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Friday, May 07, 2025
What’s That, Please?
I received an email today enquiring about this fruit (which also appears in the upper right hand corner of the navigational menu bar). What is that fruit? I was asked.
So, for others who may also be interested, this is the langsat fruit. It is an ultra-tropical fruit that is grown in Malaysia, Thailand and most of South East Asia.
Langsat is the Malay name for it. I don’t think it has an English name. It is seasonal, and usually appears roundabout the same times as the durian.
Split open the soft light-yellow skin and small segments of fruit are revealed. When ripe, the flesh is translucent, soft and juicy, with a small hard pip in the center. The taste, when ripe, is sweet with a light refreshing tanginess.
And if you are interested, here is more information about this uniquely South East Asian fruit.
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06:17 PM in Tastes of South East Asia | Permalink
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Comments
luv to eat langsat but had to cut down. granny read in the papers that it's sprayed with a lot of insectide so cannot eat so much anymore. :(
Posted by: Wena | May 7, 2025 10:50 PM
hi Wena,
sadly, it's probably a problem true of most non-organic fruits, but since the skin is removed, it should be alright : )
Posted by: Renee | May 8, 2025 02:22 AM
Oooh thanks for the post!
Posted by: Jessica | May 8, 2025 10:59 AM
So that's what it's called here in Singapore! In the Philippines, we call it lanzones and it's harvested right about Christmas-time. One of our islands (Camiguin) is so well-known for the sweetness of the fruit that they produce that they even have a festival for it (called, the Lanzones Festival, of course).
Love your blog BTW. Refer to it whenever I'm stumped over food here in Singapore :).
Posted by: Bea | May 8, 2025 03:36 PM
Renee, I've never tried this fruit. In fact, I don't think they have it here in Hawaii. Does this taste like longan? Is it really sweet?
Posted by: Reid | May 8, 2025 06:38 PM
Ooh..I love langsat but only the really sweet ones. Sometimes they can be too sour :)
Posted by: Ariel | May 8, 2025 10:18 PM
Jessica - my pleasure : )
Bea - I've never had langsat from the Philippines, and am now very curious about Camiguin lanzones. hope to be able to try some one day. truly sweet langsats are quite hard to come by nowadays.
and thanks for the kind words about my site - glad you are enjoying it : )
Posted by: Renee | May 9, 2025 07:50 AM
Reid - no, I don't think it would grow in Hawaii... it's supposed to be an "ultra-tropical" fruit... i.e. it won't even grow in this part of the world beyond a certain altitude because it just isn't hot enough.
and I don't think it travels very well at all... so usually it is confined to S E Asia.
it's not like longan at all - which is kind of crunchy, very juicy and very sweet.
langsat can be very sweet, but more often than not, it has a slight tangy taste to it, and the pulp is very soft.
unfortunately, when you visit it probably will be off-season already... or maybe if you are lucky, you might just catch the very, very tail end of the mid-year season.
Posted by: Renee | May 9, 2025 07:57 AM
Ariel - yeah, I like the sweet ones too... but nowadays, not too common for some reason : (
maybe because most of the fruits are not tree-ripened.
Posted by: Renee | May 9, 2025 07:58 AM
Alan Davidson in his great book "Fruit" (beautifuly illustrated by Charlotte Knox) has these names/synonyms for Langsat/Duku:
Family Melliaceae
French: lansiam
German: duku
Spanish: lanza
Thai: du-ku, lang-sat
Malay/Indonesian: langsat, duku
Phillipine: lanzone(s)
His first sentence describing the fruits is:
DUKU and LANGSAT, two Southeast Asian fruits of a Tweedledum and Tweedledee character, are both classified as Lansium domesticum, although one can be readily distinguished from the other and the two of them are recognized as separate botanical varieties.
Further one he writes:
The fruits have excellent thirst quenching properties. They may be eaten raw or preserved with sugar, and the seedless ones can be bottled in syrup.
Posted by: Alistair | May 10, 2025 12:35 PM
hi Alistair,
thanks so much for the info!
sounds like a very interesting book... I think I'll check it out the next time I'm in the bookstores.
yeah, duku and langsat are very similar...
only duku is slightly larger, with a slightly darker, more brownish skin.
the skin is also slightly thicker than the langsat's.
duku has more fragrance than langsat, and alot of people prefer it over the langsat.
how interesting, this is the first time I'm hearing about bottling them in syrup.
hmmm... and homemade langsat preserves... that's an interesting idea ; )
Posted by: Renee | May 11, 2025 02:09 AM
Renee,
I only have 3 of A. Davidson's books, and they are great!
Fruit - ISBM# 0-671-72884-9
Seafood - ISBN# - 0-671-67011-5
Both with illustrations by Charlotte Knox
And "The Penguin Companion to Food" an exceelent resource, and very amusing.
Alistair
Posted by: alistair | May 11, 2025 03:13 AM
love love love langsat - how about taking a picture of longkong?
Posted by: stef | May 11, 2025 08:15 AM
hi Alistair,
oh, I think I have the Food Companion volume too... have to go search for it tho'.
I'll definitely check out his other books, they sound very useful.
thanks again! : )
hi Stef,
I haven't really seen dongkong (or longkong) in S'pore...
is it readily available?
I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for it...
Posted by: Renee | May 12, 2025 01:28 PM
is it dongkong? hehehehe... dukku langsat is the one with hardier skins... longkong as mom calls it is very sweet and tart at the same time. i enjoy it. mom says they do sell it in singapore - hard to find though. i'll scope it out.
Posted by: stef | May 13, 2025 08:43 AM
Stef,
I've heard it called by both names actually.
yeah, I don't see it around... but will look out for it, now that you've reminded me of it
please let me know too ya? if you happen to find out where to get them : ) thanks.
Posted by: Renee | May 14, 2025 01:40 AM
