The name was bewildering enough for me that I didn't need to think of any creative twist for this post's title... I'd never have guessed that there'd be a fruit named "buah long long"... but well, yes, it does exist. The official name is Spondias dulcis, and buah long long is how the Singaporean Chinese know it. It's known as kedondong in Indonesia, pomme cythere in Trinidad & Tobago and some other countries, June plum in Bermuda and Jamaica, juplon in Costa Rica, golden apple in Barbados and Guyana, jobo indio in Venezuela, cajá-manga and cajarana in Brazil (see, they couldn't even decide on one name in the same country), amra in Malaysia, and quả cóc in Vietnam. That's a mind-boggling list of names if I've ever seen one.
What's more amazing is that its juice is being sold by a rather common food stall. We found this at a branch of the food stall chain 1983 @ JEM food court, Singapore. Pardon the menu image for being pixelated as it was taken from quite far away. Buah long long juice didn't use to be so rare in Singapore when my parents were growing up, so it was my dad who noticed it on the menu and ordered it.
The fruit sediment had settled to the bottom in this case, leaving the yellowish juice on top. Otherwise, it's an apple green when fully stirred. This stall also added a sour plum into the drink, as was a common practice in pre-modern Singapore. It's that dark brown round ball in the menu image, and the slightly darker patch at the bottom, in the middle of the dark green sediment.
It tasted like the blended juices from a sour green mango and rose apple or jambu as we know it here. There was this sourish but also grassy element, similar to the sour green mango, but also this slight apple-like fragrance and feathery element, like a rose apple. I could also taste sourness from the sour plum. Very refreshing overall!
Unfortunately, this stall added way too much sugar, so it was unnaturally sweet. Perhaps a bit of sugar would have been fine, but this was just too much. So that ruined the experience and prevented me from just chugging this down. Hopefully, the next time I visit, they'll be able to add less sugar for me.
Also, if you read the Wikipedia page, the drink I had was apparently from the relatively unripe fruit. The ripe fruit is supposed to be yellow to orange, and it tastes something between a mango and a pineapple. That would be another interesting experience...
Still, I was very happy to have discovered something relatively exotic, and easily accessible to me! ^______^
What's more amazing is that its juice is being sold by a rather common food stall. We found this at a branch of the food stall chain 1983 @ JEM food court, Singapore. Pardon the menu image for being pixelated as it was taken from quite far away. Buah long long juice didn't use to be so rare in Singapore when my parents were growing up, so it was my dad who noticed it on the menu and ordered it.
It tasted like the blended juices from a sour green mango and rose apple or jambu as we know it here. There was this sourish but also grassy element, similar to the sour green mango, but also this slight apple-like fragrance and feathery element, like a rose apple. I could also taste sourness from the sour plum. Very refreshing overall!
Unfortunately, this stall added way too much sugar, so it was unnaturally sweet. Perhaps a bit of sugar would have been fine, but this was just too much. So that ruined the experience and prevented me from just chugging this down. Hopefully, the next time I visit, they'll be able to add less sugar for me.
Also, if you read the Wikipedia page, the drink I had was apparently from the relatively unripe fruit. The ripe fruit is supposed to be yellow to orange, and it tastes something between a mango and a pineapple. That would be another interesting experience...
Still, I was very happy to have discovered something relatively exotic, and easily accessible to me! ^______^
Found this drink interesting? Check out more unusual drinks here! Also, if you don't live in the tropics, fruits such as buah long long might be highly unusual to you. If you found this interesting, you can explore more exceptionally unusual food and drinks here!
Hi, I had this drink a few days ago at the Marina South Curry House restaurant in the 100am shopping mall (Tanjong Pagar). Tastes like starfruit juice, and no sugar was added. Kind of exotic, haha, as it isn't easy to find.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing! Yeah, it's not a common drink, which was why I was so thrilled. And since this was my first and only time trying this drink, I have no reference point on what it's supposed to taste like, so I'll look to check out that place you mentioned and see if how their version tastes! What you said about them not adding sugar seems especially appealing. =)
DeleteHi, we moved office to Westgate recently and my first buah long long juice was from this stall in JEM. Yes it was sweet indeed; I had drunk it twice. After a couple of weeks, I discovered a fruit juice shop in Ng Teng Fong Hospital (along J-Walk from Westgate to Ng Teng Fong Kopitiam) selling this same fruit juice for $2.50. They can add dried sour prunes for another 30cents. I've also tried it once with green apples when they ran out of BLL. This stall's version is better as you can request for less sugar more raw taste. Have fun!
ReplyDeleteHi! So sorry for the super delayed reply! Somehow I missed out on the email notification about your comment. Thanks for the recommendation at Ng Teng Fong! Glad to know that there's an alternative so near by. Will look out for it! =) Have a good day!
DeleteWhere particulary at Jem? Anyone can help?
ReplyDeleteSorry I thought I had replied but just saw that there's no published reply to your comment. In any case, I had mentioned the JEM foodcourt in the post - that's the one on the top floor of JEM. However, I think it's now taken over by Don Don Donki. In any case, other kind visitors have shared about where else they've tried the drink from, so maybe you can try out those other places. Hopefully you get to try it someday!
DeleteI think the yellow juice you see is because the stall owner added pineapple juice - i just went to a shop in the basement of Bukit Timah Shopping Centre and it is such a con - they used just a few pieces of the real BLL fruit, and added pineapple juice for the rest + lotsa ice! What a con!
ReplyDeleteSorry, somehow just saw this comment. Oh that's interesting! Thanks for sharing. Next time I see it offered, I'll try it again and see how different the taste is.
DeleteJust drank a smooth refreshing buah long long at this food shop that sells several Penang dishes. On ground floor of Kitchener Complex, behind Lavendar MRT exit opp Immigration Building.
ReplyDeleteOh, thanks for sharing! Will look out for that next time I am in the area and hopefully I get to try this other version!
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