Busy with Royalty
The Durian, (Durio zibethinus) is often referred to as “the King of Tropical Fruit” and with good reason. As well as being extraordinarily delicious to eat, it is bursting with natural vitamins, minerals, protein, unsaturated fats and of course calories! It is without any doubt my absolutely favourite fruit and this is the first year we have had a substantial crop – we have been eating some Durian every day for the past 8 weeks, I have frozen many kilos and given away lots to friends.
I took this fruit to an outside table in order to photograph it and within seconds this little butterfly was attracted to the strong fruit odour. (I think the butterfly belongs to the Mycalesis genus, one of the bush-browns) The Durian fruit, as you can see, has some seriously sharp, stout spines which offer quite a challenge to those trying to access the sweet, rich custardy flesh within. The fruit is a capsule and when ripe it splits into irregular segments containing the seed which is embedded in a rich cream or yellow coloured pulp ……and that’s the yummy bit.
Like many other fruit growers in Far North of Queensland this year, we have a huge crop of Mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana) which is known as the “Queen of tropical fruits”, and it is keeping us very busy picking and sorting for sale. Like Durian it is native to the Malaysian rainforests but there the similarities end. The flavour of the white, translucent flesh of Mangosteen is ‘melt in the mouth’ delicate, sweet and refreshing.
The other fruit in the photo is Rambutan (closely related to Lychee) and although we have harvested a few fruit for ourselves and friends most of it is being enjoyed by Sulphur-crested Cockatoos and Rainbow Lorikeets. As we have more than enough fruit to eat we don’t mind sharing with them.
And just to finish up – one more photo of the Durian showing its creamy, delicious segments.
Fruit to share
We grow Black Persimmon also known as Black Sapote (Diospyros digyana) in our tropical fruit orchard and although we do sell some of our crop there is always plenty to share with the birds. We pick the fruit when it is still hard but those left on the tree become beautifully soft and mushy – perfect tucker for Honeyeaters and Silver-eyes.
As there are not many fruit soft and ripe enough for the birds at the one time there is considerable competition amongst them with the Helmeted Friarbird eagerly pushing the smaller birds out.
Macleay’s Honeyeater, an endemic species to our area, is cautious in its approach, waiting for an opportunity. Although it can be quite bossy around smaller birds it is dominated by the louder and bigger Helmeted Friarbird.
At last, a chance to enjoy a sweet, nutritious feast. Black Persimmon is an excellent source of Vitamin C and also has good amounts of calcium and phosphorus.
It is delicious mixed with yoghurt or made into a ‘smoothie’ but the birds seem happy to eat it unadulterated.
Nothing left of this fruit as this Yellow-spotted Honeyeater (I’m not entirely confident about ID) has just discovered but they’ll be more. The crop extends over a couple of months so all the fruit lovers, ourselves included, will be well fed.
Barbara
Allen
