Strange fruits on Wamena market...'s by wojtekd

Wamena - Indonesia, Irian Jaya They were on sale on Wamena market. Due to language problems I still do not know what is it. I understood only that this is the fruit from the local tree. Perhaps you know more?

Uploaded: Apr, 17 2008 | Taken: Feb, 26 2008| Viewed: 30 times  | 3 votes

adampl - Apr, 17 2008 11:04pm This is probably buah merah, literally red fruit. Here is more info: (unfortunately available only in Indonesian) http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buah_Merah). Have you tried it? wojtekd - Apr, 18 2008 08:04am Thank you Adam... Here what we know now: Papuans call them kuansu. Indonesians call them buah merah ("red fruit"). The fruit is typically prepared by splitting it, wrapping it in leaves, and cooking it in an earth oven. It grows in all Papua regions, especially in Jayawijaya mountain area (Wamena and Tolikara), Jayapura, Manokwari, Nabire, Timika, and Ayamaru Sorong. It is traditionally believed to be a good supplement as a skin and eye medicine, and as worm treatment. There are around 30 cultivars of Red Fruit. But only four variants have high economy values among others such as merah panjang (long red), merah pendek (short red), cokelat (brown), and kuning (yellow). Red Fruit variants that is used as medicine is of merah panjang (long red). The size is around 100 cm in length, 18 cm in diameter length, and 7.5 kg in weight. I did not try it - seems I was rigth because they cook it before eating...