Comments on: The Tambis (Syzygium Aqueum) Chronicles, Take II…

By: Erwin C. Tambis

Erwin C. Tambis — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 06:49:36 +0000

I really like to eat that kind of fruit cause it can quench my thirst and besides it is my family name….TAMBIS. Well, I am Mr. “Weng” Tambis.

By: nanet yatco

nanet yatco — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:21:43 +0000

i just posted pictures of our macopa tree at nannetterose.multiply.com
i’m not really sure about the difference between tambis and macopa but like you said they are being used interchangeably by many.
we had another plant similar to macopa in our province in Bicol but the difference is they have pink flowers instead of the white one’s that the macopa has. my mom calls the fruit “yambu” ( so it’s probably “jambu” mentioned here by one blogger) it seldom bears fruit and if there’s any it was limited to one or two only (but it’s a lot bigger in size) unlike our macopa here which yields thousands of fuits.

By: Marketman

Marketman — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 14:12:14 +0000

Timothy, I am not sure if you saw this other post I did with two species side by side in the photos, here. My first confused post on the fruit, here, also included a photo of a pale green variety.

By: Timothy Lane

Timothy Lane — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 02:34:53 +0000

I stumbled across your excellent blog here after researching syzygium species for new entries in my tropical fruit encyclopedia. There’s a lot of confusion over taxonomy with the Asian / Pacific syzygium species, mainly because the fruit and leaves are so similar.

It appears that three distinct species being discussed in your post. This confusion occurs even in identification guides, which of course only confuses the matter further. However, after growing each of these myself, and comparing these trees and fruits side-by-side, I might hopefully indicate with some certainty which is which…

Syzygium Samarengense = Tambis – Java Apple, Wax Jambu. Bell-shaped, commonly found in light red / pink, green, white. These are common and prolific.

Syzygium Aqueum = Water Apple / Water Cherry. Small, bell-shaped fruits, usually only in pink (sometimes white). These are basically a small “Tambis” only 1″ or so in diameter, with sweet/tart flavor. It is a different species.

Syzygium Mallaccense = Macopa – Moutain Apple, Malay Apple. Darker red fruits, which tend to lack the distinct bell shape (more pear-like), being rounder in all aspects and having a more dense flesh.

If anyone has pictures of these delicious species which they’d like to share with me, it would be immensely helpful in expanding my free reference guide (with full credit + a link if you desire).

By: Lynn L. Basallo

Lynn L. Basallo — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:45:39 +0000

Hi. I am currently making my 4-year-old daughter’s flash cards in Filipino to be used in her school (well, actually its just an aid for her Filipino subject for her to lessen the difficulty in familiarizing and memorizing the things in Filipino). We are certified Bisaya from Cagayan de Oro City so it’s really hard for my daughter to study Filipino since we use our own dialect and English in our daily communications.

I am about to make all the common things that starts with the letter M. In her book, there is a drawing of MAKOPA but more likely drawn as “tambis”. When I tried to search for “makopa” pictures here at the net, i was so surprised when most or all of the pictures appear to be “tambis”… so I thought, the drawing really in my daughter’s book is really what we knew here in Mindanao (Cag. de Oro City) that is tambis! I tried to search for other images which are close to what i know as makopa.Thankfully, I came to this site which explained everything about this certain fruit.

I still want to stick to what we really have known here in Mindanao and Visayas so I decided to choose a picture of Wax jamboo or Java apple which is likely tambis in shape but makopa in color. Well at least, its less confusing because the drawing in my daughter’s book is likely the same i.e. bell in shape. I got the picture from toptropicals.com which also showed the makopa I have known and loved here in CDO which they called in Thailand as Malay Apple or Macopa (round in shape). I assume both the Malay and Java varieties have the same taste, well, this is just according to their appearance and their leaves… hehehe…

But really, for me, tambis is very different from makopa especially in taste, texture, and appearance. Well, that’s what we, from Visayas and Mindanao knew… Sakto ba ko mga kauban kong bisaya? :)