To open this fruit, I needed 2 large knives. A saw would have been better, but I didn’t have it at hand. When I spooned out the fruit, my spoon also broke. There is a reason why Bengal quince is also called “Wood apple”.

But not only opening and spooning is difficult with this fruit. It is also not possible to determine the ripeness from the outside. I suppose that the opened fruit I had photographed (I hadn’t made the effort to open a second) was barely ripe. It tasted pleasant, but the whole flesh is full of sticky latex. Perhaps riper fruits contain less latex.

In Asia, where the Beal fruit is native, the fruits are nevertheless consumed quite frequently. Usually fresh from the tree (sometimes sweetened with palm sugar), but also processed as jam or to various sweets. The juice is used to make a kind of lemonade and are contained in “Bela pana” and “Bæl pana”, and sometimes also in “Scherbet” (“Sharbat”). Sliced and dried fruits can be poured into a sweet, fruity tea.

• Edible Fruits
• Also edible Leaves
• Type of Fruit Berry
• Culinary Group Tropical fruits
• Taste sweet astringent
• Trivial Names Bengalische Quitte, Holzapfel, Madjobaum, Belbaum, Beal, Bealfrucht, Beal fruit, Bengal quince, Golden apple, Japanese bitter orange, Stone apple, Wood apple, Fruit de Beli, Coing du Bengale, Orange-miel, Vilvon, Bilva, Bilwa, Bel, Kuvalam, Madtoum, Ma-Tum, Mak-Dum
• Size 9 cm
• Taxonomy Rutaceae (Rue family) Aegle marmelos
• Origin South-Asia (Map)
• Locality Market 2018