This fruit evokes strong memories for me. For summer vacation we would go to my dad’s ancestral home and the first thing I do is climb on this tree, fold my skirt like a bag, get as many pink ones as I can collect in my little bag, tuck as many story books (balarama, poombaataa) into my armpit and run to the nearest stream with my cousins…munch on them and read…until the supply is over.
I know this is an easy one. But it has so many different names every 2 k.m. Want to get all the names as possible.
It has just started to fruit in my garden, Waiting impatiently for it to mature! I don’t know whether it is those memories or the taste that makes me go and stare at it everyday.
8 comments:
At 5/5/06 7:59 AM, KeralaGirl said...
Is it the Champakka??? Looks very pretty and how are you growing all these here in US?? Its amazing.....:-)
At 5/5/06 8:37 AM, Priya said...
Gauva by any chance !!! We had a gauva tree in our backyard , looks just like this one.
At 5/5/06 8:47 AM, Luv2cook said...
I would say Guava too..WoW you are so lucky to be living in a place where you can grow all this....
At 5/5/06 9:41 AM, RP said...
Champakka!
Does the winner get some in the mail???
At 5/5/06 9:53 AM, Lakshmi said...
It's Guava
At 5/5/06 11:06 AM, Santhi said...
It is guava right LG?
At 5/5/06 11:06 AM, Tanuja said...
Hi Lg,
Is it water apple I guess.
At 5/5/06 11:08 AM, Immigrant in Canada said...
champakka,panineer champaka,rose apple..call what every u want..pls send some to vancouver.. i hvn't eaten tht for 20 odd years!!
At 5/5/06 12:53 PM, Just Like That said...
Panineer chaampa. Two types of Chaampa are available in kerala. The regular pink color one and this panineer Champa...Oh why did you remind me this..Where will go and get one?
At 5/5/06 1:16 PM, Anonymous said...
I think we call it jamun pandu. i dont know why.
At 5/5/06 1:17 PM, ss said...
I think we call it jamun pandu
At 5/5/06 3:32 PM, Shankari said...
is it cashew? hi, good blog
At 5/5/06 4:22 PM, Gini said...
OMG..are u kidding me? Are you growing champakka in the US? You gotta disclose how you did that. That is one of my favorite things.
At 5/5/06 6:05 PM, Indira said...
It is guava (jaama kaaya in Telugu).
If I ever make a trip to California, one of the places I'll certainly visit is your garden. :)
At 5/5/06 6:16 PM, Vineela said...
Hi LG,
Its gauva i feel.
Great lg, how much old this plant?
Vineela
At 5/5/06 7:03 PM, archanat said...
Champakka for sure, vella champa for certain !!!!Wait a minute, you told us that you used to climb up the tree to pick the pink ones, then that can't be perakka(guava), can it be rose chambakka, well then the white ones do get a shade of pink when ripe. So i am going to go with white champakka( God knows, i could be totally wrong Ha Ha Ha....). Don't we all remember that tree !!!!
At 5/5/06 10:59 PM, radha said...
"sita palaam"? - custard apple in english i believe???
great picture!
Radha
At 6/5/06 6:42 AM, Anonymous said...
This is definitely chambakka and my mother has said me about this and when I was very young I ate it in kerala and the sour and sweet taste lingers in my tounge till now.....
At 6/5/06 9:33 AM, Kitchenmate said...
Is it so called knava pazham (in tamil), though it looks very like guave, am ruling out coz of the reason you talked about climbling thse trees.. I envy you...hope you must be living in a fairy land:) to grow all thse stuffs...let me know which state you reside in US, if it is not a secret?
At 6/5/06 12:19 PM, rekha said...
hi
we call it panineer champakka ..
rekha
At 7/5/06 1:37 AM, Meena said...
I know!! Its Guava!! :o)
At 7/5/06 8:28 PM, L G said...
Oh-ho, Looks like there will be an army of bloggers at my door demanding the fruit. I didn’t release there will be such a strong response for this. Maybe it is ‘cos it’s a nostalgic fruit you eat right from the tree (Yes, of course! I wash it first – that’s what I tell my mom ;-)) and the one you don’t get to buy that easily.
It is definitely not guava, it is Wax Jambu.
I think it is known by so many names in so many different places -- rose apple, water apple, wax apple, Malabar plum, wax jambu, but I think the right one is Wax Jambu.
In Malayalam, it is dear old ‘chaampakka’ or ‘chaampa’ or ‘panineer chaampakka’.
I grow the white one,didnt get the pink one.
Now that you have seen the better pictures what other names it is called in India?
Kitchenmate, is this knava pazham?
In telugu, is it jamun pandu? Or is that the name for guava?
Rp and immigrantincanda, my little nieces and nephews who live near call me up everyday asking “Is it ready yet?” Even tho’ I have declared many times to them, I am not a nice aunt and I have no intention of sharing it with them. Maybe next year, I will try to be a nicer aunt and will ‘learn’ to share with my nephews and my blog pals too ;-)
Sigh! Now that evoked such strong response from dear bloggers by putting the picture up, I think I can’t get away without disclosing where I live. I live in sunny Florida. Indira, welcome to Florida! I will be mighty surprised if you find my yard in CA. (With the hurricanes, you never know where my trees will land up!)
Gini, in zone 10, you can grow it in your yard! Vineela, the plant is just one year old and just started to flower and fruit.
Keralagirl,priya,luv2cook,rp,
lakshmi,santhi,tanuja,
immigrantincanada,justlikethat,
anonymous(?),ss,shankari,gini,
indira,vineela,archanat,
radha,anonymous (?),
kitchenmate, rekha, meena…
Thank you guys for guessing!
I am surprised why some think you can’t climb on a guava tree? Of course you can, and you can even fall from the tree, break your wrist, your neighbours telling on you when your parents return and to top it all, can witness the tree losing one of its thinnest branches only to end up really hard on your palm or rear! (I didn’t know the telephone number to child abuse hotline then!!!!!) :-) .
At 8/5/06 3:31 PM, Gini said...
Hah! Florida! I should have guessed. I lived there for 2 years. Almost all the malayali houses I visited had all the lovely trees from back home growing in their yard.
At 8/5/06 9:03 PM, Kitchenmate said...
Florida! cool, there you go.. can you send me some of those fruit to me???
At 8/5/06 9:48 PM, starry nights said...
I think it is rose apple.
At 8/5/06 11:25 PM, jac said...
It is the good old 'Pananeer champa".aka 'wax champa'
Thanks for coming to my blog.
I missed your name and just saw it.
At 9/5/06 12:42 AM, Ajay said...
Oh it looks so delicious . Yumm
Mouthwatering. But ive never eaten that fruit. Is it found only in south india ?
never seen it in maharashtra :)
At 10/5/06 10:17 AM, L G said...
Ah!kitchenmate: I would love to,but the shipping guy told me he wont take it...hehehehe ;-)
At 10/5/06 11:32 AM, Indira said...
I thought you must live in CA. :)
zone10, now I remember.:)
At 25/6/06 9:35 PM, SB said...
HI LG,
I know this is definitely that Yummy Champakka,its not Guava or Naavalpazham as others guessed.Can u send me some Plllllllllllllz!!!!!1
At 16/7/06 10:36 PM, Anonymous said...
i live in tampa florida and i have one of this in my back yard it is
chambaka i have fruits on them now
it is 2 yrs old i just started to get fruits this year
I'm in the opposite position from you all, with your memories of chambaka. I'm in position of discovery, since my husband & I are on our first trip to India, where we're staying for several months in Malakkara, Kerala. There's a chambaka tree outside our window--the pink variety. I googled chambaka to find out the English name, which is how I found this page. Surprises me that we seem to be the only people eating from this tree. I've asked locals why they don't eat any and usual response is that is doesn't agree with their stomach. Agrees with mine just fine!
Any of you ex-Keralians can tell me the English name of a vegetable called here something like "domestik"? It's green, fibrous on outside, soft & delicious on inside. Served in pieces about 2" long. Couple of soft seeds in each piece. Served in samba. Any ideas?
To ann. I think you are reffering to this tree:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moringa_oleifera
Its called drumstick in English.
I came to you site from Indira's Mahanandi site some time back. Now i was checking it again and was thrilled to see this guessing game. I am so glad to see the 'Wax jumbu' fruit because i had been searching for information about this fruit for long. We call it 'Gulab jama kaya' in coastal Andhra and it is a rare fruit. In fact it is called Jambu phalam, its a favourite of Lord Ganesha and also the basis of the name of our Indian sub-continent (Jambu dweepam).
Its been years since i ate this fruit and i wish i can find it here in bay area sometime or have to buy it online. Or i will have to buy a house with a huge yard and grow the tree myself with some advice from you:-)
You have a wonderful site. I love your way of writing and your posts, esply this guessing game.
Thanks so much...
Champakka !!
I have been trying to grow this at my home in kerala for so long.. i never succeeded :(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wax_apple
Jambhakka !!
We call it white jampakka /apple jampakka.. Had it in my parents house in kerala..dont know the reason ..some how I used to hate it and boated that I never liked the taste. Missing it a lot though.. may be I should check in Lalbagh and try to get a plant....
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