Green Fingers, Green Acres & Green Malaysia

This was written a couple of weeks ago, so some of the Star Online links may have 'disappeared' into its (by subscription only) archives.

500 farming families in Bidor are worried about their uncertain future, as there is talk that the land on which they have cultivated fruit trees is to be sold to developers. Their spokesman, Lim Poh Kuang, said almost all the families in the 7 villages depend on farming for their livelihood, having tended the land for more than 50 years - why, that’s even longer than the existence of Malaysia.

Though having submitted applications for land titles as far back as 20 years ago, they still haven’t received any word from the Perak State government. Perhaps the authorities are over-doing the 'elegant' silence part a bit too far?

Quickie Recipe: You know the old durian + pulut (glutinuous rice) + santan (coconut cream) dessert? When durian's out, substitute with mango slices - tastes just as great - don't forget to add a few grains of salt in the santan!

He said: “Most of the fruit farms were started by our forefathers in the Emergency days. Despite facing numerous hardships, the farmers stayed on to toil the land. And now when farmers are starting to taste the fruits of their labour, they have to worry about the future.”

Lim said the farmers are very receptive to the Prime Minister's call to modernise farming to increase production, but hesitate in investing more in their farms when the titles are 20 years late in coming, or may not even come at all.

I wish them all the best, and may I just say Lim’s mangoes reminded me of a young KTemoc adventure, which if made into a film, would have carried the title: “KTemoc and Raiders of the Lost Alphonso*”. I let you guess who were the raiders, and who in my kampong (village) lost their Alphonso mangoes.

* Alphonso is one of the most popular mango cultivars - the fruit is absolutely succulent - trust me, I know ;-)

Then we move on to Wong Fook Choy, an orchard owner at Liu Lian Shan (Durian Hill in Mandarin), about 80 km from Ipoh or 12 km from Tapah. Wong tells us that durians there are fast catching up in terms of popularity, and have been snapped up by traders in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

Sinseh's Note: after eating lots of durians, put a bit of salt and water in the hollow of the durian shell, and drink up the mixture - it's a Chinese remedy to minimise the body's internal heat (yang) due to durian intake, and best of all, permits you to continue your durian gluttony ;-) Alternatively, take some mangosteens (with their yin effect) to keep the body system balanced.

The 63-year-old tuition teacher possesses 180 durian trees on his 2.8 hectares orchard, which makes me … er … green with envy. Wong said the durians from the area were as good as those from Penang as far as taste and texture were concerned – as good as Penang's? In your dreams, sir!

He added: “Furthermore, Liu Lian Shan produces durians twice a year”, which Kemoc believes bespeak more of quantity rather than quality – ;-) don’t mind me, it’s just the Penangite in me arguing.

Then he got more technical or botanical or whatever, saying most of his trees are of the raja kunyit (golden-hue king) variety. Other varieties from the area include the D24, D2 and the zhu jiao (bamboo feet).

Me, I don’t care so much about the names but I like my durian fruits to be fragrant, golden in colour, thick, layered, comfortably firm and just a wee moist (not squashy soggy) in texture, and creamy rich in taste, and most important for cheap skate Penangites like me, dirt cheap in the price.

When asked why durians from Liu Lian Shan were not much heard of especially when compared with those from Penang, Wong said: “A lot has been said and reported about Penang durians but not much has been said about those from Chenderiang.”

And for a damn good reason too, so says this Penang bloke ;-)

May I also say that his durians remind me of an equally early KTemoc adventure production titled: “KTemoc and the Temple of Durians”. I am sure you can all make some intelligent guess as to what a young KTemoc was like in his kampong, and why some Buddhist monks and Taoist priests desperately wanted me for more than just saving my soul. Alas, no durian trees at the local mesjid or church or I'd have been wanted by the imam and pastor too.

OK, we shift scene to Fong Kwai Keong, better known as the King of Cempedak (Artocarpus champeden). I believe cempedak is closely related to nangka or jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), or closely related to it, as they look fairly similar though the cempedak is smaller and more importantly, tastier, more fragrant and has a nice fine texture. Fong started planting cempedak about twenty years ago on his 6.5 hectares orchard in, again, that 'green acre' called Chenderiang.

Dinner Deco Note: If you want to learn how to cut out your cempedak fruits to be even better looking than above, where the fruits are still hanging as a bunch on the stalk, just so for beautiful presentation on a dinner plate to impress your guests, I can teach you.

He has various varieties like a seedless cempedak, a durian-fragrant cempedak, and the luscious ‘Perak champion’. I don’t know what the ‘Perak champion’ is, but I haven’t come across the durian-fragrant cempedak nor the seedless one.

Incidentally, cempadek has been described by western botanists as possessing the 'strongest and richest smell of any fruit in creation', which is strange and rather blasphemous to us Malaysians when we would swear to durians earning that distinction.

I believe it’s a bit of a shame to have seedless cempedak because the boiled seeds (with a sprinkling of salt in the water) taste great like chestnuts.

Despite discouragement from friends that it would be a foolhardy venture Fong went into large-scale planting of the cempedak. Today he is one of Perak’s biggest exporters of the fruit, with most of his fruits sent to Singapore.

My last confession lies in my production of “KTemoc and the Last Cempedak”. T’was the chronicle of my last stab at kampong adventure, and of course a freebie, before I turned into, bleahhh, a (supposedly) responsible adult.

Great blokes for greening Malaysia. Now, for KTemoc to pinpoint their locations for three more adventures a la Indiana Jones ;-)