During the 1914 Second Philippine Exposition, Davao, as part of the quasi-autonomous government of Mindanao and Sulu, was not lacking in introduction. As the principal center of the abaca industry in the South, it had its share of accolades. In particular, the hemp fiber of Davao, measuring 10 to 15 feet long, was described as “almost as white as paper.”
But the fruits native to the region also got its fair credit from critics and visitors, especially the citrus (also known as buongon, grapefruit, or pomelo, scientifically known as Citrus decumana Murr.), mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana), and durian (Durio zibethinus). A review published during the exposition said it all:
“The size and beauty of our citrus fruits from Davao will attract your attention—it merely means that in a few years refrigerator boats will be running from Davao to Manila. The delicate mangostine (sic) is rarely found in the Philippines outside of [Mindanao and Sulu]. Its tree requires 20 years to grow into bearing, and the round, pink mangostines (sic) are called ‘king’s fruit’ by the Sulus. The durian has an evil smell, but that disappears with the first mouthful and then you taste peaches, grapes, maple, sugar, strawberries.”
John Foreman, in The Philippine Islands: A Political, Geographical, Ethnographical, Social and Commercial History of the Philippine Archipelago and Its Political Dependencies Embracing the Whole Period of Spanish Rule (1899), had something to say also about these local fruits:
“Mangosteens… are found in the islands of Mindanao and Sulu. In Mindanao Island,[and] on the neck of land forming the western extremity, the Durien (sic) thrives. It is about as large as a pine-apple, white inside, and when ripe it opens out in three or four places. It is very delicious eating, but has a fetid smell. The seeds, as large as beans, are good to eat when roasted. The tree bears fruit about every 20 years.”
Marian M. George, in Little Journeys to Hawaii and the Philippine Islands (1901), also had an exhilarating experience about the fruits that are grown abundantly in the wilds:
“The durian has a very objectionable odor, but is regarded as the most delicious-tasting fruit in the whole archipelago. It is six to ten inches long, has a thick, spiny rind, and a custard-like pulp… The mangosteen grows upon a tree fifteen to twenty feet high. It is about the size of an apple, is reddish-brown in color, and has a thick rind. The pulp is white, juicy, sweet, with an acid tinge, and delightful to the taste.”
Although mainly eaten for household use but not cultivated in commercial quantity, the praise the mangosteen is the ‘king’s fruit’ finds confirmation in The Philippine Islands (1905), written by Fred W. Atkinson, the country’s first general superintendent of Education. He wrote:
“The mangosteen, a product of the equatorial region, is found as an exotic in some of the southern islands. By the Moros this is called the ‘king’s fruit’ because it is so highly prized by their sultans; and such a name is by no means inappropriate, for the fruit is most delicately flavored and suggests a fruit lemonade. In appearance it very much resembles an orange except for the white color of its parts.”
Beyond food and folk medicine, some of the endemic fruits of Davao offer, as early as a year after the American takeover from Spanish rule, they were already prospect for business. Margherita Arlina Hamm, in her America’s New Possessions and Spheres of Influence (1899) wrote about “a small future for the preservation and canning of tropical fruits, more particularly the pineapple, guava, mango, lichee and mangosteen. The distillation of essential oils and the manufacture of perfumes and toilet waters seem to offer a fair future to a business man.”
The durian, in particular, has also caught the attention of many explorers, and later tourists who came to the country for adventures. To the Bagobo, especially a woman who is pregnant, the saps and fruits carry magical results when taken in as food and medicine.
Laura Watson Benedict, in her dissertation titled A Study of Bagobo Ceremonial, Magic and Myth (1916), explains “the tuba, a toddy extracted from the inflorescence of the cocoanut palm, the stem of baris, the bulla, the fruits of the balisinan, lapisut, tual, kamusi, durian and lukka” as among the “articles of diet.”
Englishman William Dampier, who explored Davao, had a more thorough account of the durian as he saw and tasted it. In 1868, he wrote that the fruit is “as big as apple trees, full of boughs… [its] fruit is so large that they grow only about the bodies, or on the limbs near the body, like the cacao [and] is about the bigness of a large pumpkin, covered with a thick green rough rind. When it is ripe, the rind begins to turn yellow, but it is not fit to eat till it opens at the top. Then the fruit… sends forth an excellent scent.”
He adds the fruit is “as big as a pullets egg” with its content “as white as milk, and as soft as cream, and the taste very delicious to those that are accustomed to them; but those who have not been used to eat them, will dislike them at first, because they smell like roasted onions,” adding the thin-shelled seeds can be roasted and eaten, tasting like chestnuts.
Pomelo, on the other hand, is native to Southeast Asia and was, grown in the wilds prior to its commercial cultivation. It can be eaten raw with salt sprinkled over it, and can be consumed as dessert, or taken in as salads and drinks.
“The fruit,” the Wikipedia explains, “tastes like a sweet, mild grapefruit… though the typical pomelo is much larger than the grapefruit, and also has a much thicker rind. It has none, or very little, of the common grapefruit’s bitterness, but the enveloping membranous material around the segments is bitter, considered inedible, and thus is usually discarded. The peel is sometimes used to make marmalade, can be candied, and is sometimes dipped in chocolate.”
Davao’s exotic fruit list also includes the rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum), lanzones (Lansium domesticum), and marang (Artocarpus odoratissimus).
