Lanzones / Langsat
Lanzones (Lansium domesticum) are native to Western Malaysia and have 
become a relatively popular fruit in the Philippines and Indonesia. Known as langsat in Malay, these fruits grow wild and in cultivated plantations in Southeast Asia. Most common in Borneo, Java and Mindanao, these tropical fruits ripen and spoil relatively quickly and are rarely seen in the West. In the Philippines, over 75 % of all lanzones is grown in Sulu province, a revelation for me as I always thought Laguna and the Southern Tagalog region was the primary area of cultivation outside of Camiguin in Misamis Oriental – hmm. Camiguin is known for its annual lanzones festival and their fruit is supposed to be unusually sweet and delicious. In Luzon, the lanzones season has just started and will last another 5-6 weeks at most. In the South, Mindanao has lanzones from January to April.
An oval khaki colored fruit, lanzones has several 
segments within with white, translucent and juicy flesh. They kind of “pop” in your mouth and can range from unbearably sour to incredibly sweet. Often there is one seed larger than the rest. The seeds are wickedly bitter and highly distasteful – biting into too many of them is a real turn-off. There is a sap to the skin that is extremely sticky and fairly gross on the tongue – kind of like spreading a faster drying Elmer’s glue on your tongue. When just ripe, this is a tropical fruit par excellence. It has flavor, juiciness, sweetness and a uniqueness that is not found in western fruits. Apparently, bats have figured this out and they munch on the ripening fruit with a vengeance. In Indonesia, they wrap pungent bundles of shrimp paste and hang them on the trees to distract or repel the bats; in Paete, Laguna they apparently hang kerosene lamps on the trees to do the same task. The resulting view of hundreds of hanging kerosene lamps on a hillside is said to be spectacular.
Ahhh, Bua-han or bulahan, as the lanzones is known in the Camiguin island! I was assigned on a supposedly 6 months tour of duty as a rural doctor in the municipalities of Sagay and Catarman. I had to stay another 6 more months because of these reasons:
August 19th, 20051) No one wanted to replace me(hehehehe, their loss - I had my fill of this glorious golden fruit!!), 2) Kind, friendly, happy even if materially poor people 3) Hibok-hibok volcano-right on my doorstep!, White island, Katibawasan Falls, Ardent Springs, fresh seafood, night fishing and of course, the incredible sweet lanzones, lanzones and more lanzones!!!
the way to eat these without having dagta on your fingertips is : first, remove the crown, divide the fruit into two, tear the skin from top to bottom (don’t tear all the way) , then bottom (the end of the first torn skin)to top, top to bottom and so on… sort of segmenting the fruit… leaving a fan-like fruit skin afterwards and dagta-free fingertips…
August 19th, 2005I dont know if its just me but somehow, I found Bangkok Lansones to be sweeter and more easy to eat (read:less seeds!)
Or maybe I havent been wowed yet by the Camiguin variety since most of the ones Ive had , at least to my knowledge, comes from Laguna.
I wonder whats the secret behind Bangkok lansones…
August 19th, 2005Happy Birthday Marketman!!! Now that we know how old you are, no more talking about being “middle-aged” as if you’re an old geezer, ok? ;-)
August 20th, 2005Happy Birthday, Marketman! been lurking here and I just enjoyed reading than commenting..but Karen says I must greet you ^-^
but seriously, from a section of my aorta, Happy Birthday , sir!
August 20th, 2005Dodi, everything I have heard about Camiguin is encouraging…sounds like a great place for a holiday adventure…maybe only the ferry is a bit hairy. Suzette, talk about fruit peeling trivia! I have to try that the next time I buy lanzones! Thanks for that. IvanM, I am with you, bangkok lanzones do seem to be sweeter, and if purchased in bangkok, much cheaper than our own here at home. Karen, thanks for the greeting(s) plus coercion of lurkers to send theirs as well :) !! Thess, thank you. Lurkers coming out of the dark is always nice…
August 20th, 2005Camiguin? hmmm simply my favorite island vacation
…rustic place away from civilization and jollibee…7
volcanoes…white island, hot and cold springs, waterfalls, diving, safe and quiet, and cheap too! Imagine they burn coconut husks on the road side to light it up? you’ll hate it if you’re the usual filipino mallrat
only a short ferry ride from Balingoan, Misamis Occidental (?).
plane in to CDO then van/RO-Ro to Camiguin
Bangkok has delectable fruits due to government support and research not like Pinas kung ano tumubo yun na…gaya ng sa bayan ko…only philippine mangoes are better :(
tito
August 22nd, 2005paete, laguna
belated happy bday marketman …..was on holidays, and i’m just catching up with all your entries …. hope you had a fab bday :)
August 22nd, 2005I live in South Florida (USA) and have recently heard from a friend from the Phillippines about Lanzones and would like to get one growing here along with all our other tropical and “special” fruits. Can I get seeds or cuttings from you? I anxiously await your reply.
Thanks,
November 29th, 2005Tracey
tnje@bellsouth.net
Tracey, thanks for the visit to marketmanila.com; unfortunately, I don’t have lanzones seeds and wouldn’t even know where to get one. Not even sure if it is possible or legal to send it across borders… perhaps trying an exotics nursery in Florida or Hawaii or Guam might work better.
November 29th, 2005is the dagta good for any use? we have a research problem and it has something to do with its sap and i need to get it for its basis. The question is what is the basis for choosing lansones. emaul me plz.
December 5th, 2005I am not aware of any uses for the sap of the lanzones. The rest of your comment is jibberish to me, frankly. I do not understand what you are asking… but basically, I know of no uses for the sap.
December 5th, 2005My name is Lance. I live in Hawaii on the island of Kauai. In May of 1991 I got married to a Filipino girl from Bacarra Ilocos norte. We have 3 children ( 2 girls & 1 boy). When my wife had our first child she crave for Singamust so now our first child is born real white. Than our second child she crave for lanzones, I didn’t know what it was so I gave her lychee but she (my wife) knew it wasn’t lanzones. Than when my wife gave birth to my third child she didn’t crave for anything, Than in March - April we visted the Philippines. I saw a vendor on the corner of this market selling which I thought was grapes, Later I found out it was lanzones. Mmmmm! Very good! Now I can see why my wife could tell the difference.
May 9th, 2006Lance,what is a Singamust??? And yes, lansones is very different from lychees…
May 9th, 2006Hello,
I’d been to Camiguin the places you mentioned and tasted also the Lanzones but don’t you know that Concepcion, Talisay, Neg. Occ. has the sweetest Lanzones in the Philippines?! Dagta free eating is not using your nail to get the crown or break the skin, but just hold the fruit and press between your thumbs and fingers snugly to break open and enjoy eating them. Use Kamias on your fingers in case you’ve eaten plenty.
June 25th, 2006Suzette, when I come across some lanzones from Concepcion, Talisay, Neg Occ I will definitely try them…
June 25th, 2006MM, i think Lance meant “singkamas?”
August 6th, 2006Aha! Singkamas! Duh Marketman!
August 7th, 2006Lanzones taste good almost anywhere ewspecially when you stumble onto them in the jungles of Borneo, high in the tree.
August 21st, 2006You must try Durian for an awakening - even the Hotels would not let us take Durian into the building. They are scrumptious but hold your nose tight - even a skunk is less bothersome. Plenty of Sinkamas here in South Texas but not as good as those from the Philippines. Used to live across the street from a tamarind tree in Puerto Cavite and they were the best. My friend agreed, even after he fell out of the tree and broke his arm.I recently decided to make a list of fruits that I have tasted during my worldwide travels and found that my list was so short compared to the list I found on the internet “Fruits of the World” by their common name. I could not find the name “Siniguella” listed. Maybe I am spelling it incorrectly - help me out. I remember hunting in the Bataan peninsula and collecting carabao mangoes - they were huge but are not listed on the internet. How come?
Take it back. I found out a lot about Carabao Mangoes after lasr posting. Wow!
August 21st, 2006Fred, try sineguelas in my archives and just keep scrolling back until you find it. Maybe you also tried, atis, duhat, makopa, indian mangoes, tamarind, mangosteens, etc. that are all in my archives…
August 21st, 2006I’m have a lanzones tree here in hawaii that’s about 10 years old and all it ever does is put out big leaves (12″ to 20″ long X 4″ to 8″ . the tree is about 12 feet high. I’m wondering if anyone can help me to get this tree to bear fruits.
September 23rd, 2006Mahalo
Salamat
Thank You
Marketman,
October 16th, 2006When will be able to buy Lanzones and Philippine Mango on-line? I’ve been here in US for more that 2 years and I really want to buy Lansones and manggang Kalabaw or piko.
Edith, it is dependent on the US Department of Agriculture…which may take decades. Unfortunately lanzones have a short shelf life and spoin very quickly so I am not sure it will be economical to send it all the way there. As for mangoes, if we just got the hygiene right (sprays) I suspect they would be more realiztic an export…
October 16th, 2006I used to live in London, UK and many times was able to buy lanzones in Chinatown. I believe the fruits came from Bangkok, and they were good.
December 7th, 2006HELP ME,my lanzones is in sick(termite) stage 12 years old.
May 1st, 2007i’m wondering if there are any other uses/form you can make of lanzones, other than eating it as a fruit. I would never have imagined mangosteen jam for example… How abbout lanzones jam or some sort of fruity thingy?… Hehehe
September 18th, 2007Lanzones is in season for such a short time that people maybe just wanna eat and enjoy them as fast as possible so no time to make jams…hehehe! I agree with some people here that the Bangkok variety just seems much sweeter and does not have much sticky sap on it…For those who want to try these, I saw them being sold nowadays at Farmers’ Market in Cubao and at Tiendesitas in Pasig City (Phil.)I could eat a kilo in one sitting…I love this fruit!
November 22nd, 2007can you help me make an ink made out of lanzones sap?
December 13th, 2007Dear Ma’am / Sir,
Pls. sent us the growing of lanzones based on the nursery to harvesting and the economics status.
thanks,
February 11th, 2008jourdine
hi! i am currently making a proposal about lanzones as insect repellant for our investigatory project in school. my parents said that lanzones’ peelings or skin are very effective insect repellants when burned. i am asking for anyone’s help to find out if this is true. thank you!
June 20th, 2008hi! i was wondering…what nutrients can you get from lansones?
July 12th, 2008i really need the information. please and thank you!