Traditional pamelo stall at Tambun
Ripe pamelo fruits ready for sale
Tambun town
The shop houses at Tambun town
At the junction to pamelo orchard/Sunway
The limestone hill seen at Tambun pamelo orchard
Pamelo orchard
Some of the green or unripe pamelo fruits
Small pamelo fruits
The unripe fruits are covered with newspaper to avoid direct sunlight and insect/birds?
Pamelo fruits ready for harvest
Pamelo tree
On the way to Pamelo Orchard, Tambun
A visit to Tambun Pamelo Orchard(訪打捫柚子園)
Ipoh is famous for its Tambun pamelo, it is considered one of the best in the world. The Malay called it Limau Tambun, but Pamelo is actually derived from Malay word.
Pamelo is a large, oval shaped fruit, type of citrus fruit,it look like grapefruits, but bigger in size. It is green when young or unripe, and become yellow color when ripe. Some said it is an ancestor to grapefruit, but is a native fruit tree in Malaysia. The skin is thick with green/yellow outside and white inside. The flesh is pinkish yellow, and can be separated into segments, it is common to have 16-18 segments. The flesh tastes sweet and sour, and can be eaten fresh. The fruits are found all year round. The main exporting countries are Thailand and Malaysia. The Malaysian pamelo flesh is pinkish white, it taste sweet. Thai pamelo flesh is pinkish red, and taste sour. Malaysian pamelo is usually eat flesh, Thai pamelo are normally eat with chilly salt or brown sugar, or used in rojak( a type of fruit salad dessert). Pamelo is rich in vitamin C, it also contain potassium and Folic acid. The skin is of medical value, and the big white flowers are used as ingredients for aromatic oil and perfumes.
Ipoh pamelo is sweet in taste, but there are variety that taste sour. The fruits are popular during Chinese New Year and Moon Cake Festival(or Mid Autumn festival) for Chinese, but it also popular for Malay during puasa month(fasting month)
Ipoh pamelo are planted in area around Tambun town, within Ipoh city. The town and pamelo farms are surrounded by limestone hills, rich in calcium. The underground stream and rivers, and the soils provided the plants with the natural mineral and nutrients requirement. This provided a favorable environment for pamelo cultivation.
Pamelo sellers are normally located in Ipoh city, but due to competition, the innovative traders employed young female pamelo promoters in their stalls located along Jalan Gopeng,just in front the famous cave temple, Sam Poh Tong Temple. The beautiful female promoters are attractively dressed to promote their pamelo fruits. May be they got the idea from the betel nut girls/promoters from Taiwan, but unlike the daring Taiwanese betel nut girls,the pamelo promoters are merely promote pamelo at their stalls.
Some more enterprising farmers are introducing Pamelo Farm stay program, to increase their income source.
However, the main problem faced by the farmers are the land ownership problem. We hope that the state authority will help to maintain the pamelo valley of Tambun. Tambun pamelo farms are not ordinary farm, it is a living heritage of Ipoh, as well as Perak.
Related articles:
1. 每朵值一粒柚子價‧柚子花可製香精價高, http://mykampung.sinchew.com.my/node/75359?tid=5
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