| Origin | Native to India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Samoa, Sri Lanka and Thailand. |
| Description | The fruit is a bell-shaped, edible, crisp, watery berry, with varieties and colors ranging from white, pale green, or green to red, purple, or crimson, to deep purple or even black. |
| Growth Habitat | Grows well in humid and subhumid tropics. |
| Foliage | The opposite leaves are elliptic-oblong, rounded or slightly pointed at the base; yellowish to dark bluish-green; 10-25 cm long and 5-12 cm wide; very aromatic when crushed. |
| Flowers | Flowers, borne in drooping panicles of 3 to 30 at the branch tips or in smaller clusters in the axils of fallen leaves, are fragrant, yellowish-white, 2-4 cm broad, 4-petalled, with numerous stamens 1.5-2.5 cm long. The Malay apple differs from the bell apple and Jambu air or wax apple by typically having the inflorescences borne on the branches and occasionally on the trunk rather than at or near the ends of the stems. |
| Fruits | The waxy fruit, usually light-red, sometimes greenish-white, cream-colored or dark red, is pear-shaped, narrow at the base, very broad, flattened, indented and adorned with the 4 fleshy calyx lobes at the apex. The skin is very thin, the flesh white, juicy to spongy-dry interior, subacid and a bland to sweet juicy flavor with a slight tangy aftertaste. There may be 1 or 2 somewhat rounded seeds 0.5-0.8 cm wide, or none. It has been observed that the darker the colour the sweeter the taste. |
| Harvest | Water Apple should be wrapped to obtain high-quality fruit. The best time to wrap the fruit is when all the petals and the pollen has fallen. To get large fruit, buds clusters should be thinned until there are 4-6 buds per stalk. Plastic wrapping can be used to cover the fruit. Punched a few holes at the bottom so that rainwater does not collect and stagnate and to avoid dampness and mold growth. Harvest the fruit carefully about 20 to 25 days after wrapping. |
| Soil | Trees are adapted to a wide variety of soil types, but prefer soils that are acid for best growth and fruiting. In highly alkaline soils, micronutrient deficiencies often develop that must be corrected by use of nutrient sprays. |
| Pruning | Pruning can control the tree’s size, although heavy pruning can kill the tree. |
| Fertilization | Water Apple often grows quickly and bears fruit early. Therefore, these plants need fertilizer to be fairly frequently and on a regular basis. Fertilize according to vegetative growth and after the fruit picked. Fertilizer during flowering and fruit set should be avoided. In addition to chemical fertilizers, organic fertilizer - poultry manure, rabbit droppings or cow dung can be used. Organic fertilizers not only provide nutrients to plants gradually, but they also improve soil conditions. One bag (20 kg) of organic fertilizer should be placed at the base of the tree every 6 months. |
| Propagation | The trees grow spontaneously from seed. Preferred types are reproduced by layering or budding onto their own rootstocks. |
| Nutritional Properties | 100g of Water Apple has 12mg of magnesium, 29mg of calcium and 123mg of potassium. |
| Health Benefits | Water Apple fruits good for curing mouth ulcers. The roots and barks contains alkaloid called jambosine, which helps to lower the sugar blood level, especially when one's pancreas is not functioning properly like that of a diabetic. While jambosine in Jambu air is still under further study, it is noteworthy that Jambu air have a low glycemic index. This makes it one of the few fruits, including grapefruits and apples that are good for diabetics. Jambu air are also considered good for the brain, liver and our blood. |
| Commercial Uses | In Malaysia, the powder from the dried leaves of the Malay apple is reportedly used on a cracked tongue. A preparation of the root is a remedy for itching, and a preparation of the root is given to alleviate swelling. The root bark is used to treat dysentery and serves as an emmenagogue (promoting menstrual function) and abortifacient. Cambodians reportedly take a decoction of the fruit, leaves, or seeds as a febrifuge (against fever). In Brazil various parts of the plant are used as remedies for constipation, diabetes, coughs, pulmonary catarrh, headache, and other ailments. The wood is red, coarse, hard; used for construction. |
| Food Suggestion | Water Apple Salsa Ingredients: - 4 jambu air, chopped - ¼ cup spring onions, chopped - 2 tbsp fresh mint, chopped - 2 chillies, chopped - Juice of 1 lemon - ½ red pepper, finely chopped - Salt and pepper to taste - ½ tsp fresh pepper seeds - Pinch of ground fennel Directions: Mix all the ingredients together and leave for a couple of hours before serving |
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