My Marang Experience

Oct 8, 2010 by Jawz

As I have mentioned in my "Manileños in Davao City!" blog post, I had the chance to try a fruit called marang. The marang s a fruit that grows on an evergreen tree. It grows throughout many places within Southeast Asia, including here in the Philippines. According to my friends from Manila, they had never had marang before. I assume marang must be grown in the southern parts of the Philippines, rather than the Luzon areas. Here in Davao City, you can see marang being sold by many street vendors.

The is a round fruit with a stem poking out through the top. When I first saw it, I thought it was a spike-less durian. After looking at it closely, I saw that it was something different. The marang is brownish green in color, and it is covered in several small spines. This outer 'shell' of the marang can be easily pulled open with your bare hands. On the inside, the stem forms a core with many seeds around it. The fleshy fruit (the arils) covers each seed, ready to be eaten. Unlike other fruits, that have a lengthy shelf life, the marang differs because it oxidizes fast. Once the fruit is pulled open, it must be eaten.

The Marang Fruit I Bought

It was on September, the 14th, when I got to try the marang. I had originally bought it to let my friends from Manila eat some. So, to prevent them from having to bring the whole fruit into the airport, I pulled it open and took the seeds out with a fork. I placed the seeds in several plastic bags. I didn't know at the moment, though, that the fruit's quality would begin to wear off.. After I filled several bags, I ate the rest of the fruit. The texture was like a semi-slimy jackfruit (langka). The taste was very similar to a jackfruit too, but it had some milky flavor mixed in with the jackfruit flavor. I could also describe it as a jackfruit mixed with the flavor of a bland banana. When I was ready to give the bags of fruit to my friends, I had gotten a call that they had already left their hotel to do things and then go back to Manila. So, I never got to give them the fruit, but at least I got to try it. Haha.

Me Eating the Marang