Their eating does NOT need to be balanced
later by eating an appropriate quantity of any other
fruit or food. To the tropical fruits of this "neutral"
type belong, amongst others: papaya, yellow bananas
(i.e. miniature bananas yellow inside, which grow mainly
on various islands from the Pacific region), oranges,
guava, dragon fruit, pomelo, apples, soursop, chiku.
The ancient Chinese knowledge distinguishes
also one more category of fruit and food, which
usually is called by Chinese the "wet-heating".
It is saturated by especially "sticky" kind of male energy
"yang", which after entering our bodily system displays
the tendency to chock our channels of energy flow and
does not wants to leave our system. Thus this "sticky"
energy heats us later sickly for a long time, frequently
leading to almost immediate illnesses. Ancient Chinese
used to recommend to strongly refry from eating these
fruit and foods, while if we eat them, we should do
this eating in a moderation. After all, if we eat too
much of them, then they are to induce an illness in us.
One needs also obey the rule, that after eating such
something that is "wet-heating", we should balance this
by an immediate eating something "cooling" (i.e. something
with the domination of energy "yin"). To this category
of "wet-heating" fruits belong, amongst others: mango,
mandarins, grapes, rambutan, chempedak, jack fruit,
and several other kinds of fruits. In turn the "wet-heating"
food includes practically everything that is fried in
a high temperature and in the presence of fat (i.e.
that is "deep fried" like potato chips).
According to ancient Chinese knowledge, the
whole skill of eating, in this also eating fruits,
and also the skill of maintaining our body in
health, depends on such consumption of fruit
and food, that both energies "yang" and "yin"
mutually balance each other. (After all, even the
current European saying goes that "we are what we
eat".) Expressing this in other words,
in order to be healthy, energies
of our body must by kept in the state of continuous
balance. If any of these two basic kinds of
energy begins significantly dominate in us over the
other kind of energy, then our body develops an illness.
Therefore, the most beneficial is eating of fruits and
food which is "neutral". However, if it happens that
we eat a large quantity of something "heating", e.g.
durian, then immediately afterwards we should also
eat energetically equivalent quantity of something "cooling",
e.g. after durian eat the same amount of mangosteen,
or twice as much pears - which cool a bit less than
mangosteen, or three times as much of a mildly cooling
melon, etc. Otherwise, the heating energy of the eaten
fruit or food, in this case durian, in males in which
normally dominates the "yang" energy, may cause e.g. a
sore throat during the night. Similarly such a night
sore throat may be caused in these males by unbalanced
"wet-heating" energy of a large portion of fried chicken,
or a large portion of deep fried potato chips (fritters).
#B3.
Influences of knowledge of ancient Chinese exerted on the eating traditions of Poland:
The above should be complemented with
the information, that
also in an old Polish cooking folklore, principles
of balancing the dishes from energies point of view
were used practically, which were very similar to
the principles used by ancient Chinese and described
on this web page (perhaps old Poland was also
influenced by Chinese via Tatars and Mongols).
My own mother originated from an old family of
Polish professional cooks, many generations long.
For example, my grandmother was a quite famous
professional cook which worked in many palaces
of her time, and also her mother and my
grand-grand-mother was a similarly famous professional
cook working in many palaces of her time. My mother
always kept repeating to us, which foods or ingredients
must NOT be eaten or mixed with which others, while
which ones should be mixed or eaten together. In the
stupidity and irresponsibility of young age, neither
myself, nor any of my brothers write down these
principles. So their secret my mother took with herself
to the grave. But now I am extremely sorry for this
my lack of foresight. The only lesson which I utilise
from these old reminders of my mother, is that I should
avoid eating meals that are designed by present "modern"
cooks, and mainly try to eat traditional dishes which
are known to people for a long time. The reason is that
present "modern" cooks compose their dishes in complete
ignorance of the empirical knowledge about the energy
composition of foods, which was gathered during centuries
of observations (no wonder that products of present cooks
frequently are called the "junk food"). Eating products
sweated out by present-day cooks frequently makes us
only increasingly more sick. In turn old traditional
dishes were composed according to this vital empirical
knowledge. So eating these traditional food maintains
our health. When I recall now these frequent remarks
of my mother about what and how should be eaten, or
NOT eaten, then whatever I am writing on this web page
about the culture and philosophy of eating that originates
from ancient Chinese, it turns out for me just to be
the refreshing and formalizing the knowledge which in
my childhood was served to me in my family home.
#B4.
A similar to Chinese philosophy of eating defined by ancient Indians:
Independently from old Polish kitchens,
similar traditions of three different kinds
of energy utilises in practice also the old
Indian kitchen. However, Indians use slightly
different terminology and different definitions,
which are based on statements of the Verdic
philosophers. According to these, the energy
contained in food can display one out of three
possible forms, which Indians call: sattva
(means "neutral", "pure", or "subtle"), tamas
(means "inertial", "tiring", "sloth"), and rajas
(means "energising", "hot", "active"). These forms roughly
correspond to kinds of energies contained in food, which
ancient Chinese used to call "neutral", "yin", and "yang".
Part #C:
General attributes of tropical fruits and their differences from European fruits:
#C1.
Fruits are not just food, but also natural medicines,
sources of various goodness, style of living, and
gifts from God:
Probably we all know an English proverb, stating that
"one apple a day keeps doctor away, one onion
a day keeps everyone away, one garlic a day keeps
even Dracula away".
This proverb contains two vital messages coded
inside of it, namely that (1) eating fruits shapes our
health and defines how we feel, and (2) that during eating
fruits is highly useful to know all their properties -
not just their ability to satisfy our own taste preferences.
This web page tries not only to review the most vital tropical
fruits from the Pacific region, but also for each such a fruit
provides these two vital kinds of information.
Very interesting are analyses of fruits as
gifts from God:
As it turns out, numerous fruits are carriers of rather
supernatural attributes. For example, coconuts
never fall on heads of people, means they have
"eyes at humans" (for details see descriptions from
item #D1 below). In tropics also a saying is in circulation
that "for every illness in existence
God
created a fruit which heals this illness".
#C2.
General characteristics of tropical fruits:
Tropical fruits display several general
characteristics, which are quite different
from attributes of fruits growing in other
climatic areas. Let us list here at least
the most vital of these characteristics:
1. Strong dependence of taste from the area of growth.
The majority of European fruits tastes almost the
same no matter where they are grown. For example
an apple harvested in Poland tastes almost identical
to an apple from New Zealand or Japan. However,
the taste of tropical fruits changes drastically with the
region of their growth. For example, "durian" from
Malaysia is the most tasty fruit of the world. But
"durian" from a neighbourly Thailand can be
swallowed only with a great difficulty, while "durian"
from Australia is simply inedible. Therefore,
while eating tropical fruits it is good to know where
these were grown. This is because their taste is
strongly dependent on the area of their growth.
2. Powerful aroma. Majority of tropical fruits has
a powerful aroma (smell). The power of this aroma
everyone can appreciate by comparing how insignificantly
smell e.g. apples or plums when confronted with the
force of smell of e.g. oranges or lemons. Unfortunately,
this smell NOT always and NOT for everyone is
pleasant. For example "durian" (discussed in item
#H1 below) is famous NOT only because it is the
most tasty fruit of the world, but also because it is
the most smelly fruit of the world.
3. Significant influence on health and feelings of eaters.
In Europe only some fruits influence strongly the health
and feelings of eaters. However, in tropics every
fruit exerts such powerful influence. Thus while
eating tropical fruits it is good to know what influence
they exert. In fact many traditional methods of healing
is based on utilisation of the influence of tropical
fruits on health and feelings of eaters - for details
see the web page
healing.htm - about folkloristic methods of returning to health.
4. Supernatural or paranormal attributes. In
previous item #C1 is emphasized that many tropical
fruits display characteristics which confirm them to
be kinds of
gifts from God.
This is because some of these characteristics are
almost supernatural (e.g. consider the attribute of
"coconuts" to never fall on heads of people, or the
attribute of "salak" fruit to meaningfully illustrate the
Biblical story about Eve and the snake). Other
in turn are paranormal (e.g. consider banana tree
which has the "spirit" which is so developed that it
can imitate the spirit of a human - for details see
item #D3 below). Therefore, otherwise than it is the
case with fruits from other climate areas, tropical
fruits or tropical fruit trees are frequently used for
carrying out various forms of magic. (Notice from
descriptions provided on the web page about the
theory of everything
called the
Concept of Dipolar Gravity,
that magic is simply the use of natural laws that
prevail in the counter-world for exerting influences on
events from our world".)
Part #D:
Descriptions of these fruits from the area of Pacific which display various supernatural attributes:
#D1.
Coconuts:
In many tropical countries coconut palms are
considered to be holy trees which were designed
especially by God to satisfy all basic needs of people.
(Notice that the holiness of coconuts is manifested
in there in a similar manner as in old Europe the
holiness of the "daily bread" was practiced - where
old-time Europeans used to say sorry to a slice
of bread when they accidentally allowed it to fall
on the floor, where old-timers never threw away
to rubbish even smallest crumbs of bread, and
where men used to take hats off from heads for
the duration of eating to show their respect to their
daily bread. Such manifestations of the respect to
"daily bread" were still practiced in Poland in
times of my childhood, means in 1950s.
Note that the holiness of daily bread, as
well as the holiness of coconuts, is also
discussed in item #F2 of the web page
bible.htm - about the authorization of the Bible by God himself,
and also in item #F2 of the web page
god_proof.htm - about scientific evidence for the existence of God.)
The holiness of coconut palms proves itself
because e.g. on small oceanic islands, on which
is NOT growing anything else apart from this palm,
in fact coconut palms are providers of everything.
In order to understand how immensely important
function the coconut palms perform in there, it is
enough to recall, that such sandy coral islands on
which these palms grow, are surrounded with undrinkable,
salty, ocean water and typically do NOT have
any source of fresh water. So coconut palms
are there the sole provider of even drinkable water.
In turn to understand how in smallest details God
designed coconuts in such a manner that they
best serve humans, it is enough to have a good
look at the coconut shells. This is because the
coconut shells are so hard, that on coral islands
where there is no clay nor metal for pots, locals
use these shells for cooking over a fire. So it
requires a significant force and excellent tool to
split these shells. (My first coconut, split on my
own without a consultation with locals, took me
a couple of days of occasional heavy labour.)
But because people in needs may NOT have
the required force and tools, in such super-hard
and resilient coconut shells God formed three
small soft holes of diameters of a typical straw.
Thus these people who know about these three
soft holes are able to insert a straw to a coconut
almost without any effort and drink its content
without a need to use almost any tool.
No wonder that in some religions, e.g. in Hinduism,
gods receive gifts from coconuts. The Bible says
that palm branches were placed in front of walking
Jesus. This holiness of coconut palms is there also
a source of the deep belief which prevails in
countries in which coconuts grow, namely that
coconuts never fall onto heads of humans.
Actually in many tropical countries, e.g. in Malaysia, locals
are saying that "coconut palms have eyes" - thus
they never drop a coconut on heads of humans.
I personally was very intrigued by this belief. So
whenever I had an opportunity to visit an area where
coconut palms grow, I always asked locals whether
they know a case that a coconut fell on someone's
head. I must confirm here, that in spite of my wide
and many years long asking I never encountered
a case that someone knew someone else on the head
of whom a coconut fell. Such a case would be quite
well-known, because the large weight of coconuts
combined with the significant height of coconut
palms, would cause that the fell of a coconut on
someone's head would kill such unfortunate person.
Of course, this lack of cases when coconuts fall
on human heads is something very extraordinary
and supernatural. It should be explained by the
"holiness" of the palm. After all, most of other
trees drop their fruits completely at random,
in this on human heads. I myself remember
a case when a falling apple hit me in the head -
fortunately was ripe and soft. In Malaysia grows a
tasty fruit which just has a size of coconuts - it is
called "durian" (described in item #H1 below).
It is commonly known there, that at the time
of durians' ripening, people should either
keep far from these trees, or wear protective "hard
hats". This is because heavy durian fruits fall "at
random" , including onto human heads. So it is
nothing unusual to hear over there about cases
of people getting hit by durian fruits.
Regrettably, someone clearly could NOT stand
this extraordinary attribute of "holy palms" and
decided to include also the holy coconuts into
the "scientific atheism". Namely, that someone
started to spread on the behalf of science the
untrue claims that supposedly in the world
every year dies from falling coconuts as much
as 150 people. These claims make falling coconuts
hypothetically even more dangerous than attacks
of sharks. Such false claims were disseminated in
so organised manner, that on their base various
insurance companies started to develop their
"coconut policies". Fortunately for the truth,
some scientists decided to get to the bottom
of the "research" on which the coconut deaths
claims were based. Outcomes of their research
were summarised later, amongst others, in the article
"Lies, damn lies, and 150 coconut deaths" from
page B9 of the New Zealand newspaper named
Weekend Herald,
issue dated on Saturday, April 12, 2008.
Searches of these scientists revealed, that
such untrue claims were made up in Australia
in 2002. (In the light of message discussed on
the web page
newzealand_visit.htm - about message that God coded into hostile for humans conditions of Antipodes,
we should NOT be surprised that these are
Antipodeans that try to lead in deviating the truth.)
Only then these untrue claims were disseminated
all over the world by an article in Daily Telegraph.
At the beginning these claims referred to the
publication of a Canadian professor, in which
there was NO quantitative data on this subject,
while the professor himself denied that he
ever accumulated such quantitative data.
Thus, in spite of the lies spread on this subject
under a smoke screen of the official science,
in fact coconuts never fall down on heads
of people.
On the subject of "holiness" of coconut palm that
results from the intentional design of this palm by
God so that it best serves to people, an old legend
from Pacific islands states as follows: "In old
times, when God still used to talk to people, inhabitants
of coral atolls asked Him as follows. God, to people
who live on large continents you gave extensive
forests which are full of various animals and trees,
rivers with fresh drinkable water, fields for planting
crops, paddocks, crops, fruits, various home animals,
and metals for tools and for pots. In turn to us you
gave empty islands on which apart from sand is
almost nothing else. So please gave to us something,
that is going to replace all these goods that You
gave to people who live on large continents. After
hearing this, God gave the coconut palm to the
islanders. This single coconut palm replaced by
itself all the goods received by people from large
continents."
In fact coconut palms seem to be the most useful
vegetation on the entire Earth. They grow on sandy
islands without rivers or lakes with fresh water and surrounded
entirely by salty ocean. Their roots are capable of taking water
if around only salty ocean water exists. Also practically every
their component has a multitude of different applications. For
example, trunks from coconut palms are used to build houses and
bridges. Leaves from this palm are utilised for weaving mats and
baskets, while extracts from these leaves are used for medicines
and in cooking. The sap taken from palms trunks, after being
boiled provides a tasty "palm sugar". In turn a liquid sap that flows
from a cut flowers of coconut palms, is actually a tasty and
immediately ready for drinking sweet alcohol drink called "toddy" -
of the taste resembling European drinking honey of a high quality.
In turn huge like human heads nuts of coconut palms provide an
entire array of useful products. The exterior, hairy layer of
these nuts, in English called a "husk", is used for weaving
strong ropes and for producing brushes and brooms. The hard shell
existing under this "husk" is used for production of various
containers and dishes. It is so hard, that on islands that have
no clay nor metals for making pots, it is used for cooking
above fire. Under this shell there is white, edible layer of coconuts, called
a "kernel". This kernel can be eaten raw or after being cooked.
After it is melted on fire it turns out into edible oil from
which some time ago "margarine" was produced. From this kernel
also a thick, tasty, "coconut cream", can be squeezed. In turn
after being mixed with water, this "coconut cream" can be turned
into "coconut milk". After being dried out, this white kernel
turns out into the so-called "copra" from which presently
several hundred different cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and chemical
products are manufactured. Finally the free space that is
contained inside of the "kernel" is filled up with a tasty,
healthy, "coconut water" which contains all ingredients
that people need for living.
Summarizing the above, truly there is no other
plant on Earth, which for people would have
equally many useful applications, as the coconut
palm has. No wonder that this palm is considered
to be a holy tree similarly like in the Europe
of old times people acknowledged the holiness
of the daily bread.
Fig. #D1a: A Malaysian coconut palm
with clearly visible coconuts.
* * *
Notice that you can see the enlargement
of each illustration from this web site. For this, it suffices to click
on this illustration. Furthermore, most of the internet browsers that you may
use, including the popular "Internet Explorer",
allow also to download each illustration
to your own computer, where it can be looked at, reduced or enlarged to the
size that you may want, or printed with your own graphical software.
Fig. #D1b: A cluster of coconuts on a Malaysian coconut
palm. The photograph taken in January 2004 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Each one out of these coconuts is of size of a human head. They
are still unripe and in the process of growth. In the state shown
here only the "coconut water" contained in them is suitable for
drinking. After maturing, their orange or greenish outer surface
changes into a dark-brown viscous cocoon, i.e. the so-called
"husk", in the centre of which a ripe, fully developed nut is
protected, with the content described below.
In many tropical countries coconut palms are
treated with the same respect as in Europe
of old times people used to acknowledge their
appreciation to the holiness of the "daily bread".
Of course, there are vital reasons for such treatment
of these palms. In fact, extraordinary attributes
of coconut palms provide us with yet another
example of evidence from the area of biological
sciences (in addition to the wealth of scientific
evidence that is already identified and described
in item #F2 of the web page
bible.htm - about the authorization of the Bible by God himself,
and also in item #F2 of web page
god_proof.htm - about scientific evidence for the existence of God),
which evidence proves the existence of God.
This coconut water has several priceless attributes
that really deserve the honour of a "holy fruit".
For example, it is sterile, contains all
ingredients that are necessary for life, and is very
tasty. Thus, in drastic cases it is used by doctors as a
replacement "drip" dosed directly from a coconut to veins
of people who need medical help or dripping sustenance to
survive. This water is also very tasty for a direct drinking
(I personally love the taste of it). In Malaysia it is called
the "lions' drink" because it enforces body and provides
sustenance to it, so that the consumer feels like a "young lion".
I personally recommend to everyone who arrives to tropical
countries: if you are afraid to drink in tropics anything
local to avoid a food poisoning, then instead of
drinking the bottled coca-cola which may contribute
towards a deterioration of your health, rather
drink sterile, tasty, and extremely healthy "coconut
water" which originates from holy coconuts.
Only make then sure that this coconut is open in
your presence, and also that you are allowed to
drink it through a straw directly from a coconut
shell - this will guarantee that the water
contained in it, and drunk by you, is still sterile
and fresh.
For the first time in my
life I saw a shell from a coconut in a miniature although intriguingly
equipped museum which in old times was located in glass cabinets
on corridors of the Primary School No 1 in Milicz. (I described
this museum in item 9 from internet web page on the town of
Milicz.)
In times when I was attending my primary school, a coconut was
almost impossible to see in Poland. So spoken stories, and also
this well exposed shell, indicating that somewhere in a distant
world there is a nut which looks almost like a Polish hazelnuts,
but which has a size of a human head, were really able to inspire
imagination of children. Actually it was this shell that inspired
in my day-dreams that one day I will be travelling through distant
tropical islands, where such coconuts grow, and that I will be
eating them in large quantities. (I believed than, that coconuts
are only a larger version of the well-known to me hazelnuts, and
that they maintain this excellent taste of the Polish hazelnuts.)
As all powerful day-dreams from the village of
Wszewilki,
also this dream has fulfilled. (After all, the village
Wszewilki
is a place where human dreams always come true.) In fact presently
I am relatively frequent visitor in tropical islands where coconuts grow.
Also I frequently drink "coconut water" from young coconuts, which
(the water) I like very much. However, it turned out that I do not
like eating coconuts because somehow they are not my favourites.
(I still prefer to rather eat hazelnuts, or the fruit of Malaysian
"durian" shown in "Fig. #H1a" and "Fig. #H1b" - which
(the "durian") is officially considered to be the most tasty
fruit in the world.
* * *
From the energy point of view, coconuts
belong to tropical fruit that are slightly
"cooling". In old days Chinese used to
recommend eating them in a moderation.
They used to also recommend, that after eating them, they should
be neutralised by eating an equal amount of something heating -
especially if the eating person is a women with a strong "yin"
energy. However, in present times this recommendation does NOT
need to be respected so pedantically, because we anyway eat too
much "heating" food - as this is explained in item #B2
from this web page.
* * *
The above could be complemented with
the information that in recent years a mysterious
illness appeared in tropical countries. It kills
palm trees in a similar manner as another
mysterious illness kills elm trees in Europe.
Because of this illness, palm trees are
disappearing recently with a shocking
speed. The description of this mysterious
illness in provided, amongst others, in an
article "What's killing the palm trees?" by
Randolph E. Mccoy, published in the Journal
National Geographic,
issue dated on July 1988.
#D2.
Oil palm nuts:
Starting from around 1970s, in Malaysia oil
palms gradually eliminate coconut palms
shown in "Fig. #D1". This is because the
nutritional value of small nuts from oil palms -
these shown in "Fig. #D2b", is even much
higher than the nutritional value of coconuts.
So practically at the moment almost entire
production of palm oil and palm margarine
in the world is carried out from these oil
palms, instead of (like previously) from coconuts.
A single nut from oil
palm tree has a size of European blue plum. The outer layer of
such a nut is composed of currently unused pulp similar to one
from our miniature wild "ornamental (Eden) apples". Inside,
under a layer of this pulp, a small "shell" of the oil palm nut
is located. This "shell" is of a size of typical hazelnut. But the
shell of it is so hard, that I had difficulties with cracking it with
the use of a hammer. (No way that someone could split it with
own teeth, like in Poland we do this with hazelnuts). Inside
of this shell, a solid "kernel" of the nut is located. The
kernel has the size and also approximate taste of European
hazelnuts. It is this kernel that is used for manufacturing
all the goodies produced from oil palm nuts. It presently includes
several hundred different products for consumption, medicine,
cosmetics, chemicals, etc. Of course, the most important out
of all these products is the "palm oil", which we later eat
in the form of a healthy, highly nutritious, and tasty "palm
margarine". So if the reader eats sometimes palm margarine,
it is almost sure, that it originates from "bunches" of tropical
oil palm nuts, shown here in "Fig. #D2b".
Supernatural attributes of many species of palms
manifest themselves, amongst others, through
synchronisation of their deaths. A number of
palm species, including the oil palm, dies after
producing fruits. What even more, some of these
palms, e.g. the famous "talipot palm" from India,
synchronise on the area of the entire world the
date of fruiting and dying for all of these palms
simultaneously. Also the "oil palm" described
here synchronises its dying. Namely, all palms
grown from seeds born in the same year die
simultaneously. In the result, in Malaysia sometimes
entire plantations can be encountered, which
are covered with just died palms. This is because
when these palms are planted at the same time,
then these also fruit and die at the same time.
This synchronisation of dying creates a "supernatural
component" in the life of these palms. I am
describing this component more comprehensively
in item #F3 from the web page
god_proof.htm - about scientific evidence for the existence of God.
It is worth to add here, that there are other species
of tropical vegetation, which also synchronise
their dying. An example of these can be a
specie of bamboo.
Fig. #D2a: Me (i.e. Dr Jan Pajak)
photographed on an edge of oil palm plantation. Starting from
around 1970s, in Malaysia one may drive many kilometres through
forests entirely composed of such oil palm trees. In fact forests
of such oil palm plantations are in Malaysia equally common
and equally sizable, like are pine tree forests in Poland.
Fig. #D2b: An entire "bunch" of ripe nuts from
an oil palm tree, that was cut out from an oil palm tree and
fell to the ground.
As this can be seen from the above photo, it looks slightly
similar to a bunch of our grapes. Such a "bunch" weights tens of kilos,
and usually is long at around half a meter. It is composed
of hundreds of small oil palm nuts. Each single such oil palm
nut from this "bunch" has a size and a colour of an European
blue plum (i.e. such still ripe incompletely and partially red).
#D3.
Bananas:
Almost everyone knows bananas.
In tropical countries they are one of the most basic and common
fruit. Various varieties of bananas are also known in there, not
just only a single "Ecuadorian" variety, which usually can be
bought in shops of Europe (and Poland). Each variety of these
bananas taste differently. Also each one of them is eaten in
a different manner and in different circumstances. The best known
such manner is the one which is shown on old films. It depends
on eating a banana in the raw form - immediately after it is
pealed from the skin. (Notice that on old films the empty skin
is typically left on a footpath so that a "villain" could slip
on it.) In tropical countries from the Pacific region in such
a "raw form" only two varieties of bananas are eaten. These
varieties include: (1) middle-sized (so-called "green")
"Ecuadorian" variety, which typically can be bought in shops
of Europe (and Poland), and also (2) miniature (so-called "yellow")
local bananas from Pacific islands. The (green) "Ecuadorian" bananas
have the white interior and are rather deprived of any taste.
In turn these (yellow) miniature bananas from islands of
Pacific have interior yellow-orange, are very sweet, and
have very strong, although pleasant banana flavour (i.e. their
flavour is several times more powerful than the one from Ecuadorian
bananas). The remaining varieties of bananas (there is a whole
range of these), are eaten mainly after being fried or cooked.
Independently from
eating bananas in a raw form, these extremely popular fruits
are eaten in many different processed forms. I personally like the most
two of these, namely a "banana milk shake", and "banana fritters".
The "banana milk shake" is a very tasty banana cocktail,
obtained through blending in a mixer one banana fruit together
with around a half of litre of milk sweetened to the taste (i.e.
in my case - with around 2 spoons of sugar being added). In
turn "banana fritters" are a kind of fried dessert, which
is very popular in exclusive tropical restaurants. It is made
through dipping a peeled banana (i.e. a banana deprived the
skin) in a liquid dough - identical to the dough which in Poland
is used for pancakes, and then throwing this banana to a
boiling oil. It is taken out from the oil immediately after
the surface of the dough assumes the golden colour - i.e. the
colour that assume deep-fried potato chips. "Banana fritters"
are eaten hot together with vanilla ice-cream (one portion of
ice-cream for each fritter). Before eating, these fritters
are additionally covered with a liquid caramel syrup. They
taste superb - I advice to try them.
However, inhabitants
of the tropical Pacific islands claim that bananas should
NOT be eaten when one has a cold of cough. This is because
they intensify the production of "flame" in the throat, and
also intensify coughing and sneezing. In a very similar manner
also oranges behave. Thus also oranges should NOT be
eaten in case of having a cold of cough. They irritate lungs,
throat, and nose, thus they also cause and intensify a cough
and sneezing.
All varieties of bananas
have the ability to regulate and to soften the products of our
digestive system. So bananas work opposite to the fruit "persimon"
described in item #I1 below. (After all, "persimons" cause the
solidification of the stool.) Bananas are also more gentle and
more safe than modern medicines. In addition to this, they
are a "natural" remedy for softening the stool. So otherwise
than modern medicine, they do not cause any "side effects".
For these reasons bananas are frequently used by various
mothers when their child gets a constipation. In past, when
someone got a constipation, then usually was eating a lot of
bananas. (I personally prefer to eat in such cases the moderate
climate fruits called "kiwi", which are more powerful than
bananas, thus in adults they stabilise the stool much faster
and more effectively.)
In a tropical Malaysia
a number of fruit grows, which similarly to bananas have the
abilities to soften the stool or to cleanse the digestive system.
An example of another one (after bananas) is "mango" described
in item #H4 below. However, the most famous out of these cleansing
fruits are: (1) a wild fruit from Malaysian jungle, locally called
"jering", and (2) another wild fruit from the jungle, locally
called "petai" - described in item #F5 of this web page.
Both these fruits have the attribute, that if one
of them is eaten raw, then it also cleanses the bladder. But if
both of them are eaten simultaneously, then their combined action
is so powerful, that they completely block the urinating. Therefore
the Malaysian folklore forbids eating both of them simultaneously.
The milk-like sap from banana trees is a powerful
poison with the action similar to the famous curare -
see descriptions in caption of "Fig. #D3". But otherwise
than this is the case with the murderous poison from
the New Zealand "tutu" bush, described in item #K1
of the web page
newzealand.htm - about mysteries and curiosities of New Zealand,
which kills immediately no matter how it is dozed,
the milk-like sap from banana trees kills only if it gets
to the blood stream. In turn when it is eaten then it is
completely harmless. Also harmless are banana fruits.
From the "yang" and "yin"
energy point of view, bananas, depending on the variety, belong to
several different categories. For example, yellow bananas of
Pacific islands represent a rare kind of a "neutral" fruit,
i.e. the one which is NOT "yang" nor "yin". So one may eat
them without limitations and do not need to worry about
balancing later their energy. In the Pacific region they are
called "yellow bananas" because their interior is of a yellow
colour. In turn green bananas (Ecuadorian) are of the "yin"
kind, means "cooling". In the Pacific region people call them
"green bananas" because before they ripe their upper skin is
of a green colour (after ripening this skin becomes almost the
same yellow as the skin of miniature (yellow) bananas from Pacific
islands).
Fig. #D3: Banana tree. The above photograph shows not
only how the trunks and huge smooth leaves of this tree look like,
but also shows how banana flower looks like (see this long, violet,
cone-like shape), and also how look like rings of miniature banana
fruits, which gradually grow right behind this cone-shaped flower -
as soon as this flower extends its length, blooms in ring-shaped
garlands, and is pollinated. (Notice that each banana tree blooms
only one time in the entire life. So the banana flower shown above
is NOT so easy to be seen in tropics, because on each banana tree
it appears only a single time during the entire lifetime of this
tree - usually when the tree is still relatively young.)
Many components of banana trees are utilised by people who live in
tropics. Of course, most widely are used tasty, sweet,
and highly nutritious bananas, means fruits from these trees.
Sometimes people cut off also the flower from this tree and
eat it as a kind of crispy vegetable (after spicing, it is used
for preparation of kinds of salads). Huge and smooth banana
leaves are used in tropics instead of saucers. Until today in
some restaurants in Malaysia, sometimes very exclusive ones,
various dishes can be served on such banana leaves. But one
needs to remember then, that these dishes one supposed to eat
with fingers. As I was sorry to experience it once myself, if
someone uses cutlery (i.e. knife or fork) for these dishes,
the sharp edges of this cutlery cut through a thin banana
leave. In the result, exotic sauces which saturate these
dishes flow down at trousers of such inexperienced eater,
spoiling later the entire evening (and sometimes also the
entire clothing).
In old times also
juices that circulate in banana tree trunks were utilised.
These juices are extremely poisonous. So in tropical countries
where bananas grow, these juices are used in a similar function,
as the famous "curare" is used in Amazonian jungles. Means
sometimes poisonous arrows are saturated with these juices,
which after being shot at enemies or animals, kill them instantly.
In order to be even more interesting, these banana juices are
only poisonous if they enter the bloodstream. But if someone
eats these juices, then stomach chemicals dissolve them completely
and they do NOT cause any harm to the eater. Therefore in old
times they were used for poisoning darts used in hunting. They
killed animals, which then could be eaten safely. About a
lightning-strike-like poisonous effect of banana juice, my friends
from the "Universiti Malaya" (School of Medicine) in Kuala
Lumpur carried out thorough medical research. Outcomes of
these research were published in a following scientific article:
S.K. Lee, L.L. Ng, S.I. Lee: "Experiments with Banana Trunk Juice
as a neuromuscular blocker", The Australian Journal of Experimental
Biology and Medical Science, Vol. 58, 1980, pp. 591-594.
When mentioning here
about "curare" from Amazonian jungles, I should explain also
that in Malaysia grows a tree, the juices of which produce a
poison which is related to this famous "curare". This Malaysian
version of "curare" is equally deadly as the original one which
is produced in jungles of Central America. It is produced from
juices of the tree, which grows widely in jungles of Malaysia
and is called the "Ipoh tree" (notice, that the name
"Ipoh" is also a name of sizeable city in Malaysia - this city
was so named because of the tree, which used to grow in jungles
around it in large quantities). Similarly as this is done by
natives of Amazon with the original curare, also local hunters
from Malaysian jungles used to saturate with this curare from
the "Ipoh tree" their miniature darts shot from "blowpipes".
If such a poisonous dart even just scratched an animal, this
animal immediately died as if it was hit by a lightning. But the
meat from an animal killed with curare is edible and it does
NOT harm its eaters. Photographs of tropical tree Ipoh, and
also further information about the poison "curare", are presented
in item #F1 from the web page
healing.htm - about rmedies, healing, and curing properties of vegetation.
In turn a photograph of the use of "blowpipes" from which poisonous
darts with curare are shot, is shown on several web pages,
e.g. on pages
pajak.6te.net, or
pajak.20m.com.
In tropical countries
banana trees are also used for a whole range of occult purposes
and for magic. According to folklore believes, they have a very
powerful spirit, which can be compared to a human spirit. These
believes state, that the spirit of banana trees can scare people equally
effectively as a human spirit. Therefore in tropics usually these
trees are cut down immediately after they finish their fruiting -
and as I mentioned this before, they produce fruit only once in
the entire their live. The reason is that people living nearby
do not want that spirits of such old trees cause problems amongst
people from the neighbourhood. Out of popular occult applications,
such old banana trees, or other trees called "peepal tree",
usually are used for an ancient Hindu ceremony of the
so-called "mock wedding". (Such a "mock wedding"
is a ritual wedding, in which one of the partners is destined
by horoscopes to die soon after getting married. So by
marrying a tree, this death is shifted onto the tree. Then
the tree dies instead, while the true husband or wife is able
to live until an old age.) Comprehensive descriptions of
these "mock weddings" are provided in subsection I4.4
from volume 5 of monograph
[1/4].
In turn an example of the publicity treatment of a well known Indian
film star and former Miss World, Aishwarya Rai, who "married a tree",
was described in an
article "With this ring, I tree wed", published on page B3 of the newspaper
The New Zealand Herald,
issue dated on Friday, February 2, 2007. One of the matters raised in
this article was the accusation by a society of protection of trees, that
a tree was subjected to an undeserved persecution.
#D4.
"Cravings" of tropical pregnant women to fruits named "salak", and the supernatural link of these "cravings" with the Biblical snake tempting Eve in Eden:
There is one tropical fruit, the supernatural
attributes of which almost hit our eyes. The
supernatural character of this fruit is manifested
through highly symbolic behaviours of
pregnant women. Namely, there is a strange
link between the topical fruit called "salak"
and the Biblical story about snake which
tempted Eve in Eden. Let us describe this
matter step-by-step.
As this is a common knowledge, during the expecting
state pregnant women sometimes have the so-called
"cravings". An interesting aspect
of these "cravings" is, that such expecting
women always seemed to "crave" for eating
something that could seem to be nothing
special, but that in a given moment of time
or in a given situation is very difficult to acquire,
and that in given circumstances introduces
some inspiring qualities. For example, a
typical "craving" of Polish women usually is
an unbeatable taste for fresh strawberries
in cream during a middle of winter. (This
led to the development of "winter" varieties
of strawberries and their glass house production
methods.) In turn a typical "craving" of women
from New Zealand was eating a "hearing".
("Hearings", in spite of their apparent commonness,
are fish which live only in northern seas.
Therefore in past it was extremely difficult
to acquire this fish in New Zealand, means
in the country which is located at the southern
end of the world. So such "cravings" of women
from Antipodes inspired the more vivid contacts
of colonists with their old country.)
Well, it is extraordinary - if not the supernatural,
that a typical "cravings" of pregnant women from
tropical countries in the vicinity of Malaysia are
fruits locally named "salak".
(Click here to see how "salak" fruits look like.)
Apart of being extremely difficult for acquiring,
these fruits have almost a supernatural symbolic
significance. Namely, in the same manner as
every communion in a Catholic church reminds
us the Last Supper of Jesus, also every "craving"
for eating the "salak" fruit in an extremely meaningful
way reminds people the history from
Bible
about temptation of Eve by the snake. For this
reason I personally highly recommend to everyone
who is in a tropical country to purchase several
"salak" fruits and to experience in person what
sometimes God does in order to discretely reassure
us that the
Bible tells the truth and in fact is authorised by God Himself.
The feelings which one experiences at the moment
of trying these "salak" fruits and realising their
supernatural symbolic meaning, are unforgettable.
The most extraordinary attribute of "salak" fruits
is that everything about them serves as the reminder
of this Biblical story about Eve and the snake. For
example, in the appearance these fruits
resemble exactly heads of snakes. Their skin
has the consistency of snake skin and in touch
it feels exactly like a skin of snake. During peeling
the fruit from the skin, their skin separates from
the fruit like a snake skin. After being peeled this skin
seen separately looks like snake skin. The fruit
itself is subdivided into two halves - which after
cleaning resemble the upper half and the lower jaw
from a snake's head. The colour of fruits interior is
pinkish - exactly the same as raw meat from
snake. In every half of the fruit a large dark-green
stone is contained, thus making the fruit almost
equally not worth of eating as the meat of snake.
The smell of this fruit resembles the smell of
slightly rotting, unwashed body - so it is similar
to the smell of snake meat. In addition, "salak"
fruits do not have neither an interesting taste,
nor anything that would logically qualify them
for "cravings". In fact these fruits are sour-sweet,
and for me they resemble slightly the taste of
European red currents. Furthermore, after eating
they leave in mouths quite unpleasant aftertaste
like from a tree-bark. These fruits also do NOT
have neither precious nutrition values, or unique
attributes. In addition their appearance and
properties seem to be repulsive. As it turns
out, the only thing which makes "salak" to be
"cravings" of pregnant women, is that everything
in them reminds us the Biblical story of snake
which tempts Eve in Eden, and also that they
are very difficult for acquiring but inspiring -
similarly like "cravings" of pregnant women
from all other regions of the world.
Fig. #D4: Extraordinary fruits from the
area of Pacific called "salak". The
supernatural attribute of this fruit is that
it looks as if it was created especially to
remind illustratively to people the Biblical
story about Eve and the snake - for details
see descriptions from item #D4 above.
(Click on the above photograph to see it enlarged.)
The above photograph shows four complete
"salak" fruit placed in the upper part of the saucer.
It is worth to notice that they look like snake heads.
Under them segments of this fruit are shown
peeled from the "snake skin" (a section of this
"snake skin" is also shown). The photo illustrates
also the appearance of inedible stones from this
fruit, as well as sections of the fruit in which still
remain such stones.
Part #E:
Descriptions of "neutral" fruits from the area of Pacific - means fruits most
recommended for consumption according to the Chinese philosophy of their eating:
#E1.
Papaya:
The fruit named "papaya" (also called "paw-paw")
in Malaysia is one of the fruits eaten most
frequently. It is also the most cheap fruit.
Usually this fruit has the shape and external appearance of an
over-ripe European cucumber (i.e. a cucumber which is kept on
field until autumn in order to use it later for seeds). But
typically papaya is much bigger than a cucumber. Smallest
papaya fruit is as large as largest European cucumbers.
The interesting aspect
of papaya fruits are these black seeds contained inside, which
look like seeds of a "bird's cherry" (in Polish named "czeremcha").
Normally these seeds are inedible, but thoroughly removed from
the fruits before eating. (They induce quite unpleasant stomach
pains in the eater.)
But if a tropical girl accidentally got into unwanted pregnancy,
then she used to eat these black seeds from papaya. This is because
the seeds contain an ingredient, which caused that expected
ladies experienced a natural miscarry. In old times, papaya fruits
used to replace present-days medical "abortions". However, presently
these "folkloristic remedies" are used increasingly less frequent,
while women in tropics interrupt their pregnancies the same way as
European women, namely by going to an abortion clinic.
One Malaysian doctor with
whom I discussed the ability of papaya seeds for causing a natural
abortion, claimed that these seeds contain chemical compounds from
the group named "prostaglandins". These compounds are used in medicine
for causing a shrinking of uterus. Thus they are able to cause a
natural abortion.
The above should be supplemented
with an information, that the ability for aborting pregnancies is displayed
also by unripe and very sour pineapples. Therefore women that wished to
miscarry their unwanted pregnancies, in past used also to eat such green
and sour pineapples.
Fig. #E1: A fruit in Malaysia called "papaya",
while in other regions of the world called "paw-paw". (Note that there
is a joke for children about "paw-paw" fruit. It asks: "what is a
paw-paw"? The answer supposed to be: "the end of a leg-leg in a cat-cat".)
The papaya on the above photograph
is cut in half and placed on a saucer. This fruit is usually the least
expensive fruits of tropical countries, although simultaneously it is very
tasty. The inexpensive price of it results from the fact that, otherwise
to other fruits, this one is actually a fruit from a kind of gigantic
vegetable, not from a tree. Edible in this fruit is the red substance
contained under a hard skin. Me personally the taste of papaya fruits
resembles slightly the taste of a sweet Polish carrot roasted over an
open fire.
* * *
Juice from papaya fruits is also used
for cosmetic purposes. It displays the ability for whitening the skin. Thus
tropical beauties, who in spite of frequent exposure to the action of powerful
sun, still wish to have white skin, usually wash their skin with the papaya
juice, or they use a soap containing papaya juice.
From the energy content point
of view, "papaya" belong to "neutral" fruits. Chinese claim that one may
eat any amounts of these fruits without causing undesirable consequences.
#E2.
Pomelo:
Pomelo is a huge fruit. The size
of it exceeds the size of a human head. It belongs to the same family
as "grapefruit". But is sweeter than a "grapefruit". Inside it looks
slightly similar to a gigantic lemon, in which membranes between
subsequent segments are thick like shoe soles and are impossible to
bite through them. Therefore, before eating, this fruit must be firstly
peeled from the thick skin and from these membrane between segments.
The remaining, grainy substance is edible, with a sweet-bitterish
taste. It contains gigantic seeds inside, which resemble huge seeds
of lemon - these are inedible. As this is the case with almost every
tropical fruits, also the taste of "pomelo" drastically depends on the
area in which the fruiting tree is growing. The most tasty "pomelo"
grow in vicinity of the Malaysian city Ipoh. (I.e. the same "Ipoh",
which is named after the "Ipoh" tree that produces a Pacific version
of the "curare" poison.) So if anyone plans to visit Malaysia, I
recommend that for the first time in life he/she tries "pomelo" from
the city Ipoh. Only "pomelo" from Ipoh taste really superbly. Later,
after one knows how really these fruits supposed to taste, one may
also try it from different locations as well.
From the energy content point
of view, "pomelo" belong to the "neutral" fruits. Chinese claim that one
may eat any amounts of it without causing undesirable consequences.
Fig. #E2: A tropical fruit from the family of
"grapefruit", in Malaysia called "pomelo".
#E3.
Soursop:
This fruit is sour-sweet.
I personally do NOT like it much, as for me it is too sour.
But my brother, who likes sour fruit, always is impressed by
it. Fortunately, the sweetness of it compensates the sourness,
so I am able to eat it - although I am not crazy about it.
It is eaten after being cut into thick slices. One eats with
a spoon the pulpy, watery content that fills up the interior
of it. Edible is the entire content of it, with the exception
of a green skin. This content has a consistency of a white
custard, only that a custard usually is not sour-sweet, while
this fruit is.
From the energy content point
of view, "soursop" belongs to the category of "neutral" fruits. Chinese
claim that one may eat any amounts of it without causing undesirable
consequences.
Fig. #E3a: A stall with tropical fruits named "soursop".
This fruit is a favourite of my brother. The brother almost
worships the taste of it. The fruit has a powerful sour-sweet
taste. I am not crazy about it, although I can also eat it.
* * *
By the way, it is very
interesting why two brothers, who supposed to have the same
genetic composition, and who both are brought up on the same
meals of their mother, have so different taste preferences.
After all, according to all theories of present orthodox
science, both with my brother we should like or dislike
exactly the same fruit.
Fig. #E3b: A single fruit of "soursop".
#E4.
Ciku (chiku):
"Ciku" fruits (old spelling of this
fruit was "chiku") is the size of "kiwi" fruit (which probably is known
to the majority of people), or a middle sized pear. It is extremely sweet.
The sweetness of it is so powerful, that myself personally I am not able
to eat it - for me it is too sweet. In fact, during eating the sweetness
of it almost burns our mouth - similarly like selected varieties of Turkish
sweets also tend to almost burn our mouth. But locals, who from the childhood
are used to this indescribable sweetness, love the taste of this fruit.
It also has quite a strong taste of a wild fruit. Therefore, to the taste
of this fruit one needs to get used, before one begins to appreciate it.
A box full of ciku fruits seen on a stall resembles
a box full of unwashed, muddy potatoes of quite
regular sizes and shapes.
(Click here to see how a box full of "ciku" fruits looks like.)
Only that their like "muddy" appearance results
from the natural (masking) coloratura of skins
of these fruits.
From the energy content point of view, "chiku"
belongs to the category of "neutral" fruits. Chinese
claim that one may eat any amounts of it without
causing undesirable consequences. This neutral
character of this fruit, combined with the extreme
sweetness, causes that local people who like it,
usually eat a lot of it.
Fig. #E4: Indescribably sweet tropical fruits now called "ciku",
while in past called "chiku". At the top of this photograph one whole
fruit is shown. Below another fruit cut horizontally in two halves is
shown, while one of these two halves is further cut vertically into
two quarters. This fruit looks like a miniature ball for rugby. The
size of it is similar like the size of a "kiwi" fruit, "passion fruit",
or a middle-sized pear. The interior of it is juicy, with a nice brown
colour, looking like syrup or honey. It is sticky from the sweetness.
The fruit contains also black, hard, inedible seeds (one of these seeds
is visible on the photo above) that look like black pumpkin seeds.
#E5.
Guava:
Guava is a kind of round tropical pear.
The surface of it is almost always uneven and grooved, like the one on left
side of the photo. If a smooth guava is born, like the one on the right side
of the photo, locals are reluctant in buying it, as a smooth surface means
uninteresting taste. Guava not only has a size of a large, round pear, but
also a strong taste of an unripe but aromatic pear. During eating is hard,
but highly aromatic. However, just by itself is not good for eating.
Therefore, it is eaten always after being peeled from the skin and cut
into small segments, when each segment is sprinkled with a thick layer
of grated sweet-sour dried Chinese aromatic plum. This grated
preserved plum adds very interesting flavour to guava fruits. Similarly
like the taste of majority of tropical fruits, the taste of guava is
very difficult to be described. In the Pacific region people eat
quite a lot of guava because it is so aromatic, quite inexpensive,
and also because it is the fruit "neutral" from the energy point
of view.
From the energy content point
of view, "guava" belongs to the category of "neutral" fruits. Chinese
claim that one may eat any amounts of it without causing undesirable
consequences.
Fig. #E5: An interesting fruit called "guava".
Shown are two fruits lying in the back part of the saucer.
Just by itself this fruit is NOT pleasant for eating. But
it takes an interesting taste if one sprinkles it with
the grated aromatic Chinese preserved plum. In the lower
part of the saucer three such preserved plums from China
are visible. After these plums are grated (on a grater)
usually they are sprinkled over pieces of guava that
before were peeled from the skin and cut into small segments.
The plums (used for sprinkling guava) are also very
tasteful, and Chinese frequently give them as a snake
to their guests. They have a sour-sweet taste, and
high aroma. After being dried out, their surface
becomes covered with sugar. This sugar represents the
crystallised form of their own, natural sugar, NOT a
sugar added artificially during drying.
#E6.
Dragon fruit:
To me personally "dragon fruit"
resembles one of Polish beets, in which leaves grow out from a kind
of head-like lumping. It is of a size of an average cabbage, and has
a rounded shape. After it is peeled from an inedible skin, it is
white inside with black, poppy-seeds like seedlings spread over the
volume of it. It has a very unnoticeable taste. Thus one needs to get
used to it in order to seek taste in eating it. During a first eating
it appears to have no taste at all.
"Dragon fruit" is also
planted in tropical Americas, especially in Mexico. It is known over
there under a different name of "Indian fig".
From the energy content point
of view, "dragon fruit" belongs to the "neutral" fruits. Chinese claim that
one may eat any amounts of it without causing undesirable consequences.
Fig. #E6a: Favourite fruit of Vietnamese, called "dragon fruit".
Fig. #E6b: Here is the appearance of the fruit called
"dragon fruit", after it is peeled from the skin and prepared for
eating. To me it resembles a cotton sprinkled with poppy-seeds.
In fact, also during eating, for me it tastes like a "wet, soft
cotton", deprived of any taste or flavour.
Part #F:
Descriptions of "cooling" fruits from the area of Pacific - means fruits which neutralise consequences of eating modern deep fried foods:
#F1.
Mangosteen:
Tropical fruits named "mangosteen" have
very interesting taste and amazing attributes.
(Click here to see how "mangosteen" fruit looks like.)
They are one of these tropical fruits, the trying
of which I would vigorously recommend to everyone.
Mangosteen fruits from outside look like typical
wild blueberries from Polish forests enlarged to
a size of typical European apple. However, the
visible on photographs, the violet-brown outer
shell of these fruits is thick at around 5 mm
(means like a thick orange skin). So after we
peel mangosteen from this very thick shell, we
are left with the white edible kernel which is only as big as a pigeon
egg. This kernel is the edible part of the fruit. It is composed of
several small segments, similarly as the fruits of "mandarins" do. Each
such segment contains inside a green, soft, inedible seed of the size of
a bean or a pea, which after being crushed leaves in mouth rather unpleasant
taste of a green bean. So mangosteen needs to be eaten carefully, to
not crush with our teeth these green seeds. Mangosteen have sour-sweet,
quite refreshing taste, slightly similar to the taste of mandarins,
although much more pleasant and much more refreshing. It tastes superbly.
If someone goes to tropical countries, I highly recommend trying these
fruits. But one needs to remember to buy a lot of it, as from one kilo
of it, after peeling only a handful of edible kernels is left for us.
During peeling and eating
mangosteen, one needs to remember about an unpleasant attribute of
it. Namely the juice. In spite that it has a white colour, it displays
the ability of a permanent brown paint. Also, there is nothing that
would be later able to erase it. Therefore this fruit must be peeled
and eaten very cautiously, to not stain our clothing with the juice
of it. This is because such brown stains of mangosteen juice will
stay on the clothing forever.
Fig. #F1: Two fruits called "mangosteen" shown in a
close up. In the sense of energy content these fruits represent
an opposite of "durian" (i.e. durian contains the male energy
"yang", while mangosteen contain female energy "yin"). Therefore,
if someone after eating durian still wishes to sleep at nights,
he/she must neutralise the male energy "yang" from durian by
eating a similar amount of the mangosteen fruit. Mangosteen
are also recommended for eating for balancing our everyday
intake of male energy "yang" which is contained in large
quantities in the majority of food and drinks, which in
present times we typically are consuming every day.
Notice, that the fruit "mangosteen" is also shown
on photograph from "Fig. #I1".
* * *
From the point of view
of their energy content, "mangosteen" belong to fruits strongly
"cooling". In old times Chinese used to recommend a moderation
in eating them. They also used to recommend that eating of this
fruits is balanced by eating an equal amount of something "heating"
- especially if the eater is a woman. However, in present times
of the excessive eating of "heating" junk food, this old recommendation
does not need to be obeyed so pedantically - as I explained this
in the introduction to this web page.
#F2.
Custard apple (Malaysian name "buah nona"):
It is quite an unusual fruit. In fact, the consistency
of it inside is very similar to a "custard" - hence
the English name "custard apple". In turn local
name for it in Bahasa Malaysia is "buah nona"
which approximately means “feminine fruit”.
"Custard apple" has two basic varieties, a "wild"
Malaysian variety, and a "domesticated" variety
which in the area of Pacific is planted mainly in Australia.
The "domesticated" variety is shown in "Fig. #F2a",
while two "wild" Malaysian examples are shown
in "Fig. #F2b". This fruit is of a size of a typical apple.
Both varieties are similar in size. But the surface of
the "wild" Malaysian variety looks like the surface of an
European wild "blackberry" enlarged to the size of an
average apple. It can be eaten ripe in two colours, blue
or green. In turn the "domesticated" variety has rather
a smooth skin, which has a slight "blackberry"
pattern on it. It has only a green colour. The "domesticated"
variety has also less seeds inside and more this edible
custard-like substance. The taste of this fruit is
sweet, with a refreshing sour but very pleasant flavour.
This fruit is very tasty and very pleasant in eating.
Fig. #F2a: An interesting fruit called "custard apple".
Shown here is a "domesticated" variety, which in the
area of Pacific currently is planted mainly in tropical
part of Australia. This "domesticated" variety of the
"custard apple" has more edible substance and less
seeds than "wild" varieties grown in Malaysia. However,
the taste of all of these varieties are almost the same.
Fig. #F2b: Here is the "wild" Malaysian variety of "custard apples",
similar to the ones shown below on "Fig. #F2a". As one can see
from the above photograph, in Malaysia two varieties
of this fruit are available. They differ amongst themselves
by colour. One variety obtains a blue colour while becomes
ripe. The second variety stays green even when it is already
ripe. Both these varieties taste almost identical, and very
similar to the Australian variety shown part "a" of "Fig. #F2".
#F3.
Starfruit:
Starfruit is sourish.
It also has a powerful taste of "green grass". I personally
do NOT like to eat this fruit raw. But I like to drink
juice made of starfruit - if this juice is sweetened enough.
This is because such a juice has a refreshing aroma,
that is pleasant during drinking, although it leaves
in mouth this characteristic taste of a "green grass".
Starfruit is famous
from its ability to lower the blood pressure. Therefore it
is a favourite fruit of people with high blood pressure.
From the point of view
of their energy content, "starfruit" belong to fruit strongly
"cooling". In old times Chinese used to recommend a moderation
in eating them. They also used to recommend that eating of this
fruit is balanced by eating an equal amount of something "heating"
- especially if the eater is a woman. However, in present times
of the excessive eating of "heating" junk food, this old
recommendation does not need to be obeyed so pedantically - as
I explained this in the introduction to this web page.
Fig. #F3: "Starfruit". The name "starfruit" for
it, originates from the shape that it has. Especially if
it is cut into slices in direction perpendicular to the
central axis of it. Then such slices look like golden
stars of the diameter of our slice from an average apple.
The colour of this fruit is also very nice. It is golden,
similar to the colour of a typical honey. Because of the
beautiful, star-like shape and golden colour of slices
of this fruit, in restaurants from tropical countries
it is used for decorating other dishes. Of course, apart
from decorative value, it is also edible.
#F4.
Air jambu:
Air jambu from outside resembles a red
variety of conical apples.
(Click here to see how "air jambu" fruits look like.)
But after cutting them half, it turns out that
apart from thick solid skin, the entire interior
of these fruits is filled with like white, loose
cotton. The closest that in my opinion would
described the taste of these fruits are Polish
sour cherries (so-called "wiśnia"). Only that
during eating air jambu one has an impression
as if we chum edible cotton with the taste of
sour cherries. I personally do NOT appreciate
this fruit, although I know that there are connoisseurs
who love it.
From the price point of view, air jambu belongs
to the group of middle-priced fruits. (I.e. in spite
their not much interesting taste, still they are NOT
so cheap.)
From the energy content point of view, "air jambu"
belongs to the category of "yin" means "cooling"
fruits. Because in present times people typically
eat too much unbalanced "heating" foods (i.e.
"young" type of foods) frequent eating "cooling"
fruits, to which "air jambu" belongs, is healthy
and recommended.
#F5.
Petai:
The name "petai" is assigned to a kind of
green fruits that grow in long green strings
which for me resemble strings from acacia
trees.
(Click here to see how a box full of green pods of "petai" fruits look like.)
In these long strings green been-like
fruits are growing, of the shape of elliptical
discs, or typical medical pills.
(Click here to see how peeled beans from "petai" fruits look like.)
This fruit can
be eaten raw - but the majority of people eat
it after cooking. For me the taste of it resembles
a kind of large beans which in Poland is called
"bob". Petai fruits belong to the group of strongly
smelling ones, only that otherwise than e.g. the
durian fruit, the smell of "petai" is felt only after
we bite it. (I.e. a fresh fruit seems to NOT smell,
until the time we eat it or boil it.) The heavy smell
of this fruit later penetrates into the urine and stool
of the eater. Therefore getting into the toilet in
which some petai eater earlier urinated or had
a stool is almost impossible. This fruit also causes
a powerful colourisation of the urine. These are
probably reasons why the folklore is claiming
that "petai" fruits cleanse thoroughly the body's
interior.
Petai fruits are eaten more for medical reasons
than for the taste. Reasons for this significant
consumption of petai for health are explained
in a very interesting article [1#F5]
about this fruit. The article is entitled "Petai
power". It appeared on pages U6 and U7 in
the supplement named "Streets" to the Malaysian
newspaper
New Straits Times,
issue dated on Saturday, July 26, 2008.
According to this article [1#F5], petai
fruits have a whole array of components
which all are extremely beneficial for human
health. For example, this fruit contains
three kinds of natural sugars that boost
energy, i.e. sucrose, fructose, and glucose.
So it is excellent for sport people. Furthermore,
if it is compared to e.g. an apple, petai fruits
contain 4 times more protein, 2 times more
carbohydrates, 3 times more phosphorus,
5 times more A vitamin and iron, and 2 times
more of other vitamins and minerals.
According to the above article [1#F5], the true
power of this fruit lies in its ability to heal
various illnesses. The long list of illnesses
that according to this article petai fruits either
heal or ease, include amongst others: (1)
depressions (for which petai helps because
contain, amongst others, "tryptophan" - a kind
of protein which is converted by our body into
"serotonin" that helps us to relax, improve our
mood, and induces the feeling of happiness),
(2) PMS (pre-menstrual tension) - the vitamin
B6 contained in this fruit regulates the level of
glucose in blood, this in turn improves mood,
(3) anaemia - its abundance of iron stimulates
the production of haemoglobin, (4) blood pressure -
high concentration of potassium combined with
a low level of salt bits down the blood pressure,
(5) concentration of attention - potassium from
this fruit increases the concentration and facilitates
learning, (6) constipation - beneficial for our digestive
system fibrous structure eliminates constipations,
(7) hangover - a cocktail of "petai-milk-honey"
eliminates hangovers, (8) heartburn - petai
eliminates acidity, (9) morning sicknesses -
eating petai also eliminates these, (10) nerves -
the vitamin B calm down nervous system,
(11) obesity - high content of carbohydrates in
petai prevents obesity, (12) ulcers - its soft
texture and smoothness helps also in this problem,
(13) SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) - petai
helps because it contains tryptophan - i.e. natural
improver of mood, (14) stresses - potassium helps
normalise the heartbeat thus lowering the feeling
of stress, (15) strokes - supposedly research
indicated that regular eating petai eliminates the
risk of death by stroke by 40%, (16) mosquito bites -
rubbing the affected area with the inside of the
petai skin eliminates swelling and irritation, (17)
warts - it is enough to stick a piece of petai on
a wart to kill it. So the above suggests that petai
fruits represent a folklore remedy for almost
everything.
From the energy content point of view, "petai"
belongs to the category of "yin" means "cooling"
fruits. It means that petai is able to lower down
both the physical, as well as emotional temperature,
e.g. pregnant women. Supposedly in Holland
pregnant women eat petai so that their children
could be born with cool temperature.
Part #G:
Descriptions of "heating" fruits from the area of Pacific - means fruits which should be eaten in moderation:
#G1.
Langsat:
Langsat grows in bunches like grapes.
Actually the photo from "Fig. #G1" shows several loose fruits (i.e. which
were separated from a bunch) on the foreground, and also an entire "bunch"
of these fruits placed on back part of the saucer. Each individual fruit of
such a bunch is of a size of a middle-sized plum. After being peeled from
a thin, white skin, inside segments similar to these from mandarins can be
found. These segments are composed of a transparent, dried-like jelly.
Inside of these edible transparent segments, green seeds are contained.
These seeds are of the size of average pea. One should not bite these seeds,
because they have a bitter taste. During eating, the edible part of this
fruit is sweet, although is also slightly sour. Tastes very good and
refreshing in a hot climate of tropics.
From the energy content
point of view, "langsat" belongs to the category of "heating"
fruits. Chinese recommend that one should display a moderation
in eating it. It is also recommended, that after eating it one
should neutralise its heating energy by an immediate eating
an equal amount of something that contains the "cooling" energy.
Fig. #G1: Very tasty Malaysian fruit called "langsat".
* * *
Langsat is only one out of
four different tropical fruits which are available in Malaysia,
and which look quite similar to each other, although taste
differently. These fruits include:
1. Langsat. It
has a white, very thin skin. The taste of it is very pleasant,
sweet-sour.
3. Duku -
see item #G2 below. It also looks similarly to langsat, although
it has a slightly pinkish and relatively thick skin. It is very sweet
and tasty.
2. Rambai -
see item #G3 below.
(Click here to see how "buah rambai" fruit looks like.)
It has a sweet-sour taste like European red-currents.
4. Longan
berry - see description in item #G4 below. By Chinese
it is called the "dragon eye" (one should not confuse the white,
grape-like fruits "dragon eye" with red, vegetable-like "dragon
fruit", shown in photograph from "Fig. #E6". Longan berry is
of a half of size of langsat. The skin of it is thin and crispy.
It also has inside a large, black seed with a smooth, glossy
surface, of the size of an European cherry seed.
