Visiting a Malaysian Farm - How These Tropical Fruits Get so Delicious!
Do you know where your food comes from? No, I don’t mean which supermarket aisle but more like on which soil it grew, what fertilizer it was fed and whose hands harvested it. We tend to loose this natural connection to our food since we often don’t even know on what kind of plant it grows - bush, tree or even under the earth? Especially when it comes to imported tropical fruits and veggies, I myself surely didn’t know much about their origin.
I decided that this was about to change.
Smell the soil, feel the leaves, admire the marvelous fruits
Since I am traveling the tropics and tried more and more new fruits, I looked not only into the best ways to eat them, but also how they become those wonderful pieces of flavors and richness. We were super lucky to meet a local farmer in a nearby organic veggie store the other day here in Kuala Lumpur (his name is Ooi) who offered to show us his farm. A possibility I long dreamed of, especially cause Ooi tries his best to use only natural methods of farming and various techniques non-harmful to humans as well as our precious earth.
One of my favorite fruits - Why papayas come with a wrapping
My favorite fruit from his farm is definitely the papaya, the best I have tasted so far. And did you ever see how papayas becomes so glowingly orange, creamy and sweet? This is how Ooi's papaya trees look like. And if you are wondering why they are decorated so creatively with yellow bags - it is a gentle measures to keep the hungry birds, bees and other insects from eating the fruit when it gets sweet.
Using toxic chemicals is bananas - How Ooi protects his fruits
The most part of Ooi's farm inhibits a colorful mixture of different banana varieties. And if I say colorful I do mean it, since there are bananas that are white inside or yellow, green outside or even red. Ooi does not only plant the most popular and profitable berangan banana variety, he also gives a chance to more uncommon, local varieties that are often only known by elder people. Well, I tried them all and my personal favorite are mas bananas - tiny fruits with a dark yellow flesh, so sweet and creamy, the taste weirdly reminds me of tangerine cake.
For his bananas, he also takes advantage of natural farming techniques. Ooi uses for example the leaves from the already harvested bitter melon to protect the banana plants from the relentless heat. To keep away insects that would love to dive into all his juicy, sweet fruits on his farm, he produces his own environmental-friendly insect repellent out of the peel of several citrus fruits.
Bitter between all the sweets - The coolest way to grow big
Among the beautiful fruits on his farm, Ooi also grows asparagus and the local bitter melon. This strange looking plant is the most bitter fruit on our planet and can be found on almost any colorful market stall here in Malaysia. The skin is already pretty funny in its texture, but just take a look at how they cutely grow down towards the ground - these plants are amazing! If you are also curious about this exceptionally healthy food, check out my bitter melon salad recipe which includes some more insight about this powerhouse of a fruit.
How our future farmers and fruit lovers learn from Ooi's farm
Not only does he thrive to do good for our environment, he also gives back to his community by dedicating one part of his farm to our future fruit and veggie growers. Nearby schools or kindergartens often come by on the weekends to learn from Ooi about growing our food. They even get to plant their own pineapple trees. A new project of his will allow a certain kindergarten group to come over regularly to see their own fruits becoming bigger and bigger until they can harvest the results by themselves.
So they learn right from the start how their daily foods grow and don't have to wait for the moment when they coincidently meet a local farmer in a veggie store and luckily get asked to visit his farm.
(This post is taking part in the amazing Fruits and Veggies Monday Competition from @lenasveganliving.)
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Have a wonderful day and a fruitful journey ahead!
Yours, Anais
Nomadic adventuress since 2018 | Raw foodie | Health enthusiast | Minimalist | Freedom seeker | Passionate believer in a life full of bliss.
🍓Hungry for some more healthy nuggets? Check out my raw vegan posts:
- Tackling the summer heat with WATERMELON GAZPACHO
- Tropical Fruit Salad for Minimalists
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- Wild Volcano Nice Cream
🌟Explore your full potential, with my health and lifestyle posts:
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🗺 Time for some more adventures - follow me around the world:
What a beautiful farm!! and those YUMMY fruits. Here in Venezuela these fruits are given, and they are very rich and with many benefits for the body, for example, the good banana to raise the potassium. Lechoza has beta-carotene. Thank you for sharing that experience, friend! Greetings from Venezuela!
Thank you, Betzy! That sounds wonderful, do the farmers in Venezuela commonly use a lot of pesticides or is it still one of the lucky countries where the values of natural farming still stand strong?
I just had to translate lechoza, papaya is it, right? I totally fell in love with those here in SEA ✨
We live in a 'rush' world where we don't care to know how what actually sustains us comes about. All we want to know is if it is there. In reality, and i admire your decision, it is only wise that we take effort to know the 'source' of our delicacies, and how they come about. This is a good write.
I am going feature this post in the next Xposed Curator's Rebound #47. You may find details about it Xposed Curator's Rebound
My hope is to bring your quality work here the exposure it deserves, and with it, hopefully some additional rewards.
Best wishes, @mirrors
So funny @mirrors. As I was reading I was thinking you would like this post!
Hahahahh....you obviously have me on the same wave length. thanks @buckaroo.
So true, we are often blind for what lies behind the foods and products we consume. It can be really empowering to look behind the curtain and make different choices for your buying decisions if you don’t like the truth.
Thank you for drawing some more attention to my post, I will definitely check out your project 😉
Hi good morning @rawadventuress, This is a really awesome harvest farms in Malaysia. Here's in Sri Lanka has lot of farms like as growing papayas, bananas and vegetables in so far villages. Other peoples satisfying to see this.
Thank you!! Are the farms in Sri Lanka using a lot of pesticides or do they also tend to apply environmentally friendly farming techniques? In Malaysia Ooi‘s farm seems to be quite an exception since most bigger farms rely heavily on toxic fertilizers and pesticides.
You put this together nicely @rawadventures, thank you. You also made me aware I’ve never had tangerine cake!
Thank you! Well, you might opt for the mas bananas instead - way less preparation time involved 😁
On adventure and in a classroom! I really enjoyed exploring and learning with you @rawadventuress. Sadly so many don't know where their food comes from. My mom tells a story of when she was a teacher (I was still tiny) and she was explaining the origins of food. She was horrified to hear some of the children's understanding that food begins "in the shop".
Oh wow, that is super sad. We truly need to value fresh produce more and once we understand how much care went into those fruits and veggies, we learn to understand how powerful they can be for us. This might be also a beginning towards throwing away less food 😉
This is so incredible, thanks for sharing! My husband and I are about to embark on an adventure that will take us all over the world and I’ve been most excited about all the local fruits we’ll be introduced to. It’s amazing that Ooi is also giving back to the community, teaching children something extremely useful and bringing connection to the Earth.
Wow, that sounds great - you might be surprised how many fruit and veggie varieties you haven't come across yet. I thought I'd knew the majority of tropical produce just because back in Germany there was a huge variety of imported goods. But this was not the case at all, the world of foods is much more colorful than I expected 😁 All the best for your travels, I will follow your path here on Steemit 😉
Hey thanks, I hope you enjoy what you see. You are so right about the different fruits and veggies. I just bought, cut and ate my first pink dragon fruit and I must say it was divine; such a gorgeous color. We will post about our experiences and I’m certain many of them will be regarding food.
The pink ones are one of my favorite fruits - so good! I am already excited for all the new fruits you will encounter and hopefully share with us, I am never short of curiosity for unknown varieties ☺️
We are excited too! Not only are the pink ones delicious but they are a majestic color. Dragon fruit makes my smoothies look (and taste) out of this world.
That is true - nature is super colorful, right? Tropical fruits prove that on a big scale ☺️
I saw your entry last night so I upvoted and reposted it, but I was too tired to read it. I knew I need good night sleep, then breakfast and read it while I am sipping on my morning coffee, so I can fully enjoy it and I did. This is truly one of the most insightful articles I read here on Steemit and about farming in general. I had no idea how much work it takes to grow truly organic tropical fruit. I am absolutely blown away by this farmer's dedication and kindness. And I am glad you wrote such a wonderful article about him and his farm. Great job Sweetie 🍒 🍌🍑🌿🍍🍓🍇
Thank you so much for your kind words, Lena! I am super happy that this article is appreciated by so many people - our daily fruits and veggies definitely deserve the attention!
I was also blown away by how much effort a conscious farmer needs to put into his work to come from humble seed to those magnificent fruits. And although Ooi's produce is almost of organic quality, he sells it for the same price as the conventional stuff because the people are not ready to pay more for higher quality food.
But I hope the current movement towards a more sustainable consumption will make a shift in people's perception about this and helps to understand what is truly important for their health, wellbeing and the planet's condition.
You are most welcome Sweetie, I am very happy as well, because more people read it the better. And I totally agree about moving to sustainable consumption, which is the key to better future of the planet and all living beings 🌸💖🌸
So true, I am very excited to be part of this transition right now, more and more people find their way to a more sustainable living!
Hi rawadventuress,
Visit curiesteem.com or join the Curie Discord community to learn more.
Thank you 🙏🏻☺️
I really love this post! So cool to hear about the various natural / common sense approaches to controlling insect and bird pests in the organic farm. I particularly love that he is working with the local kindergarten, you are absolutely right that the connection between land / nature / food / table has been lost in modern times and it is awesome to give kids that hands on experience. Resteemed! Much love - Carl
Thank you, Carl! He's putting so much thought into his work, it is really inspiring to see how much he cares about the quality of his fruits and veggies!
So true, our next generation is the one that can adapt a new connection to their food right away and learning that it comes from our soil, rain water and sun instead of the supermarket.
👍
Thanks ☺️🙏🏻