Water apple is considered the colorful fruit that attracts our look strongly. This fruit is of Syzygium samarangense plant in Myrtaceae family. It is also known as Java apple, Semarang rose-apple or wax jambu.
Origin of water apple
This colorful fruit was native to some groups of islands in Southeast Asia which included the Greater Sunda Islands of Malay Peninsula and Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. The appearance of this fruit was not specification but it was introduced officially in 1938 by Mr Karl Ludwig Blume, a German-Dutch botanist who had researched of Southern Asia flora, particularly the Java Island.
Water apple is now still cultivated popularly in Southeast Asia and some other Asian countries as India, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Pakistan…and some other areas.
Description of water apple
Water apple tree could be tall up to 12m high, with white flower. The colorful fruits are in bell-shaped with color from white, light green to red, purple, and crimson. Rarely, there is also black water apple.
The flower of the tree could grow from mostly any point of the trunk and branches, and so the fruits then too. And the result of the fruiting is an overburdened tree with the number of fruits could be up to 700. What attractive it is when we look at the branches leaden with fruits, and only need to reach out to get a delicious fruit.
The mature water apple fruits have shiny thin and succulent skin. The flesh then is white, crisp, sweet, succulent and fresh. The flesh in the middle of the fruit is softer and mostly flavorless. It could also contain seed or not.
Water apple compared with the apple
Although the fruit’s name is water apple but it doesn’t resembled once compared with the apple, except the color by little. Actually these two types of fruits taste, density and fragrance are quite different. The flesh of the water apple is considered loose weave, its taste is similar with snow pear, and it is juicy like watermelon.
Water apple as food
Water apples are mostly eaten fresh as fruit. These colorful fruits are also used in salad or sautéed especially in the Indian Ocean Islands. With high level content of fluid, vitamin A, C, fiber and antioxidant, water apple is believed very helpful in supporting the digestion, eyes, or reducing cholesterol, cancer risk…But the most positive value of water apple is that it is one of excellent fruits that could satisfy your thirst right away with its fresh sweetness, especially in the hot climate of the tropics.
Although this fruit is delicious and fresh, it is also very easy to be rotten. So we should use it after harvested soonest as possible. Otherwise, besides the rotten risk, the crisp of the fruit could be reduced too. Water apple then will become softer and less juicy.
If kept in the fridge, we should cover water apples to ensure they will be dry and not sweating. And we should only keep them for a few days. Because for longer, the fruits still could be rotten even keeping in the fridge.
