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Rambutan
(Nephelium lappaceum) |
A native to Malaysia and Sumatra but cultivated throughout SE Asia.
Vivid red fruit covered in hairy spikes which has a sweet flesh
with a mild acid flavour, which is very refreshing.
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Soil
Characteristics |
Deep, rich well
drained sandy loams or clay loams, with high organic content
are generall preferred. |
| Climate Requirements |
Rambutan
require a hot wet climate, and are unlikely to thrive if temperatures
drop below 15 C. High humidity is necessary or the tree will
drop it's leaves to conserve water. |
| Culture |
Seedling trees
are typically tall, growing to 20 meters, while grafted or air
layered cultivars are usually more branching and rarely exceed
8 meters. Branches are often weak and may need support when
in fruit. |
| Harvesting |
Fruit is harvested
by cutting away the whole bunch together with a small amount
of wood to encourage new leaf growth. |
Length of time
until first crop |
Seedling
rambutan may take up to 7 years to flower and half of these
trees will be pure male, producing no fruit. They can be approach
or bud grafted in the field but survival is better if this is
done in the nursery before planting. Grafted trees tend to start
producing in third or fourth year. |
| Marketing Notes |
The
fruit do not store well, but if kept at 10 C, sealed in plastic
with high humidity, they can be kept for about 2 weeks. |
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Food Preparation
It is most convenient to eat
the fruit fresh as it is a lot of work to open and remove the seed
from a large number of fruit. If you are patient enough to do this,
then a fine jam can be made by cooking equal weights of flesh and
sugar together with sufficient lime juice (about 5%) or pectin to
help the jam set. Hot bottling the opened fruit
in sugar syrup can allow you to enjoy the fruit out of season. Further information
Purdue
University - Centre for New Crops and Plants - Rambutan
This site is a chapter from a book written by Julia Morton.
Gives a detailed desription of the different varieties, climate,
soil, season, pests and diseases and food uses. You can purchase
this classic book Fruits
of Warm Climates online from Amazon.
Rambutan
- New Crop Fact Sheet.
Written by Francis T. Zee, USDA-ARS, National Clonal Germplasm Repository,
Hilo, HI.
Rambutan
Cookbook Profile - Global Gourmet
Gives advice on how to actually eat them
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FRUIT AND PLANT LIST | TOP |
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Cape
Tribulation Bed and Breakfast accommodation on an exotic tropical fruit
orchard in the heart of the Daintree Rainforest
Cape Trib Exotic Fruit Farm, Lot 5 Nicole Drive, Cape Tribulation, Queensland,
4873, Australia - Tel: 0740 980057 - Fax: 0740 980067
digby@capetrib.com.au.
Last updated
January 1, 2012
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