From Flower, Seeds, and Leaves; We eat all those parts of The Belinjo Plant

 

Belinjo (Gnetum gnemon)  seeds - Photographed by Acik Mardhiyanti

People in my hometown know this plant since it was a common ingredient in one of the dishes we call "sayur asem." I wrote this particular soup on Ichi's Fusion Recipes and it was without Belinjo seeds and young leaves. We, Indonesian, pick from flowers, seeds, and young leaves of Belinjo to add them to our foods. 

In the place where I come from, Sumatera island, we do not grow Belinjo plant or Melinjo as it is not a native plant in our region. Mainly, it grows in Java island where we could find this tree at household yards or gardens. However, we are familiar with its products, one example is Belinjo crackers made from Belinjo seeds. The crackers have a bitter taste with garlic and salt in it. For some children in my hometown, it was not their kind of thing to indulge their tongue. Unlike them, for me, I liked  Belinjo crackers and it has become one of my favorite snacks on some occasions since then.

Besides using the seeds for crackers, Indonesian take Belinjo's young leaves, and flowers in some traditional cuisines for instance "sayur asem" (sour soup) and Melinjo flower as one of the ingredients in "urap" (Indonesian salad). The sour soup consists of long beans, corn, young jack fruit, eggplant, ground peanut, tamarind, Belinjo seeds, and young leaves. No wonder the taste of the soup is sour which is both intriguing and challenging for me yet I love it!🤩 For someone who is not fond of tamarind taste would skip this menu from the dining table.

I wish I could pick those Belinjo fruits!😐 - Photographed by Acik Mardhiyanti

After moved to a particular city to study at a university, I found that we can cook Belinjo skin seeds as delectable food on the table along with other ingredients; local calls it "bronkos." I often bought a meal with this menu at the food stall as this menu is the signature of this city. Moreover, we can find a snack made from the Belinjo skin seeds. It sounds amazing, isn't it? I discovered this knowledge when I decided to move out from the place where I was born and grew up. It is the advantage of being brave to see the world.😃

Nowadays, I have seen the Belinjo tree standing proudly nearby our block where no one takes the flowers, seeds, and young leaves. There are lots of Belinjo trees just across the street from our residential. To be honest, I wish I could pick the Belinjo young leaves and their fruit so that I could make sour soup at home. However, it is virtually impossible in Singapore as those trees have been grown by the government (National Park). What I can do is just take pictures.🙄

An abundance of ripe Belinjo fruits and I just took the picture😏 - Photographed by Acik Mardhiyanti

From the flowers, seeds, and young leaves, we can use all those parts of the Belinjo plant as food sources. Some people from my hometown said it had some health benefits if we consumed those food sources, one example was to reduce high blood pressure. However, some people were not on the same page where a person with high blood pressure and cholesterol should have avoided Belinjo products such as Belinjo crackers. Moreover, an individual with gout should remove Belinjo (flowers, seeds, young leaves) from their menu as it brings a bad health issue.

In spite of some benefits that we have from a Belinjo tree; the first is food sources as we can pick the flowers, seeds, and the young leaves, in addition, is where some people have believed that this food source is good for our health.  On the opposite, this source of ingredients is bad news for a person with gout and some people argue that individuals with high blood pressure and cholesterol should avoid those ingredients from their diet. 

Note:

• Written by Acik Mardhiyanti
• Photographed by Acik Mardhiyanti
• Do not copy this article without permission
• Do not reuse these photographs anywhere else without permission