Mabolo / Kamagong
Mabolo or Kamagong is indigenous to the Philippine archipelago. 
So local, in fact, that it doesn’t really have an English name, though some literature has referred to it as a “velvet apple” or in India, as a “peach bloom.” Mabolo (Diospyros blancoi A. DC.) is a member of the Edenaceae family and thrives in low and medium level rain forests in the Philippines. Today it is often planted by roadsides for their shade or as an ornamental plant in some gardens. It is a handsome tree with lush foliage. The fruit has a stunning red velvety feel or fuzz that is brilliant to look at; however, it does come with a pungent aroma that many might find off-putting. I had never eaten or come close to a Mabolo before so when I spotted dozens of brilliant red fruit at a Batangas roadside stand last week I thought I should buy some and learn more about this fruit.
I was simply unprepared for the smell… purchased on the same trip as the Jackfruit or Langka of 
earlier posts, this fruit let off a “ripe cheese” aroma that would make some a little car sick. It seems the smell emanates from the skin and not the pulp of the fruit. An almost perfect sphere, the red velvety skin is similar to that of the fuzzy skin on a firm peach. Apparently Mabolo can also come in a yellowish brown variety though the pulp is similar. Inside is a cream colored pulp with a consistency more akin to a sandy or cottony apple but with a flavor that is reminiscent of bananas and apples mixed together. It can have a few seeds or occasionally it is seedless. I was not a convert; I don’t have to give this another try for another 40 years…
The fruit has been introduced to Indonesia and Malaysia and in the late 1800’s made its way to India. 
Seeds were also sent to the U.S. and the plant has been successfully raised in Florida, Hawaii and other warm areas though it was never raised commercially. Though I have very little knowledge and experience with this fruit, I gather it is yet another of those backyard fruits that others may have stronger childhood memories of. To serve, peel the fruit and stick it in the fridge for 3-4 hours. The smell will have mostly disappeared (as it is in the skin) and you can enjoy the chilled pulp. Most people who consume this fruit do so when it has ripened and it’s flesh is cut into wedges or scooped out with a small spoon. I am curious to see if many Marketmanila readers are fond of this fruit…
looks like sweet potato in the outside and santol in the inside… have not tried this… maybe some other time :)
August 10th, 2005i like mabolo since childhood, i remember asking my mother all the time to bring me some from the market, or from the neighbor having a large tree from their backyard. As a kid i like looking up on this tree with red fruit on it (’coz it looks like apple). Few people may like the taste, but for me it’s delicious, like a fresh peach. sadly it’s been a long since i last had a taste of this fruit and i kinda’ miss it just looking at your picture MM! I’ll sure have this on my vacation in Nov (if it still in season)…
August 10th, 2005Yuck!!!! The smell really is off putting, the texture so so, the taste, something I will not miss in a million years. We have a seedless version of the mabolo in our yard. Nice tree but only my Mom and Dad eat the fruit although they are not fond of it either. My sisters and I stay away from it and the only reaction it gets from us is a wrinkled nose.
Mostly the fruits are given away. I think people just ask for it because it is a novelty since mabolos are hard to come by these days and some of them have never actually seen a mabolo. There are a few however who honestly like the fruit.
August 10th, 2005Another mabolo lover checking in! We call it talang in Kapampangan. I think you may have gotten the variety with large seeds and relatively thin flesh. There is another with very fleshy and sweet fruits, as sweet as the best atis (just approximating the sweetness, not the taste). There are some varieties that make the tongue itch too.
Try it again, Marketman! You might chance upon a good one. They’re relatively rare nowadays too.
August 10th, 2005Wow. I never knew mabolo/kamagong produced edible fruit. I always just thought of it as a tree. Keep up the good work with these informative pieces! I like learning new things.
August 10th, 2005wow, i used to eat mabolo fresh off of our mabolo tree when i was a kid. i don’t remember the stinky smell the fruit had, but i can remember i liked eating them. we used to have a mabolo tree at our home in san juan (near mandaluyong), and i really loved that old thing. It was such an old tree that it was several stories high - about as high as a 5 or 6-storey building. The trunk was SO huge!! A few years after my dad sold our home, that’s I found out that mabolo came from kamagong trees! We went to visit the lot to see if the tree is still there…but it was gone :( I suppose the people who bought the house knew how valuable the wood is. The trunk would have been big enough to make dinner tables good for 12 people or so.
August 10th, 2005Indeed it has strong childhood memories. Of what i remember, my mom buy this because of the skin. We do ate the pulp. But as mentioned my mom keep the skin because of the pungent scent of it. I don’t know how effective it was but it keeps the bug off “SUROT” from beddings at that time. Sounds ridiculous but that’s was my impression about “talang” or mabolo. What can you say MM readers?
August 10th, 2005If I were a surot (bedbug) I would move house if I had to smell the skin for too long…heehee.
August 11th, 2005tastes like a combination of apples, bananas, traces of onions maybe… weird tasting fruit
August 11th, 2005nothing really great. i tried it a few times when i was a kid out of curiousity. the fruit was mentioned being a favorite of jose rizal.
August 11th, 2005i love that fruit, especially the yellowish brown variety w/c has no seed and taste sweeter than the red one.
August 11th, 2005Makati ang skin!I remember playing with the abundant fruits from the trees in our street and my playmates would skin the fruits and spread it to the others, nasty no? That’s what I remember, the bland taste, the itchiness and the spanking we get!!!
August 12th, 2005This is the first time I’ve seen a mabolo! Thanks MarketMan. I’ll try to remember to taste some when I go back home. These posts really make me regret not being able to visit long enough to sample all our seasonal fruits. The last time I was craving for some atis and starapple but, unfortunately, they were not in season. We had to go all the way to Quezon Province to get atis.
August 28th, 2005Michael and other foreign based readers… I feature fruit that is in season, so before your next trip home look up my archives by month and you should have a good idea of what you can expect in the markets. The last three months have been a bumper crop of great summer tropical fruits…
August 28th, 2005Good day,
FYI, you can purchase kamagong seedlings at Manila Environmetal Seedling Bank something. It is at the corner of EDSA-Quezon Ave. next to what i beleive to be a bus terminal. Ask around a bit and you’ll find it. Fruiting can occur from 5 to 7 years from planting i hear. i bought 3 for P20 each myself.
July 27th, 2006the best aphrodisiac fruit in town. try it you’ll like it…
October 27th, 2006where can I order in volume?…I can sell this fast in Pasadena
October 27th, 2006interesting fruit. 1st time to know bout it. thanks MM.
March 1st, 2007Whatis the range of the price of Mabolo in the Market?Do they sell it by kilos or by piece?
March 10th, 2007This fruit is my Dad’s favorite. He claimed this fruit makes him sexualy active. Unbelievable but he got 13 kids! Go figure that out. :)
May 8th, 2007Mabolo tree is not only useful for its shade & fruit but the
wood is higly priced because it is used as grip for ornamental
knives in the philippines, it is used for grip or handle of custome made philippine pistols and revolvers in fact some of the vintage COLT 45 pistols of law enforcement personnel and Philippine shooting club members were made of mabolo wood (known locally as kamagong).
It is known for its red sapwood and black heartwood. It is the ebony in the philippines.
It is native in the Philippines, in fact it was used by known MACTAN CHIETAIN LAPULAPU to defend MACTAN ISLAND during the Battle of Mactan.
Some scholars & historian believed that this wood was used by LAPULAPU to kill Magellan.
Its specific gravity is 1.2, making its inclusion as one of the iron wood in the world.
October 1st, 2007mabolo,kasi nga marami syang bulo sa fruits nya,well one of my childhood memories!
April 6th, 2008Mabango para sa akin ang mabolo at masarap pa. Bakit parang ayaw na iba. He! he! kanya kanyang orientation at preferences lang yan. It’s a perfect snack during fishing.
May 6th, 2008I brought home this morning 3 pcs of mabolo from a roadside store in Tagaytay. My wife got interested to this fruit as we dropby the store, she said has never tasted one in her entire life, though we came from a place that has lots of it, in Bicol. Surprisingly, one of our home bodies said ” wow, kamagong, sarap nyan a!” muntik na sumakit tyan ko katatawa, akalain mo kamagong daw kinakain, eh super tigas na kahoy yon!baka meron syang jaws-like teeth…he-he-he, anyways, that’s the difference, the tree is called kamagong or camagong and the fruit is called mabolo.
September 6th, 2008