Java Plums (Jamuns) ripen at Basunti

The Java Plum Tree, which was grown from a seed. This was flicked into a bed six years ago, when Raju and Rajinder were having tea and eating Jamuns. Jamun is the local name for the fruit and the tree this year is producing huge quantities. The fruit looks and is about the same size as a very large, black, shiny olive. It also has a similar structure, with firm outer flesh and a single large stone inside.

After that any similarity ends and I cannot really compare it to anything else. The flesh is an electric purple and it tastes like nothing I have ever eaten before. The closest I can come to it, is a cross between a persimmon and a pear, but even this isn’t very accurate.

Every day Pali climbs the tree and picks three to four kilos of ripe fruit, which is considered a great delicacy. The Jamuns are then shared amongst the staff. They always leave a bowl of them when they leave, so that I have something to nibble on while reading and doing the monkey watch. Cannot make up my mind whether I like them or not, but somehow I always manage to finish the bowl…