Billa / Bael / Wood Apple Fruit Plant

Description

The wood-apple, Feronia limonia Swingle (syns. F. elephantum Correa; Limonia acidissima L.; Schinus limonia L.) is the only species of its genus, in the family Rutaceae. Besides wood-apple, it may be called elephant apple, monkey fruit, curd fruit, kath bel and other dialectal names in India. In Malaya it is gelinggai orbelinggai; in Thailand, ma-khwit; in Cambodia, kramsang; in Laos, ma-fit. In French, it is pomme d' elephant, pomme de bois, or citron des mois.

Description

The slow-growing tree is erect, with a few upward-reaching branches bending outward near the summit where they are subdivided into slender branchlets drooping at the tips. The bark is ridged, fissured and scaly and there are sharp spines :3/4 to 2 in (2-5 cm) long on some of the zigzag twigs. The deciduous, alternate leaves, 3 to 5 in (7.5-12.5 cm) long, dark-green, leathery, often minutely toothed, blunt or notched at the apex, are dotted with oil glands and slightly lemon-scented when crushed. Dull-red or greenish flowers to 1/2 in (1.25 cm) wide are borne in small, loose, terminal or lateral panicles. They are usually bisexual. The fruit is round to oval, 2 to 5 in (5-12.5 cm) wide, with a hard, woody, grayish-white, scurfy rind about 1/4 in (6 mm) thick. The pulp is brown, mealy, odorous, resinous, astringent, acid or sweetish, with numerous small, white seeds scattered through it.

Origin and Distribution

The wood-apple is native and common in the wild in dry plains of India and Ceylon and cultivated along roads and edges of fields and occasionally in orchards. It is also frequently grown throughout Southeast Asia, in northern Malaya and on Penang Island. In India, the fruit was traditionally a "poor man's food" until processing techniques were developed in the mid-1950's.

Varieties

There are 2 forms, one with large, sweetish fruits; one with small, acid fruits.

Climate

The tree grows up to an elevation of 1,500 ft (450 m) in the western Himalayas. It is said to require a monsoon climate with a distinct dry season.

Soil

Throughout its range there is a diversity of soil types, but it is best adapted to light soils.

Propagation

The wood-apple is generally grown from seeds though seedlings will not bear fruit until at least 15 years old. Multiplication may also be by root cuttings, air-layers, or by budding onto self-seedlings to induce dwarfing and precociousness.

Season

In Malaya, the leaves are shed in January, flowering occurs in February and March, and the fruit matures in October and November. In India, the fruit ripens from early October through March.

Harvesting

The fruit is tested for maturity by dropping onto a hard surface from a height of 1 ft (30 cm). Immature fruits bounce, while mature fruits do not. After harvest, the fruit is kept in the sun for 2 weeks to fully ripen.

Food Uses

The rind must be cracked with a hammer. The scooped-out pulp, though sticky, is eaten raw with or without sugar, or is blended with coconut milk and palm-sugar sirup and drunk as a beverage, or frozen as an ice cream. It is also used in chutneys and for making jelly and jam. The jelly is purple and much like that made from black currants.

A bottled nectar is made by diluting the pulp with water, passing through a pulper to remove seeds and fiber, further diluting, straining, and pasteurizing. A clear juice for blending with other fruit juices, has been obtained by clarifying the nectar with Pectinol R-10. Pulp sweetened with sirup of cane or palm sugar, has been canned and sterilized. The pulp can be freeze-dried for future use but it has not been satisfactorily dried by other methods.

*According to analyses made in India.

The pulp represents 36% of the whole fruit. The pectin content of the pulp is 3 to 5% (16% yield on dry-weight basis). The seeds contain a bland, non-bitter, oil high in unsaturated fatty acids.

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