Mountain apple (Syzygium malaccense) on Mahina Mele Farm 2013
Continuing on our fruit tour of Mahina Mele Farm, here is one we love to eat. The mountain apple. This fruit was one of the “canoe plants”, plants that the Polynesians brought with them when they colonized Hawaii. They brought plants that were important to them of course and plants that could survive the voyage intact. The mountain apple is native to Southeast Asia, check out the wiki link for more info https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syzygium_malaccense.
I’ve attached some pictures of the flower which resemble in form so many other flowers we have here, the guava, jaboticaba, and ohia to name a few. The fruit is pear shaped and is incredibly juicy and refreshing. It is a bland-tasting fruit but when it is fully ripe ( just before the birds get into them) the skin has a cinnamon (think red hots) zing to it. The kids love them and so do we!
mountain apple bloom with young fruit behind