Dabai Season.

Everyone knows now is the Durian (King of fruit) season in Sarawak but not everyone knows about Dabai (Sarawak Olive).

Botanical Name : Canarium Odontophyllum
Family Name : Burseraceae

DABAI – a native fruit of Sarawak harvested by local natives and sold it in the native market. The external colour of DABAI is black while the fresh of the fruit is yellow in colour. The seed in the centre is yellow and diamond in shape . You can only eat the seed if you can crack open the seed.

The dabai is a large tree growing up to 20m high. it is a course tree with a tall straight trunk, big stems and branches, and large compound leaves. Being dioecious, there are make and female trees.
The fruit is also called 'Sibu olive', 'black olive' or 'tropical olive'. Fruit are borne in panicles that are held upright at the end of branches. Fruit colour changed from white to black when mature. The fruit is about 3 - 4 cm long. 1.5 - 2.0 cm wide.
The fruit are often soaked in warm water for about 20 minutes to soften the flesh. The taste is nutty, smooth, slightly oily with a good flavour. the tree however takes about seven years before it bears fruits.
I like eating it with a little bit of salt to taste. Some people prefer it with soy sauce.