When I was starting to look for native trees, this tree known as Kalumpit (Terminalia microcarpa) was one of my first discovery and it is one of my favorite. Who could miss this magnificent tree towering to about 25-30 meters in height and spreading out its canopy to about 15 meters in radius. Even up close and personal with this tree, the bole is about 1-2 meters in diameter and showing off its large and high buttress. It is also deciduous, meaning it sheds off its leaves during summer and grows it back come rainy season. When the fruiting season comes, oftentimes in sync with the start of the rainy season, numerous small oval shaped somewhat velvety purple to dark violet, almost black fruits carpet the ground below signifying an abundant harvest that can be made into jam or juice or delicacies maybe, which I am not familiar of. Although I haven't tasted this so called jam, I distinctly remember a sweet and sour sort of subacid taste similar to that of bignay and other berry type fruits which contain alcohol or wine taste.Belonging to the family COMBRETACEAE, Terminalia means having leaves borne on its terminal brances, while Microcarpa means having a small fruit as supposed to other species from the same genus terminalia. If you are familiar with the tree Talisai, then i'd say that they are cousins. Another note is that Kalumpit belongs to the molave type of forest.
Haha, you are missing a whole lot if you havent tasted kalumpit, whether uncooked or made into a jam. batangas is a kalumpit hotspot, and we as kids used to scoop the fruits up from the ground, beginning at dawn, and sell the fruits in the market. boy, did we earn from kalumpit
ReplyDeleteHi Jun! Thank you for reading the post and dropping a message. I did taste Kalumpit the first time I saw it's fruit but it was years ago and have seem to forgotten the taste up until the fruiting season of this year.
ReplyDeleteI was curious as the only sari-sari store nearby with a woman whom I call "manang" (elderly lady) usually see me stopping by the area whenever the fruiting season comes and that I borrow her "walis tingting" (broom) so that I could sweep the Kalumpit fruit litter off the side road. She had me taste the Kalumpit jam that she had freshly made that day but I wasn't able to bring my camera then so I wasn't able to document the delicately sweet treat.
Anyway, the next time that I passed by her sari-sari store, I was inquiring if she still had a few fresh fruits or that jam that she had me taste. I had this idea of making the jam myself, because I was able to persuade her to giving me the bowlful of Kalumpit fruits, which she had collected earlier. I was paying for the fruits, but she insisted on giving it to me so I thanked her and bid my farewell.
When I came home late that evening, I placed the fresh Kalumpit fruits inside the refrigerator.......The following day, I was eager to prepare how to make a Kalumpit jam based from the portions that "manang" had taught me. But instead of putting equal amounts of sugar with the fruits, I substituted sugar for the much healthier pure honey that was already available.
It was perfect timing as we had a half gallon of strawberry ice-cream sitting inside the freezer.........the rest is history!
Thank you for sharing your experience with this very healhy fruit. I hope someday that I will be able to taste the Kalumpit delicacies made from Batangas or other places.
Till then, happy reading!
Jun, sensya at nadala na ako magsulat at magkwento dito sa reply ko. post ko na lang din with the picture for you to see the final product of my experiment. hahahah......
ReplyDeletehi! maganda bang pang furniture o pintuan ang puno ng Kalumpit?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDeleteHindi ko masasagot ang katanungan mo dahil di ko pa nakikita ang itsura ng kahoy ng puno ng Kalumpit.
Sayang naman kung balak mo lang putulin ito pakalipas ng ilang taong pag-aantay. Mas mainam siguro kung maparami natin ang mga nanganganib nating mga puno at mapakinabangan ang mga bunga para sa mga benepisyong naidudulot nito na pang medikal, pangkalusugan at iba pa na pang matagalan naman ang gamit. Sa ganitong paraan, makakatulong pa tayo sa mga problemang tulad ng global warming, climate change, pagkaubos ng ating kagubatan, soil erosion at pagkasira ng ating kapaligiran.
Alam mo ba na mataas ang anti-oxidant properties ng bunga ng Kalumpit na maaring mag prevent ng mga sakit tulad ng cancer?
I OWN A KALUMPIT TREE,IT IS LOADED EVERY YEAR,I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHO WOULD BE INTERESTED IN THEM MY NAME IS DELOUIS SIMMONS,
ReplyDeletePHONE (941)447 - 8069.
Hi! what are the largest/ tallest native trees from the Philippines?You have a nice informative blog. thnx
ReplyDeleteThe tallest and largest Philippine trees belong mostly to the family of DIPTEROCARPACEAE or dipterocarp trees. To name a few are the White Lauan, Red Lauan, Apitong, Tanguile and some exceptions that do not belong to this order are of the likes of Dao, Toog and etc. Sad to say, a lot of our virgin forests have been illegally logged and are now facing rapid depletion and possibly extinction.
ReplyDeletei miss Kalumpit...It is one of my favorite fruits way back my childhood, second is Lipote...hmm! I miss those fruits so much..
ReplyDeleteNice, I like this page. Someone brought me about ten calumpit trees, will grow them in my farm.
ReplyDeletehello...nakita ko ang page na to because of my term paper...actually i didn't know what is kalumpit tree and fruit...i dont even have idea...kya i dont know how to start my study...can you help me...?
ReplyDeleteHi Pen-pen, there is a search box on the upper right hand corner of this page. Please type "Kalumpit" or other related topics which might have been tackled in this blogspot.
ReplyDeleteFor other inquiries, please email me at tristanasuncion@yahoo.com or text or call at 0917-8834691.
Saan po ba kami makakahanap ng namumungang kalumpit? Kailangan po namin ito para sa research namin. Salamat.
ReplyDeleteSa Up diliman Marine Institute. If you are facing the building there are 2 trees on the right.
ReplyDeleteI am now growing almost a hundred seedlings from those treesm