Prickly Pears

Opuntia ficus indica

Origin: This fruit comes from Mexico.

Culture of area: It's cultivated in Mexico and in Mediterrannean Bassin

Description: Prickly Pears grow on a cactus with hase leaves with spine on it, called "raquettes". Flowers are bright yellow and frits are around 6 cm large and crimson. Fruits are very sweeted and riched with vitamine C.

Climate conditions: This plant need a hot and drought climate. It's well adapted to arid lands. It tolerates light frosts.

Culturals Methods: Each plant needs 3 m2 to grow so that aroud 1100 plants per hectares. In average, yields can be 10 or 15 t/ hec. But culture with an adapted irrigation( not a lot) and fertilisation, plant's growth is accelerated and fruits are bigger.
From the fouth year, when cactus is productive, some farmers take flowers from the first bloom off, to have a better and bigger fruits issued from the second bloom.
Harvest made by hand is difficult because of spine.

Use:

Fresh Fruit: The first use of this plant is for her fresh fruits. Indeed Prickly Pears enjoy the exotic fruit market's growth in Europe and in USA. So everything is done to go towards an industialised production as irigation drop by drop and fertilization. This way, 50000 hec are cultivated in Mexico, 1000 hec in Italia and also in Israel.
This culture is profitable because it demands less investisments than cereals and prices are more interstants. Fruits know a better sucess when varieties without spines would developed.

Vegtable : Young "raquettes" thanks to their gustative quality find a new market the USA. They are eaten as a vegetable. That why an industry based on it developing in Mexico. They export 2000/3000 tonnes of these young "raquettes" on 23000 tonnes to the USA.

Forage: Raquettes are also used as forage. They give very good yields, around 30t of dry matter. It's use especially in Northern Africa (Algeria, Maroco...)

Beekeeping: With this culture it's possible to have a beekeeping activity during 3 months in the year. Bees can produce 1 or 4 liters of honey in a beehive. That's a sizeable income.

Medicinal properties: Flowers owns" anti-diurétique" substances. Fruit is a very good "antidiarrhéique" and it can reduce the cholesterol rate and the sensibility to insulin.

Industrial uses: In Chili a sirup is extracted from this fruit.

Biogaz is made thanks to leaves' fermentation.

Prickly pears are also grown because an insect called Cocus cacti lives in it. "Cochenilles" are used to make the only natural red colouring agent authorized in France, the carmitic acid.France import 20 tonnes a year of this colouring agent.

Ecological interests: It's use as fences in Algeriafor cattlle.
This vegetal which can easily grows in desert let to fix the sandy soil in Somalia and so it has fantastic results against erosion.

Durian or Civet fruit

Durio Zibethinus

Synonyms : Durion/Dourian (French), Thurian (Thaïland).


Introduction to Durian : The Durian is the fruit of trees from the genius Durio, composed of 30 species native to Southeast Asia. Only nine of them produce edible fruit. However, some unknown species which have never been discovered, studied or collected could produce edible fruits. We have decided to study the specie Durio Zibethinus because it is the only one available in the international market. It is the only specie commercially cultivated on a large scale and available outside of its native region. Others are commercialised but in their local markets of the regions where they are cultivated.


Origin : The Durian is native to Malaysia and Borneo. The name of Durian comes from Malay language "duri", meaning thorn.


Area of culture : Now, the fruit is cultivated in the major part of Southeast Asia. The main producers of the Durian fruit are : Indonesia, Malaysia and Thaïland. Thailand is not the native place of Durian but Thaïland is currently the major exporter of Durian : 781 000 tonnes per year.


It is known in Asia as the " KING OF FRUIT" !




Description : Durian trees are relatively large and can grow up to 30-40 meters depending to the species. Branches are strong and horizontal. Leaves are evergreen, dark green and elliptic. The lower side of the leaves is covered by a silver fuzz.





The flowers are produced by groups of 3 to 30 on adult branches and directly on the trunk. They are composed of 3 to 6 petals. The coulour of the flowers is yellow-white.




The Durian fruit is distinctive from the others by its large size from 20cm to 30cm long and 15cm in diameter. As an illustration of its large size, you hav to know that the Durian fruit is 5 to 6 times higher than a mango. His weigh can afford more than 5kg. His shape vary from round to oblong.
His particularity excepted his large size comes from its strange looking : a thorn,woody, covered of husks of one centimeter.

When the fruit is reaching ripeness, the colour of his husk becomes yellow/green to brown depending to the species, and his flesh pale yellow to red. Ripe fruit emits also a unique odour, strong and penetrating when the husk is intact. This odour is considered as offensive by some people and some compared it to "milk which had gone off". Some people have compared the odour to the one of rotting onions or unwashed socks or smell feet..
The disagreable odour has led to the fruit banishment from certain public transportation in Southeast Asia !

Quote about the odour of the Durian fruit by Richard Streling :
"... its odor is best described as pig-shit, turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock. It can be smelled from yards away. Despite its great local popularity, the raw fruit is forbidden from some establishments such as hotels, subways and airports, including public transportation in Southeast Asia."

From a biologist side, the fruit splits in 4 to 5 compartiments and each room contained one to six seeds surrounded by a flesh, odourless, edible and creamy. The colour of this pulp is between white and yellowish.

Climate conditions/cultural methods : Durian trees have one or two blooming and fruiting periods per year, thought the timing depends on the species, cultivars and localities. It is a seasonal fruit, it means that he is not available throughout the year. The Durian season is May throughout October.

The Durian fruit is a strictly tropical fruit : it stops growing up when the temperature drops below 22°C. Durian is cultivated in some regions of low altitude, until 700m and also in humid regions. Soil have to be deep.

The Durian is ready to harvest when it begins to crack.

Uses : Most commonly, the Durian fruit is eaten raw. In Southeast Asia, the flesh is also used to prepare ice cream. Fruits are consumed as good as ripe, fermented, dried or transformed in pastry. The Durian fruit considered as aphrodisiac is used against a lot of diseases. The legend says : "When the durians come down from the trees, the sarongs come off".