Gnetum gnemon
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| Gnetum gnemon | ||||||||||||||
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| Gnetum gnemon L. |
Gnetum gnemon is a species of Gnetum native to southeast Asia and the western Pacific Ocean islands, from Assam south and east through Malaysia and Indonesia to the Philippines and Fiji. Common names include Melinjo or Belinjo (Indonesian language), Bago (Malay language, Tagalog language), Peesae (Thai language) and Bét, Rau bép, Rau danh or Gắm (Vietnamese language). They are sometimes called padi oats or paddy oats.
It is a small to medium-size tree (unlike most other Gnetum species, which are lianas), growing to 15-20 m tall. The leaves are evergreen, opposite, 8-20 cm long and 3-10 cm broad, entire, emerging bronze-coloured, maturing glossy dark green. The fruit-like strobilus consist of little but skin and a large nut-like seed 2-4 cm long inside.
Fruits weigh about 5.5g, the seed alone 3.8g. Fruits mainly from June to September in NE Philippines. The red fruit are eaten by birds, mammals and reptiles.
[edit] Uses
The seeds are ground into flour and deep-fried as crackers (emping, a type of krupuk). The crackers have a slightly bitter taste and are frequently served as a snack or accompaniment to Indonesian dishes.
