Buah Tarap - Fruit unique to Sabah/Borneo
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I have a friend from Sabah who used to tell me about the strange and wonderful fruits and foods they get in Sabah. One such fruit he never failed to talk about was Buah Tarap (Tarap fruit). One day, my sibling returned from Sabah with such a fruit as a souvenir of his trip and I cheerfully dug in!
This is a picture of the Tarap fruit that is opened. From the outside, it looks like a Nangka (jackfruit) or Chempedak with the skin covered with soft pliable thorn-like, spines. When ripe, the outer skin is soft and easily pulled apart to reveal the edible fruit inside.
The fruit comes in seeds like that of a jackfruit. Each seed has a layer of flesh covering it. The texture of the flesh is soft and tastes a little like a soursop - sourish and sweet at the same time. I can’t quite describe the taste, but it is very unique indeed.
If ever you go to Borneo, specifically to Sabah where this fruit is found in abundance, make sure you try it if only to say that you have sampled Buah Tarap!
Related posts:
- Tropical Fruit - The Duku
- Jalan Batai Rojak Buah (fruit salad)
- Tropical Fruit: Duku Langsat and related fruits
- Acar Buah - Savoury Fruit pickle
- The Red Dragon Fruit or Pitaya
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Comments
wow, paris… it looks rather exotic eh! Never tried this buah tarap before but would definitely love to… Just out of curiosity, of course. Haha. :p
oOFoooi: It wasn’t sour but sourish sweet. Imagine a soursop and its about that sort of taste.
twosuperheroes: It is terribly exotic eh? But if you are ever in Borneo make sure you try! Just to satisfy your curiousity 
Does it look at all like soursop? But I must say, I have never heard of this fruit before. Good to have it on your blog here 
Pablo: It doesn’t look like a soursop. There are these thornlike spines all over as you can imagine from the cross section of the skin. See if they have it in Sarawak!
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From that picture, the fruits look like onion. I hope the taste won’t taste sour..