Fruits You’ve Never Heard Of, Unless You’ve Been to Indonesia

Some fruits don’t travel, they wait for you to come to them.

Indonesia is home to a variety of tropical fruits, many of them never make it to supermarkets beyond Southeast Asia. It's happened because they’re seasonal and deeply tied to the land climate that created them.

 Here is some of the criteria:

-Grown under the equator
-Volcanic soil
-Year-round harvest
-Tricky to export fresh

Why do these fruits only thrive here?

These aren’t exclusively Indonesian fruits, rambutan, manggis, and salak also grow across south east asia. But they share one thing: they are deeply tropical organisms that cannot survive outside a very specific climate window. 

Here’s why they stay close to the equator: 

High humidity and rainfall: Indonesia monsoon cycle creates exactly the rhythm of distinct wet season to flower and dry season to ripen.
Consistent equatorial heat: These fruits need temperatures between 25-35°C. Temperature or subtropical climates simply cannot provide the sustained warmth these plants to require to fruit properly
Volcanic soil richness: Much island in Indonesia has mineral dense volcanic soil and is directly related to the more complex variety of the fruits.

Alya Nida Khofiyya, Exchange Student from Seoul National University