Ambarella

''Spondias dulcis'' ( syn. ''Spondias cytherea''), known commonly as () in Sri Lanka or June plum, is a tropical tree, with edible fruit containing a fibrous pit. In the English speaking Caribbean it is typically known as golden apple and elsewhere in the Caribbean as pommecythere or cythere. In Polynesia it is known as vī.

Description

This fast-growing tree can reach up to in its native range of Melanesia and Polynesia; however, it usually averages in other areas. ''Spondias dulcis'' has deciduous, pinnate leaves, in length, composed of 9 to 25 glossy, elliptic or obovate-oblong leaflets long, which are finely toothed toward the apex. The tree produces small, inconspicuous white flowers in terminal panicles. Its oval fruits, long, are borne in bunches of 12 or more on a long stalk. Over several weeks, the fruit fall to the ground while still green and hard, then turn golden-yellow as they ripen.Morton, J
Ambarella.
Center for New Crops & Plant Products. Purdue University. 1987. According to Morton (1987), "some fruits in the South Sea Islands weigh over each."

Habitat

''Spondias dulcis'' has been introduced into tropical areas across the world. It was brought to Jamaica in 1782, and it is cultivated in Panama, Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia, and eastern Sucre in Venezuela. The United States Department of Agriculture received seeds from Liberia in 1909, but it did not become a popular crop in the US. Nevertheless, it is grown in South Florida as far north as Palm Beach County. The fruit is also widely grown in Somalia's agriculture belt, probably introduced during the colonial times preceding 1960.

As food

''Spondias dulcis'' is most commonly used as a food source. In West Java, its young leaves are used as seasoning for ''pepes''. In Costa Rica, the more mature leaves are also eaten as a salad green though they are tart. However, it is most commonly used for its fruit.

The fruit may be eaten raw; the flesh is crunchy and a little sour. According to Boning (2006): "The fruit is best when fully colored, but still somewhat crunchy. At this stage, it has a pineapple-mango flavor. The flesh is golden in color, very juicy, vaguely sweet, but with a hint of tart acidity." In Indonesia and Malaysia, it is eaten with shrimp paste, a thick, black, salty-sweet sauce called ''hayko'' in the Southern Min dialect of Chinese. It is an ingredient in ''rujak'' in Indonesia and ''rojak'' in Malaysia. The juice is called ''kedondong'' in Indonesia, ''amra'' in Malaysia, and ''balonglong'' in Singapore.

The fruit is made into preserves and flavorings for sauces, soups, braised and stews. In Fiji it is made into jam, its leaves are used to flavour meat. In Samoa and Tonga it is used to make ''otai''. In Sri Lanka the fruit is soaked in vinegar with chili and other spices to make ''acharu''. In Vietnam the unripe fruit is eaten with salt, sugar, and chili, or with shrimp paste. Children eat the fruit macerated in artificially sweetened licorice extract. In Jamaica, it is mostly considered a novelty, especially by children. It can be eaten with salt or made into a drink sweetened with sugar and spiced with ginger. It is also used to make juice in Grenada and Saint Lucia. In Trinidad and Tobago, it is curried, sweetened, salted, or flavored with pepper sauce and spices. In Cambodia it is made into a salad called ''nhoam mkak'' (/ɲŏam məkaʔ/ ញាំម្កាក់). In Suriname and Guyana, the fruit is dried and made into a spicy chutney, mixed with garlic and peppers. In Thai cuisine both the fruits and the tender leaves are eaten.

Vernacular names

*''Adavi Mamidi'' — Telugu
*''Amra Kai'' (மாரிமா) — Tamil
*''Ambade'' — Tulu
*''Ambado'' — Konkani
* ( si, ඇඹරැල්ලා)
*''Ambarella'' or ''Cythere'' — Dutch
*''Ambazhanga'' — Malayalam
*''Ambra'' — Malaysian, Indonesian and Sarawakian Malay
*''Amokana'' — Hokkien
*''Amrah'' (अमरा/) — Caribbean Hindustani and Fiji Hindi
*''Amra'' (আমড়া), Biliti — Bengali
*''Amte kai'' — Kannada
*''Anbulha'' އަނބުޅަ — Dhivehi language, Republic of Maldives
*''Balolong'' — Cebuano language, (Philippines)
*''Buah Long Long'' — Singlish
*''Caja Manga —'' Brazil
*''Casharana, taperibá'' — Peru
*''Cas Mango'' — Cameroon
*''Chook-chook plum'' — Sierra Leone
*''Ciruelo'' — Ecuador
*''Cóc'' — Vietnamese
*''Embe ng'ong'o'' or '' Embe Kizungu'' — Tanzania
*''Evi'' — Réunion
*''Fruit de Cythère'' — Mauritius
*''Frisiter'' — Mauritius, Seychelles
*''Golden apple'' — Saint Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, Barbados, Guyana, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada
*''Goldpflaume'' — German
*''Golden plum'' — Belize, Liberia
*''Green Jungle'' — Papua New Guinea''
*''Gway'' — Burmese
*''Heining'' – Meitei
*''Isbaandhays'' or ''Isbaandhees'' — Somali, Somalia
*''Jew Plum'' — Jamaica
*''Jocote de Mico'' — Guatemala
*''Jobo indio'' — Spanish
*''June Plum'' — Jamaica, Bermuda
*''Kedondong''— Malaysian, Indonesian and Sarawakian Malay (also used for '' Spondias mangifera'')
*''Makok farang'' (มะกอกฝรั่ง) — Thai
*''Manga zi nsende'' — Kikongo
*''Mangotin'' — Panama
*''Manzana de oro'' — Dominican Republic
*''Mkak'' (ម្កាក់) — Khmer
*''Naos'' — Bislaman
*''Omora'' (অমৰা) — Assamese
*''Pommisitair'' — Suriname
*''Ponm sité'', ''pomme cythère'' — Dominica
*''Prune de Cythère'', ''pommecythere'' — French West Indies (Martinique, Guadeloupe), Guyane, Trinidad and Tobago
*''Isbaandhees'' - Somalia
*''Sakoa'' — Malagasy
*''Umbra'' — Malaysia
*''Tamzinthai'' — Rongmei
*''Vī'' — Samoan, Tongan, Niuean
*''Vi kavakava'' — Cook Islands Maori
*''Wi'' — Fijian, Hawaiian

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q500383

dulcis
Tropical fruit
Flora of Christmas Island
Flora of Nepal