I think that might be the most interestingly scary fruit I have ever seen! That said, I most likely would have bought one myself too, since buying odd fruits and other food oddities is one of my weaknesses!

It looks like it should have some natto and durian along with it.

You can find plenty of this fruit during rainy season in Thailand. This fruit is tasty, some people extract the juice to make some aromatic drink, and even candy. The only thing I don't like it is when I'm trying to peel it off, always hurts my thumbs.

You know what, Salak or Sala means 'Sacrify' in Thai.

From the appearance and smell alone, that was mighty adventurous of you to taste the fruit. Since I'd definitely pass on buying the fruit if I ever saw it, thanks for sharing your experience with us. I'll never have to wonder about it. ;-)

HS thanks for the additional info on the fruit. It's interesting to know that the fruit is also used to make drinks and candy. Also interesting is the name's meaning in Thai.

Best,
Paz

Egads!! And I thought I'd seen everything! Love the flash effect... almost wish it would turn into a mini scary snakefruit movie!

Hi Oliver, I agree this fruit looks somewhat suspicious - maybe it's the leathery skin.. _Maybe_ I would have tasted it, but if the smell wasn't too inviting either, I probably would have chickened out after all..
You're brave though:)

I had the chance to try it in India, very appealing and eye-catching look, but rather disguisting taste!

the flesh is supposed to be creamy opaque, not like what you have in the pic. when it is in that stage, its overripe and should not be consumed. i have eaten them many times. they are delicious! crunchy and sweet. a fruit from indonesia. salak - means snake skin in indonesian.

Hey,
that reminds me something. Last month, my sister and a friend were coming back from Paris. Entering the train they noticed that the smell in the train was bad, real bad but didn't know what smelled that bad until.... the SNCF employee noticed the cardbox smelling bad and inside was some salaks. Indeed it smelled bad !

stumbled onto your site. love the look and feel. will be visiting regularly. and good on ya for tasting the unfamiliar!

Hey there,

This fruit is quite common in Singapore and I've had it many times. It is called "Buah (meaning fruit in the Malay Language) Salak (meaning snake)". "Moist and Stringy" is definitely not what the texture of the fruit should be. I'm so sorry to tell you this after you have consumed the fruit but I think the one you had is over-riped and belongs in the bin. It should be crunchy, sweet and a just a little sappy.

Cheers!

like joan, i have never had salak in that color - i had it while visiting bali...and we also get it in singapore. its flesh is usually white and makes a really refreshing juice.

lovely pic though.

I love these snake fruits and I think you would like it if you like hot sambal or the likes. I first had these when I visited East Malaysia and I was served a sambal that was made from bird's eye chillies, toasted shrimp paste, snake fruit, dried shrimps, salt and sugar. Sambal is usually made with either lime or vinegar but they used snake fruit instead for sourness. I loved it because it had so much more depth than vinegar. The sambal was eaten with blanched vegetables and when you bite on the roughly pounded snake fruits, they were like pockets of sour explosions in your mouth.

Hmm.. your salak seems to be a bit too ripe already. I have it quite often and normally the color of the flesh is bit yellowish and not that brown. There are few variants back in Indonesia and I like salak pondoh most :)

I've been looking to find some of these in the states. They aren't grown much here except in south Florida private collections. I have a small plant of the esteemed Balinese variety. The fruits grow in clusters on a trecherously spiny little palm tree.

Salak fruit is delicious when is it perfectly ripe. The flesh is supposed to be milky white, and crispy. The one you have sampled is clearly past ripe, it looks a bit on the foul side. Definately disregard that taste experience you had!

If you, or anyone, think you could send me seeds from these fruits, I would be more than interested! Anyone? I do buy a lot of seeds.

I bought about seven of them when I was in Singapore, as I saw them and like you, was drawn and fascinated with the leathery snake-skin flesh of the fruit. I was so excited to try them, but when I had a taste I gagged immediately and spat into the rubbish bin. Quite disapointing. In the garbage they remain! Much like the durians I tried! I wish I liked them... but no can do!!!

My boss has just returned with this fruit...interesting isnt the word for it! We have described it as foul. disgusting, rotten, sickening and above all inedible for human consumption! We are doubtful this thing is even off this planet! The stench alone is enough to put may people off and the taste is even worse, we tried it 20 minutes ago and STILL have an awful aftertaste in our mouths! Avoid like the plague!

Hi, where can I buy this fruit in singapore?
Thanks
Mike

Usually you can buy them from Supermarkets like NTUC and carrefour. Look under the section with dried fruits.

In my country, Indonesia, these fruits are very common. The most famous variant are salak Pondoh & salak Bali. They are sweet & crunchy.

Oh NO!!!!! This fruit only tastes and smells bad when it is rotting, just like any other fruit! How good can a rotting apple taste?!? The best salaks come from Bali, Indonesia where it is often placed in fruit baskets in your hotel room. The fruit is eaten when the inside is creamy white and crunchy and taste similar to a pineapple. DELICIOUS!

I had this in Hawaii. The flesh should be firm & creamy yellow/white. The texture should be crisp and the taste is like pineapple. The peeled lobes resemble large garlic cloves. Very nice - not at all unpleasant.

I tried one today (I'm in Singapore) and found it to be okay. I was told by a local that the flesh should be firm and crispy. She plucked some perfect ones for me right out of the basket.

I have a few salak seedlings growing now. I am very excited. Now I just have to wait 4 years for the first crop. I have never tasted one myself.

I tried it in Bali, found it quite tasty, then I tried one in Jogja, not so good... I looked it up in Wikipedia under 'snake fruit', found that Bali's variant is better suited to foreigners' taste. Lemony and pineapple is how they described it.
To Tomas, if you have to wait 4 years(!) to taste them, make sure your crop are of the Bali cultivars. :-)

March 2008 I tried a snake fruit for the first time in Hong Kong. My uncle warned me about it. It was crunchy and stinky. Almost smelled rotten. Was it not ripe yet? or just one that was off?

Sorry, I had forgotten two important words. Here goes again:

Just talked to my daughter who is presently in Bali. She was extremely enthusiastic about snake fruits, loved it, and said the taste reminded her of strawberries.

When this fruit is ripe- it is white and crunchy -with a taste like a pineapple crossed with a lemon. It is slightly astringent. It is not brown like the photo. That one looks old and rotten . It is a very healthy fruit everyone would like.

I'm not sure if the originator had a bad one or what but the taste of those I ate in Indonesia were similar to what one would expect from a blend of an apple and strawberry. The texture was more like a med. texture pear. I absolutely LOVE these things!

As someone else pointed out, the fruit you ate was over-ripe and had gone bad. If you do a web search for snake skin fruit you'll see what a fresh one should look like. Even an apple tastes bad in that state.

Wow! from what i've notice so far is that you ate the bad one, its over ripe, and golly gosh i am quite sure the taste wasnt particularly nice!, i'd encourage you to try again, find the balinese variant and Pondoh variant, so far i liked them the best, hard texture, creamy skin color, and a blend of strawberry and pineapple all together, yummy, where to find one here in fiji is any one guess....

Definitely an over-ripe, if not rotten specimen, in the photo. The snake fruit (salak) I ate in Bali was wonderful. It had a subtle pear-apple flavor, but very firm and crunchy.

I buy them from local South East Asian food stores in Sweden, where one can place an order and they pick it up at the airport the next week along with their other goods.
Personally, I would say they taste a lot like passion fruit, if one can think past the difference in texture.

The seeds always grow. I plant them in sphagnum moss cause then I can lift the moss and look at their progress. Also, planting in sphagnum might keep the seeds from rotting because of its ability to prevent some bacterial and fungal growth. Places that sell orchids usually sell dried sphagnum.

Last time the food store already had some salaks in store, which I bought. They tasted vile. I then read somewhere that salaks can start fermenting if stored too long in normal room temperature.
They still looked pretty normal though. Opaque and all, but with some brown parts. It's true they have an "interesting" flavour, but when they've gone bad the off-flavour of fermentation is recognisable by anyone.

With the risk of getting bad ones being so high, its no wonder so many people think they dislike it.

Any food store, regardless of country, that sells SE-Asian fresh fruit and vegetables should be able to order salaks for you ppl who want seeds.

That may be a different type of snake fruit or something. I had the fruit in Bali and it tasted like a Rome apple. It had a seed in the middle and the flesh was white, not that rotten gray color in your photo. Please look up snake fruit on Ebay. It has a photo of what I ate...you may have an inedible version...BTW- if you think what you had was awful, the durian fruit is ten times worse...It looks like a football with spikes. Even with a mangosteen chaser(good tasking fruit) it was still stuck in my tastebuds for 1/2 a day.. :P

Funny.. I live in Malaysia but I've never had Salak before, even though it's native and I've heard of it.

I must say, though, that durian is very much polarizing. I like them because of the creamy texture of the fruit, but I do not like the way the smell clings to my hands for hours afterwards, no matter how many times I wash them.

I have eaten salak in Cambodia (where it is called lakham) and the flesh did not look like that in your photo. The flesh is a beautiful pale salmon color. First time I tasted it, I thought it was the most delicious fruit I had ever eaten - extremely subtle too. It was not firm, but had a bit of bite to it and a very tangy sour/sweet flavor. I was told by many Cambodians that people either love them or hate them, not because they taste odd but because of the fairly intense sourness. I can't get enough of them over there, and I also love mangosteen. My husband on the other hand, did not like the salak because he noticed an underlying fishy smell (they were not as fresh at that point either....). I hope you have had a chance to taste a perfectly ripe one and have changed your opinion on this lovely fruit!

What a great fruit, I am eating one right now and it's one of my favourites. I tried it for the first time a few days ago when I arrived in Bali. The flavour is unusual - a bit like pineapple, passion fruit and chocolate!!!
I live in Australia - that's quite near Bali, yet I have never seen it for sale at home. It's a must try fruit.