under the Sun In the Rain: titty ;P

i found this strange looking fruit of some sort (i didn't know what it was & of course no idea what the name is & sure enough i've never seen it before) on the way to send my son ~Laith & nephews ~Sam & Mike to mengaji @ a neighbor's (nenek) house a couple of weeks back..or rather like a month ago now..i suppose... as we were walking towards the house i stumbled upon this strange looking bright colored fruits lying on the ground, still attached to a dead branch.

what amazes me is that, the color of the fruit is just so intensely vibrant~ bright yellowish/ greenish orange. it keeps me wondering if it is an eggplant, a kind of tomato, a local species of capsicum/ bell pepper or could it even be a type of gourd?

but the shape of the fruit reminds me of a goat's udder! seriously, no kidding... ;P

see what i mean...

i picked one up & asked the nenek what it was & she told me that the fruit is locally known as "buah susu kambing" or loosely translated as "goat's nipple" & it is from the same family of terung (eggplant) she said.... hmmm...i wasn't so wrong there i thought...clever girl...!

in wonderment, i Google it up once i was back to the office. since i wasn't sure of the English name for the fruit so i typed "terung" under the Google image search... a couple of image pages later, there it was the image of the exact same fruit that i have in my hand which is indeed called 'terung susu kambing" or the scientific name for it is~ Solanum Mammosum. This fruit is related to the naranjilla and tomato species ( from wekipedia)...err...not terung then??

this photo is rather obscene! *blush* on the other hand, if u put two eyes there, it would certainly look like lil yellow miss piggy or a lion with the dead leaf pose as it's mane?? i dunno be creative... imagine...

i also found out that the exotic looking fruit has many other native known nick names that put a smile on my face such as ~ Goat's nipple, Nipple fruit, Titty Fruit, Cow's Udder (goat's udder is probably more suitable for it smallish size) or ambiguously, "apple of Sodom" hmmm...,nyun wenkibobi, soresumba, mackaw bush, Pichichio (in Costa Rica) among others...

this fruit is native to South America, but has been naturalized in the Greater Antilles, Central America and Caribbean..& of course, my homeland~ Malaysia!

accordingly, the plant is usually grown as an ornamental for its unique fruits. fruiting branches can be used in tropical cut flower arrangements.

The plant is also reputed to have medicinal use in various treatments, from athlete's foot to irritability and restlessness. according to the nenek, in the traditional Malay practice, the plant & the fruit can be used for treating high blood pressure, breast cancer, diabetic & hemorrhoid to name a few~ how?? i've not a clue!!! it is somewhat questionable, the fruit is said to be inedible because it is poisonous, so how in the world does one uses it as medicine? "only the person who knows how, knows how..." well i guess,that's the beauty of God's creation~ there's always something good out of something bad & vice versa..

The fruit is oddly shaped with numerous brownish-red seeds in it.

other uses~ the juice of the fruit shows some detergent activity and said that it can be used for washing clothes. Wow~ u can actually use it to wash clothes- isn't that great!!??:P & the fruits are exported to Taiwan for use as religious offerings.

*ding-ding-ding!!!!

i'd probably should start thinking hard on cultivating this plant so that i can actually;-

export it to Taiwan;

sell it to the florist for flower arrangements;

create my own titty fruit brand detergent;

come up with some medicinal cure for all the various ailment stated above.... hmmm.... interesting....i could actually make a lot of money out of this... Schweet!! ;D