Snake Fruit in Costa Rica! (Two different species!) - Weird Fruit Explorer
Вставка
- Опубліковано 11 лют 2025
- Episode 628: Snakefruit
Species: Salacca zalacca, Salacca Sp
Location: Costa Rica
Special thanks to Don Carlos. For Seed trading he can be reached at: duzicha@gmail.com
Search through a complete database of all my fruit reviews on my website: www.weirdexplo...
---
See EXCLUSIVE videos! Get REWARDS! Help the channel GROW!
Patreon: / weirdexplorer
---
GET A SHIRT:
www.weirdexplorer.com/shop
---
Follow me on SOCIAL MEDIA:
IG: @weirdexplorer
Twitter: @weirderexplorer
FB: weirdexplorer
Reddit: / weirdexplorer
---
MUSIC:
"Nonstop" By Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
creativecommons...
---
SPECIAL THANKS:
Smarter Every Day, Loftyrex
Here in Brazil, we have a fruit that looks like that one, at least the outside, both the color and scales. It comes from a type of palm tree. Its taste is sour, and it's not commonly eaten raw. It's used in some desserts, and in many cosmetics. People also use its essential oil for therapeutic purposes. Its name's "buriti".
Hummn doce de Buriti muito bom,comi semana passada
@@Daniel-yu5rv Nossaaaaa! Nem lembro a última vez que comi! E aqui onde moro, você não acha nem por misericórdia! 😅😅😅😅
All snake fruits are palm fruit!
Buroto
I'm going to call them "evil strawberries."
I think thats appropriate
I liked!
lol good one
Don’t trust the regular ones either. They seem dodgy too.
I literally have never laughed so hard lol
Very cool to hear what a snakefruit in better condition tastes like, I love the idea of comparing different specimens of the rarer fruit to get an idea of the range of conditions and flavors that exist for a specific species. I think some fruits have a wider variety of flavors within the same species as others and it would be cool to learn more about that
Your first video of Salak was the reason I was brave enough to pick up some when I found them in an Asian grocery store called T&T in Canada.
They are my favourite fruit now!
Thank you for trying things, then posting about them so we can all learn from your experiences!
Try to find Sawo in your Asian grocery store. I think Sawo is way superior than Salak
i LOVE the salacca wallichiana.. First time i tried it, the taste was so powerfull that i literally only ate a small piece and put the rest of the bag in the fridge, because i felt like it almost had a chemical taste in a way.. It was like a mix between pineapple and strong wannabie strawberry artificial flavoring in a way.. Its very hard to explain.. anyways, about an hour later, i wanted to try the fruit again, and this time, it was like my brain had figured out how to process the taste in a way that was not giving warning signals.. I ended up eating the entire bag in 15 minutes, and ever since then, everytime i am in an asian grocery store that has them imported, i buy a bag.. i absolutely love them.. they are very delicious.
What an HONOR it is to see a new video from you!
Salak is one of my favorite fruits, though I've only ever had it during my field trips in Lombok, Indonesia, where it's seemingly ubiquitous. The ones I've had weren't at all astringent. They may not have a very intense flavor , but their crunchiness, slight tanginess, and ease of eating are things that I really do miss!
That’s where I had them too! So delicious
I’ve wanted to taste these for years. I remember one Asian grocery here had them in cans; they were from Bali. (The can said “SALAK BALI,” which my Turkish friend had a laugh at because it meant “idiot honey” in Turkish.) I’ve never seen them offered since.
Idiot honey?? Hahaha.
I love it when normal words in one language come out insulting or rude in another.
@@childofcascadia like "fart" and "smell" in Swedish. Fart is speed and smell is impact
There's a saying that says "it's not the speed that kills you but the impact".
So half English half Swedish would be "it's not the fart that kills you but the smell" 🤣🤣
Fun fact! Snakefruit seeds germinate really easily (although it takes some time). Just stick them in a pot and water every now And then and you get a pretty cool houseplant. I recommend it!
So I can grow my own?
How long are we talking here?
@@PeacefulPeteable I only ever grew it in pots so it is not like I got fruit. However 2 years gave a pretty cool spiky Palm thing. Germination takes ~3 weeks
Can confirm. Makes for really cool house plants!
I’ve been watching your channel for years - so when I had to
come to Jakarta for work I told my hosts I was interested in trying fruits.
We went to an area known for Salak and they bought me a whole bag of Salak Pondoh
They are delicious - and almost have a flavour of Concord grapes!So glad this channel has inspired me :)
And yes, I did visit durian palace
wow, Don is such a great new friend for sharing so much with you Jared! ❤😊
really cool looking fruit. the inside does remind me of the color and structure of garlic.. the lobes are even similar shape. good thing it doesn't taste like that though.. raw garlic is spicy 😂
Costa Rica is a place where I can actually see myself going one day with the wife, so I'm definitely going to keep my eyes open for these guys hanging around
@@123495734 😳😳😳
I have lived 31 years in Costa Rica (I was born here) and I have never seen this fruit anywhere. Costa Rica shares very similar weather and temperature compared to many asian countries, and most fruits and trees that are native to Asia can be grown here with no issues. This has lead many people to import seeds and saplings from exotic asian fruits to grow here, but at a very low scale. That means you can find some interesting fruits (Lichi, Conkuat, jackfruit, longan, Abiu, etc...) but only in very specific places (private farms). In fact, over 99% of locals have never seen or heard the names of these fruits.
@@OlivierCR it sounds very exciting! I'm always down for an adventure, and maybe myself and a local person who can both discover something new together! Making a new friend over some tropical fruit sounds like a good time to me!
@@OlivierCR: I think you meant kumquat instead of Conkuat.
@@sdfkjgh Yep, its also called Conkuat here in CR.
Little wonder! The key is to select ones that have not fully ripen. Fully ripe salak has brittle dark skin that does not peel off in one piece. The flesh would feel dry and astringent, sticking to the inside of your mouth and throat. Not fully ripe fruits still have a brownish orange color to them and have a juicier crunch to them.
Usually I find thornless varieties (like thornless raspberries here) to be a bit of a gimmick, since usually a lot of other qualities of the fruit are sacrificed and the thorns help keep animals out. But for something that vicious, I think I'd go out of my way to get a thornless one! I feel like that first one needs to be hybridized with a S. wallichiana to take off the edge and make a tastier fruit. Maybe someone can get on that so its available when I eventually get to a warmer climate lol
Nice! Glad to find these worked out better than episode 3 where you went through dozens just to get more dry mouth. The skins are so cool!
Yes! I totally thought Snakefruit was like eating a garlic that tasted like pineapple too when I tried them! I'd eat 'em all day long if they were more accessible in northern Alberta! 😂
Def deserves his own adventure TV show. But with good producers! Moar must subscribe!! Another great video.
When I was pregnant with my second child, I tried this, and I really liked it, after I have birth, I can’t even eat one piece of it lol. That’s kinda weird. My husband tried it before when I was pregnant, and he didn’t really like the fruit. Maybe because pregnant women have weird and different taste lol. I find it so funny that the one that I don’t really eat when I’m not pregnant, is the one I’m eating when I’m pregnant. Also, I’ve been tasting exotic fruits, since o was in high school, some of them have when I came from, some are not. The only thing that I can’t really tolerate is durian, I’ve tried the Thai one and musang king, and I can’t really pass the sulfur, gas, garlic and inion taste. 😞 Anyway good review, I really enjoy watching all the videos you have.
You are correct. Unlike Indonesian Salak which is sweet and crunchy, Thai snakefruits are juicy and aromatic. The two popular species are Sala which is sweet and sour, and Rakam which is very sour. The one you have in Costa Rica looked like Sala.
You need a bite-scale. From Banana to Coconut.
Funky Pineapple is my name at the discotheque.
I've had one before, I thought it tasted like bubblegum, others who tried it said it tasted distantly like bad feet. Which is weird because we just cut up the same piece and shared it around
What is weird is that some people know what bad feet taste like...
Theres acctually a good reason for this I never used to know! A high percentage of people have this thing called candidia or something which makes sweet fruits taste a Lil funky! I have it and it makes it so lychee and rambutan and mango taste like the ocean to me unless I have a perfect mango than it will taste like pure mango goodness!
Strawberries and raspberries and apples and stone fruits all taste completely normal but something in mango and persimmon and lychees makes them taste like a funky saltiness that reminds me of the ocean and funnily enough some people eat those fruits with salt but I think that would taste terrible while lots of people love those fruits with salt!
Probably tastes different to each individual, grapefruits have a similar profile, and is why some people will eat them like a orange
Yeah, "bad feet", that is the way I would have described it. It's not my favorite fruit.
Love your channel man . Huge fan
In Indonesia they call it salak. But there are multiple varieties. The good kind that is not astringent is called salak pondoh (Salacca zalacca Gaertner Voss). This is one of my favorite fruits. Also, some folks say it tastes even better if after you peal the outer skin off you also rub the super thin skin layer off each segment of the fruit. I think it's good either way.
Mountains of the second ones in roadside stalls in Bali in April. Love them and cheap as.
I’ve wanted to try good snake fruit for so long! My local Asian markets sell it frozen but it really wasn’t very good. Kind of sour with a mushy, odd texture. Fortunately I managed to find some seeds and have been nursing along some Salacca wallichiana palm seedlings for a couple of years so hopefully someday I’ll be able to grow my own! Let’s hope they’re a decent flavored variety!
that would really suck if they tasted awful- or just like the market version lol. good luck on growing a plant tho!!! thats like super impressive
@@cookieconkle Lol! I know! It’s such a crap shoot, especially considering how variable fruit from seed can be! They also are growing quite slow so it’s going to be a looong wait, which means even it they taste decent it probably won’t live up to all the hype! Haha.
The first time i had Salaca Zalaca was in Hawaii. This was at my friends fruit stand in Captain Cook. I took 6 and each one was very good. I think they might have been picked more ripe. There are many palm fruits that develope flavors dependant on age. It might be that or could br the grow environment.
I tend to have a sensitive palat and dodnt seem to have a dry mouth experience at all. There was a mild funkiness (Im usually more sensitive to that) but the pineapple and sweetnees was definately there.
I had some snake fruits from the Miami Fruit website. First, the frozen snake fruit, they were skinny, but sour. But when I ordered the fresh, round ones, they are sweet and delicious.
Thank you for this video! 😀🌺
"It's like a funky pineapple."
So it's a ludicolo?
My family loves your videos! I am ok when the kids binge your channel. We are passing San Isidro de El General tomorrow on our way to the Caribbean side of CR. Please let us know if you would be available to high five a passing adoring family. Thank you
I remember having one in Sumatra about 10 years ago. My memory of it was like a crunchy spiced pear.
Hey I just ate this yesterday im Indonesian and it's called salak here what a cool coincidence
indonesia have more than 16 varieties of Salak. one of those salak from BALI, called "salak gula" or "sugar salacca", it's literally very sweet, crumbly and moist. there's even one variety called "salak madu", madu is "honey", can you imagine how it taste like?😋
Those fruits have no right to look this cool.
as Indonesian it's weird to see you eat it from the side, I usually eat it from the top or bottom. kind of comparable to people eating burrito from the middle.
Burritos lose their structural integrity if you go in from the side though
Had this today, it was great. The one I had was also easy to peel the "correct" way haha
Oh, I love that fruit. They are rarely found here in german supermarkets, but if I see them I have to get one. I don't know, wich variety it is, but they are pretty tasty, even here. And they look and feel really interesting. 😊
salak bali is best. I also live in costa Rica and grow salak bali which is sweet
The Best Salak in the world is Salak Bali from Karangasem, which is sweetness n sourness is balance, not to sweet but also not too sour with the thick meat, very crunchy n fresh .Tip to buy is just pick the biggest size.
In Bali there is also Salak Gula Pasir which is sweet more than sour.
The other Salak that similiar to Salak Bali is Salak Pangu from Manado which is can find around North Celebes.
The common variety in Indonesia is Salak Pondoh which is very sweet with thin meat but this is the most Salak that sell in local n export Market cause this variety is developed all around Java.
i wonder if yours was not ripe enough. I bought some today (in the Dallas metroplex area) that looks like your spiky variety. It is a little sour. (I wouldn't call it astringent in taste like the wikipedia article does.) More like a 6-7 on the sour scale (in which a 10 is a typical lemon.) I suppose pineapple is a reminiscent cousin, but, overall, snake fruit tastes like its own thing. Definitely, tropical. I actually get a kind of candy flavor-ness from it. Interesting. A nice fruit. I find that the funk smell comes from the outer skin.
4:07 Funky Pineapple would make a great band name.
Snake Fruit are probably my personal favorite exotic fruit. A lot of obscure fruits are actually kinda boring really, like they're only of interest because they're rare, or they're pretty good but very similar to other fruit we already know. Even a lot of the tastier or more unusual fruits are cool and all, but still not really any better than say, a really good peach or strawberry. And then there are those that look stunning, but taste insultingly dull (I'm looking at you here, Kiwano Melon).
Snake Fruit though, hits different. It's bizarre to look at and the flesh has an unusual texture, but it also tastes good. I like it because it's so alien, and yet still very tasty (the description of it having the texture of a garlic bulb with the taste of a pineapple is very accurate). If I could get hold of them cheaply and easily then I honestly think they'd be the fruit I ate the most.
By the way, after eating a few Snake Fruit I came to realise that each bulb has an extremely fine papery membrane around it. THAT is the part that can give you dry mouth - peel or rub it all off, and the flavor is improved significantly.
Little tips. The rounder the shape the sweeter the fruit will taste
Ive had some, they were good! kinda like leche/apple flavor but in a garlic shape. sold to me as "snake apple"
You should grow some of the fruits you eat.
Like save some seeds and grow em.
I had these in Thailand. They were pretty good.
I grow them here in FNQ Queensland I like both the Thai and the Balinese varieties.
Freshly picked salak is easier to peel , and the skin will dried up the longer it's left on the counter and getting harder to peel.
For once I’ve tasted the fruit you’re tasting- that never happens! I remember enjoying it.
snake fruit is really interesting.
Where do you go to find these? I live in Costa Rica and have never seen one of these.
5:22 Look at it!!!
Have you tasted Rattan fruit we have 2 types here in Philippines... It is similar to that fruit but smaller and 1 is sweet when ripe the other type is sour like lemons.
Try carob pods
When you said "funky" many times in a short span I was reminded of DeeDee Ramone
We called those 'Salak' here, I love eating them even though it's a pain removing the skin.
That first ones looks like the Thai ones and it does become sweet as it ripens, it's very soul until it's ripe. The vendors usually peel them for you and you buy them in a plastic box.
I love snakefruit! I had them in Bali, where they called them "salak." I don't remember them being sour.
Indonesian varieties are mostly sweet or very sweet, like Salak Pondoh
Try salak pondoh variety from Indonesia! It's the sweet one. No sour.
Pretty cool
good asmr material right there. maybe you should buy one of those 3d binaural mic :v.
The seeds look very similar to jackfruit seeds. Jackfruit seeds are fully edible and a much loved food in places where the fruit grows. They are cooked in stews and taste something between a chestnut or bean.
It would be interesting to see if snake fruit seeds are edible too.
"look at it" 😂😂😂
In the N and NE regions of Brazil we have another genus of this Family, Mauritia spp. The main representative is Mauritia flexuosa, called BURITI in Portuguese. It is not eaten fresh but rather soaked in water to soften the skin. Generally a juice or candy is made from its pulp which is acidic and very yellow and
I remember salak fruit having a touch of ashtray in the smell. A sour tropical fruity smell with a touch of ashtray
Curious if youve done a video on the fruit that comes from the Monstera plant?
yes! check the list at weirdexplorer.com
@@WeirdExplorer word, will do, cheers
I guess I love snakefruits, I know them from Malaysia and Indonesia. Their appeal to me is that they are so dry that you keep eating them to chase a fruity taste you don't really get.
I've tried something close to the second variant years ago, all I remember that it was kinda dry and tastes like a slightly sweet onion, no pineapple taste, not off putting but not something you're going to go out of your way to find one. Not sure if it's normal for the variant or if it was just a bad one.
My guess is that might have been picked too early. I've had some bad ones like that too
My guess is that might have been picked too early. I've had some bad ones like that too
It's amazing how eating a fruit just a little too early or a little too late in the maturing process can change how we perceive it. The amount of sugars, glycolic compounds, tannins, alkaloids, flavanoids, acids, or a number of any other chemicals present in the fruit can change so much in such a relatively short amount of time. I got my degree in Botany and Plant Sciences for reason such as that.
Sacred geometry connects us all
Ah Costa Rica where I lived for 14 years. I had no idea there was this fruit though imagine that. And I've been to San Isidro before!
Your shop link isn't working
Works for me
Fruit is awesome
We mostly use pineapple and similar acidic fruits to fast tenderize meat - have to be very careful to not leave the fruit in contact with the flesh for too long or it will convert muscle into mush
In Indonesia we use Papaya leaves
I want to go back to Costa Rica!
Have you ever tryed pickled Walnuts Jared?
You can get what I'm guessing is the South-East Asian variety in France pretty readily. Would you also describe the funkyness as a way of getting used to enjoying Durian?
I'm just waiting for you to open a crazy tropical greenhouse and garden center...
so, are snake fruit kind of like nuts? they look like something that you'd find in trail mix but way bigger.
Are these related to Lychees?
The flavor & texture might relate to ripeness of said fruit, basic note is sour, right ripeness should be sweet tasting.
They're in the U.S. as we have them in Hawaii!
It’s honestly hard to describe snakefruit but the best thing to say is it’s very tart
Ripe they are super delicious, if unripe super sour.
My favorite fruit. I could gobble 1 kg of them in one go. One thing that holds me back is the side effect of eating a lot of salak which is constipation.
Learned that thru the hard way.
Yea pun intended.
Funny that you compare it to pineapple, since both palms and bromeliads are monocots. There's even a rare bromeliad, Ochagavia elegans, which has been compared to garlic (other than flavor) as well. You can almost tell the vague visual similarities between typical bromeliad fruits, palm fruits, and even bananas.
I have been following you for years and I live in San Isidro!! I would have invited you to stay at our AirBnB for free and explore our food forest had I'd known you were in the area!!!
You gotta share your food forest with us!
Salacca Affinis is actually what the sour variety with red skin that you tried.
6:26 Jack fruit may remind him of "Juicy Fruit" gum but that is supposedly *not* the source of the flavoring. For context, I had an anthropology professor in university, who had done fieldwork in Malaysia. He and his wife had told me a version of that 'myth', but I believed for years that they had said Durian was the source for the gum's taste. They probably said Jack fruit, and I got the Durian part wrong, but it doesn't matter, because I later saw a piece specifically on the origins of the gum...and it's main selling point when it first came out was that the flavor was *entirely* artificial.
I enjoyed the snake fruit I had in Thailand. I would like to taste all species!
Juicy fruit May taste like jackfruit but the flavoring agent is totally different I believe the flavoring agent is a byproduct of alcohol production
The snakefruit, or salak comes from Indonesia, therefore, it is considered invasive in Central America.
When a fruit guy with English as their 2nd language says "it's a little bit sour" it usually means "melt your teeth" sour 🤣
In Indonesia we calls it 'Salak'.
snakefruit are like a 7/10 by my standards, alright taste but i almost choked on one and when i ate them my sinus began to hurt, so,,
Do these get your drunk? I heard this fruit gives you a drunk feeling when you eat it
I found snake fruit once at an H-Mart. Unfortunately it was frozen and became all mushy when it thawed out. Totally disappointing.
In jungle malaysia, we have salak, bertam,rotan,kelubi…all look like snakefruit😂
I swear he's the son of "crime pays but botany doesn't" or at least younger brother.