The Botanical Ark is a private ethno-botanical garden on the edge of the Daintree rainforest in far northern Queensland near Mossman. It is owned and run by Alan and Susan Carle. Their goal is to collect new and rare species of tropical fruits and nuts from around the world, to propagate them for sale to commercial growers and to provide botanic gardens to conserve the plants, making them available for the future. They specialise in unusual tropical rainforest plants that are useful to people as food, fibres, medicines, dyes and oils and have collected some of the new species from the rainforests of Burma, Thailand, South America, Asia, New Guinea and Borneo.
Tropical fruits
The tropical fruits we looked at on ‘Burke’s Backyard’ were exotic and rich in flavour but most were an acquired taste. Some of the fruits shown included:
Salak (Salacca sumatrana), is a palm fruit from Sumatra that tastes like a pineapple-flavoured Granny Smith apple. The plant itself is very prickly, which makes it difficult to prune or get close to.
- Mamey sapote (Pouteria sapota) is a tree from Central America, the Caribbean area. The fruit is orange, avocado-like in texture but rich and sweet in flavour. Mexicans and Cubans use it in milkshakes, over icecream and as a substitute for pumpkin in pumpkin pie.
- Kepel apple (also kepple apple or kepple fruit, Stelechocarpus burahol) from Indonesia was once grown solely for the enjoyment of the royal family. It was said after eating this fruit a person’s bodily odours would smell like lavender. It has an unusual flavour that is described as an acquired taste.
- Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) is a versatile fruit that can be used green as a firm vegetable, much like a potato, or eaten sweet as a dessert fruit. Try it for chips, breads, soups and pastas. When the fruit turns yellow and soft and the carbohydrates have turned to sugar it can be used in puddings and custards.
- Mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana) is a purple fruit considered ‘Queen of tropical fruits’. It comes from Malaysia. This delicately flavoured passionfruit-sized fruit melts in the mouth and is similar in consistency to a lychee.
- Mundu (Garcinia dulcis)is a relative of the mangosteen but has a very different flavour and texture. It comes from Peninsular Malaysia and Peninsular Thailand and tastes like an apricot.
- Tropical custard apple is a large yellow fruit also called Rollinia deliciosa. It comes from the Amazon and is a different genus from the ordinary custard apple. It has a smooth texture and its flavour is sweet with a hint of lemon.
Eating and growing tropical fruit
These unusual fruits may be available from good greengrocers when in season but can be difficult to find.
The fruits discussed above are best grown in tropical areas (see climate map).
Visit your local nursery for a range of tropical fruit trees or contact the Botanical Ark or one of the nurseries listed below:
Limberlast Nursery, 113 Old Smithfield Road, Freshwater, near Cairns QLD, 4870, phone: (07) 4055 1042.
Exotic Groves, PO Box 125, Innisfail, QLD, 4860, phone: (07) 4067 6131.
Don Gray, PO Box 446, Mossman, QLD, 4873, phone: (07) 4094 1181.
Further information
Botanical Ark is only open for group tours. For more information or to make a booking write to the Botanical Ark, PO Box 354, Mossman, QLD 4873. Phone: (07) 4098 8174 or fax: (07) 4098 8174.
For more information on tropical fruits contact Charlie Nolan at the head office of the Rare Fruits Council of Australia Inc. (RFCA), PO Box 1375, Aitkenvale, QLD, 4814. E-mail: [email protected] or phone/fax: (07) 4725 2774.