Meet the Salak, the Ubiquitous Indonesian Fruit You've Never Heard Of | Food & Think

Durian is so yesterday. Real Asian fruit hipsters have moved on to salak

A bowl of gleaming snakefruit beckon tourists to indulge at a hotel in Bali. Photo by Rachel Nuwer At a morning market in Bali, the usual gaudy suspects – papayas, mangos, dragon fruit and heaps of rancid-smelling durians - are on display. For Western visitors seeking culinary novelty, however, the most enticing fruit likely will not be the biggest or the brightest, but a humble, shiny brown offering called the salak. For the uninitiated, this fleshy, spongey morsel offers a perfumed cocktail of bright flavors, with hints of pineapple, citrus, honey and possibly even soap. In Indonesia, salaks are as common as apples or oranges in the U.S. Also called snakefruit, this strawberry-sized, fig-shaped fruit comes encased in vivid, nutty-brown scales, not unlike that of a cobra or python. Heaps of salaks turn up daily at countless local markets, while touristy hotels offer them ...

Full article: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/food/2012/11/meet-the-sal...