Snake Fruit - Salacca, Thailand - My Exotic Fruit

The taste is usually sweet and acidic at the same time, but its apple-like texture can vary from very dry and crumbly (salak pondoh from Yogyakarta) to moist and crunchy (salak Bali). The taste is often compared to a rich pineapple flavour with a hint of fizziness.

The fruits grow in clusters at the base of the palm, and are also known as snake fruit due to the reddish-brown scaly skin.

They are about the size and shape of a ripe fig, with a distinct tip. The pulp is edible. The fruit can be peeled by pinching the tip, which should cause the skin to slough off so it can be pulled away.

The fruit inside consists of two or three lobes with the two larger ones, or even all three, containing a large inedible seed. The lobes resemble, and have the consistency of, large peeled garlic cloves.