| Origin | Native to Indochina and Peninsular Malaysia. |
| Description | Sentuls are called Lolly fruit because the flesh clings on to the seed so strongly that you need to suck on the fruit to extract its flesh, fiber and juices. |
| Growth Habitat | Tropical areas around the world. |
| Foliage | The leaves are compound, with 3 elliptic to oblong leaflets, 20-25 cm long, blunt at the base and pointed at the tip. |
| Flowers | The greenish, yellowish, or pinkish-yellow, 5-petaled flowers, about 1 cm long are bunched together in clusters 15-30 long. |
| Fruits | The fruit is round or oval shaped, 4-7.5 cm wide. There are two varieties: yellow and red. The yellow fruit has a thin rind, a thicker pulp around the seeds is generally sweeter. Fruits of the red variety have a thicker rind, less pulp around the seeds and are sour. |
| Harvest | The ripe fruits are harvested by climbing the tree and plucking by hand, alternatively a long stick with a forked end, and a net, may be used to twist the fruits off. |
| Soil | Sentul trees grow better in deep and organic grounds, and with rainfall distributed throughout the year. |
| Pruning | Prune to remove broken, dead or diseased branches and to increase sunlight and circulation of air. Tree growth, fruitfulness or both will be affected if leaf area is reduced unnecessarily. |
| Fertilization | Fertilize after the harvest. Two kg of complete fertilizer is recommended per application. Inorganic fertilizer is applied with manure or compost four to six times per year. |
| Propagation | The sentul is reproduced by seeds, air layering, inarching, or by budding onto self rootstocks. |
| Nutritional Properties | 100g of edible Sentul pulp has 4.3mg of calcium, 17.4mg of phosphorus, 0.42mg of iron, 0.045mg of Thiamine, 0.741mg of Niacin and 86mg of Vitamin C. |
| Health Benefits | The following nutrients in Sentul can be beneficial for: - Vitamin C: Keeps gums, blood vessels and bones healthy. Improves the absorption of iron. It is also an antioxidant. - Calcium: Helps build and maintain bones and teeth, important for muscle contractions. - Phosphorus: Along with calcium (calcium phosphate) helps to build bones. - Iron: Needed to form hemoglobin, carries the oxygen in the red blood cells. Also helps in preventing iron deficiency anemia (fatigue). - Thiamin (B1): Stress reducer, helps the nervous system to relax. - Niacin (B3): Helps convert food to energy. May help to reduce cholesterol. |
| Commercial Uses | Both the rind, as well as the pulp that clings tightly to the seeds, is edible and can be eaten straight off the tree, made into a jam or jelly, or preserved in syrup. Young fruits are candied in Malaysia by paring, removing the seeds, boiling in water, then boiling a second time with sugar. Very ripe fruits are fermented with rice to make an alcoholic drink. The leaves of sentul can be used to treat skin infections or rashes. In the Philippines, fresh leaves are placed on the body to cause sweating and a patient is bathed in a sentul tea to bring down fevers. The bark contains sandoricum acid, an unnamed, toxic alkaloid, and a steroidal sapogenin, and can be applied to ringworm. The root is given to women after childbirth, and is a remedy for diarrhea. |
| Food Suggestion | Prawns with Coconut Milk and Santol Ingredients : (Serves 4 Prep Time 15 minutes Cooking Time 15 minutes) - 2 pieces santol, peeled and seeded - 1 (1-inch) piece ginger, peeled and sliced - 1 tablespoon minced garlic - 1 medium onion, chopped - 500 grams tiger prawns - 1 cup coconut cream or santan - 1 teaspoon salt - 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper - 3 green chilies or chilli padi Methods : 1. Chop santol meat finely. Set aside. 2. In a pan, sauté ginger in 1 tablespoon oil until edges turn light brown. Add garlic and onion, and cook for a few minutes. 3. Add prawns and keep stirring until they turn a red-orange color. 4. Add santol meat. Stir. Add coconut cream and let simmer for 10 minutes without stirring. Season with salt and white pepper. 5. Add green chili, stir, and serve. |
Galleries
