Tropical Treat of the Day: Salak

As it is the season of Chinese New Year, the compound grocery store is well-stocked with mandarins and other citrus fruit, at the expense of local fruit. But I was able to find one novel treat: salak.

Salak is the name of the fruit and species of palm tree it is harvested from and, though cultivated elsewhere, the salak palm is native to Java and Sumatra. Salak is also known as Snake Fruit for the outer skin it possesses. When I peeled my first Snake Fruit, I instantly understood this nickname as the skin had exactly the look and feel of the recently-shedded skin of your neighborhood boa constrictor. 

What does it taste like? The fruit itself has the consistency of a giant bulb of peeled elephant garlic. The taste, as is the case with so many of the tropical fruits I have tasted here, isn't particularly analogous to any Western flavor I know. The best I can say is that it resembles a combination of apple and pineapple flavors, but not exactly. In the quarantine world, trying new fruit is what passes for fun and adventure and, for now, eating salak reaches that low bar.