Kelubi fruit can generate lucrative income
BALING, Jan 18 (Bernama) -- Pregnant women have for generations sworn by the "Kelubi" fruit while others find it irresistible, especially when taken dipped in sauce.
The fruit, which goes by the scientific name "Eleiodoxa Conferta", is sourish but its many uses makes it indispensable to the rural folk.
The reddish and yellowish scaly fruit can be eaten raw, dipped in salt and seasoning powder to enhance the taste, but it is mainly turned into pickle.
The fruit, from the palm tree family, can also enhance the taste of belacan chili paste and other Malay dishes, especially steamed freshwater fish.
The bad news is its days are numbered. The Kelubi fruit is now hard to find due to the clearing of jungle.
As such, people, especially in Baling and Sik, are able to generate a lucrative fresh income by collecting and selling the fruit.
A fruit seller, Basri Yaakub, 43, said it is hard to find the fruit because tracts of jungle have been cleared for agriculture.
He said that to get the fruit he has to place an order with someone skilled in locating the fruits in the jungle.
He also said that Kelubi seekers risk being pierced by thorns on the fronds of the plant when harvesting the fruit from their clusters.
"Now, the price of the Kelubi fruit is rising. One kilogramme of the fruit used to fetch between RM1.50 and RM2 several years ago. Now, due to its scarcity, it is being sold at RM4 a kg," he told Bernama.
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