Ohh My Lovely Mango, How Is Your condition Now?

Do you ever heard Kasturi?

Do you ever taste Kasturi?

Kasturi is the local name of wild mango which is solely found in South Borneo – Indonesia. Kasturi or Mangifera casturi is an extinct and endemic mango in South Borneo. In addition, Kasturi is categorized as an wild mango species by IUCN Red List Categories on 30 November 1994 because this mango can only be found in yard or garden. Based on the report from Conservation Monitoring Centre in 1998, my lovely mango is classified as an extinct in the wild (EW). This means that Kasturi did not exist in natural habitat since 1998. 

If local societies or goverment don't do the important actions for preserving this fruit, the amount of Kasturi and genes pool will sharply decrease as soon as possible. Moreover, Indonesia will lose one of natural resources, for instance, the branch of Kasturi has a potential benefit as a diabetic medicine.

Kasturi looks like a common mango; however, this fruit has a small size with approximately 5-6 cm of length, 4-5 cm of width and 65.6 gram of weight. Kasturi’s peel, which is very thin, is bright green with dark spots. It solely becomes full red until dark brown in ripe fruit. The flesh of this fruit, which has 1.06 % fiber, is dark orange. The taste is delicious and unique. 

The interesting of this fruit is very fragnant and slightly sweet; therefore, it is become a favourite fruit in South Borneo. Kasturi can only be harvested from December until January every year or in rainy season. Each tree can produce a large amount of fruits, almost 10 thousand. 

Moreover, the surprising fact is that Kasturi’s tree can solely produce the fruits if this tree is more than 25 years old. 

So....

Let's taste Kasturi. 
I firmly believe if you consume this fruit, you will never forget the taste.

References:

1. Kostermans, AJGH. and JM. Bompard. 1993. The Mangoes: Their Botany, Nomenclature, Horticulture and Utilization. Academis Press. London. Page. 1 – 140.

2. Mogea, JP., D. Gandawidjaja, H. Wiriadinata, RE. Nasution and Irawati. 2001. Tumbuhan Langka Indonesia. Puslitbang Biologi – LIPI. Bogor. Page. 1 – 24.

3. Sari, KM. dan D Iriani. 2006. Skrining Metabolit Sekunder pada Batang Tumbuhan Mangifera casturi. Lambung Mangkurat University. Banjarbaru.

4. World Conservation Monitoring Centre. 1998. Mangifera casturi. In: IUCN 2006. 2006 IUCN Red List Threatened Species. http://www.iucnredlist.org.