There are quite a lot of healthy fruits people are not familiar with. Hala fruit is an example of those fruits. It is a cluster of seed pods that will divide into single seeds when torn. Its seeds are known as keys. The ellipsoid-shaped fruit has wedges and an outer fibrous husk with fruits, leaves, and roots that are beneficial to human health.
Looking at the fruit, you might become uneasy about eating it because of its exploding fruit appearance. Don’t let the appearance discourage you, because there’s a possibility you might have tried it out in a dish. To clear your doubts, the taste of the fruit is explained in this article.
What does hala fruit taste like? Hala fruit has a mildly sweet taste and tropical flavor. Its taste is similar to that of mango and pineapple with a bit of banana undertone. Just like flowers, it has an enticing floral smell. The fruit skin has a pulpy, tough, and inedible texture that is extremely fibrous. The reddish-brown seed is found in the center of the fruit.
Hala fruit seed can be consumed fresh, boiled, roasted, ground into a paste, or squeezed into juice.
Hala fruit is also known as Tahitian screwpine or thatch screwpine in some parts of the world. It doesn’t have an offensive smell or overwhelming flavor, so it should be appealing to your mouth.
Nutritional Benefits of Hala Fruit
You can eat the hala fruit seed alone or ground it into a paste to add to your food. Whatever choice you make on how to enjoy the fruit, you would be doing your body a huge advantage. It contains a high amount of natural antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals.
Hala fruit is a great source of dietary fiber which aids stress-free digestion. Its consumption can help treat and reduce the risk of digestive problems like constipation, bloating stomach, flatulence, and diarrhea. Furthermore, the dietary fiber content helps the body absorb important nutrients and stops the body from absorbing fat.
Would you love to boost your sexual game naturally? Hala fruit is an option for you. It has aphrodisiac properties that help increase blood pressure thereby boosting the libido.
It is a good natural floss for the teeth. The seed’s fibrous teeth can be used to clean the teeth and prevent particles from building up in them. It’s a good substitute for a toothpick in keeping your mouth clean and fresh after every meal.
The fruit helps achieve weight loss. Eating hala fruit helps satisfy an appetite, making one feel full throughout the day. You get to reduce the consumption of snacks and junk food that has high-calorie content like that. It is believed that the fruit can help prevent the formation of a blood clot that can lead to cardiovascular diseases like stroke or heart attack.
At the hospital, doctors advise the use of natural ways to reduce the risk of side effects that come with pharmaceutical diuretics. The diuretic properties of hala fruit help stimulate the production of urine and is effective in the treatment of illnesses like urinary tract infections.
Culinary Uses of Hala Fruit
There are various ways you can make hala fruit suit your dietary needs. The seed isn’t the only part of the hala fruit that can be used while cooking. The flesh can be boiled with a sweetening agent and then preserved as a jam. Also, the flesh can be made into candy and other confectionery. The flesh can be processed into powder and added to drinks.
The leaves of the fruit can be added to curries, sauces, and chutney to give it flavor and fragrance. The seed can be boiled, baked, and then dried to make a paste. You can also enjoy it alone as a finger food by roasting it.
The juice extracted from hala fruit has a pleasant acid-sweet flavor that can be drunk alone or with sugar added to it.
Where Did Hala Fruit Originate From? How Do You Procure Them?
It grows on the pandanus tree known botanically as Pandanus tectorius, in coastal lowlands that are near the edge of an ocean. The fruit is native to Malaysia, Eastern Australia, the Pacific Ocean, and Hawaii. It is exported to regions around the world where it cannot be grown naturally.
You can get hala fruit directly from the tree, a grocery store, or a fruit market. To eat a ripe hala fruit after purchase from the store or plucking, twist off the seeds attached to the core by hand or with the assistance of a sharp knife. The seeds contain edible flesh that can only be accessed on the inside. You can chew on the end to get a refreshing snack or with a sharp knife, carefully slice thin pieces of the seed.
Facts You Didn’t Know About Hala Fruit
- The tree on which hala fruit is found; the Pandanus tectorius tree is a part of the Pandanaceae family. It can reach a height of 14 meters and has a trunk with a range of 5 to 11 meters.
- Pandanus tree is related to pandan, a tree that produces leaves used in preparing some southeastern Asian cuisine.
- Traditionally, the Hawaiian culture adopts the use of hala fruit for food, medicine, dye, and the making of household items like baskets and strings.
- Other names for hala fruit include Pandang, pandanas, beach pandans. It is called stink nut because it gives off a strong offensive smell once it’s overripe.
- Only the female variant of the tree bears fruit and it takes about 20 years for it to start bearing it.
- Hala fruit is about 25 cm in diameter and looks almost like a pineapple from afar.
- The leaves can be processed to boost human hair growth. It helps treat the hair and reduces the risk of getting dandruff.
