There are many names: Genitu, kernatu, manecu. But what is more popular among Indonesian people is “kenitu”. There are green farts and purple farts.
Unggu Kenitu is not much different from green Kenitu, it’s just the color of the fruit skin that distinguishes it. The characteristics of the fruit and taste are the same, but purple ketitu is rarer and still rare.
The taste of the sweet purple kenitu fruit is delicious, this fruit is usually gummy so the taste of this sap usually irritates the tongue.
The lower leaves of the kenitu are golden brown and the upper leaves are dark green. The color of the flesh is white, slightly purplish. When it’s cooked, the texture of the meat is soft and tender, but you can’t peel it. To eat it, this sapodilla fruit needs to be split first. The texture of this fruit is also very similar to small sapodilla.
Name: Kenitu Ungu / Sawo durian
Scientific name (botanical name): Chrysophyllum cainito
Suitable level: Low-medium
Growing climate: Tropical
Seedlings come from: Grafting
Seedling height: 50-70 cm
Fruiting period: Age 3-4 years
Sunlight Requirements: All day long
Suggestions for planting in pots: Pot size > 60 cm
Watering intensity: 1 x a day
Growing medium: Humus soil and compost
Fertilization: 1 month with NPK fertilizer and 5 months with manure
Kenitu fruit (Chrysophyllum cainito) is a fruit that comes from the sapodilla tribe or Sapotaceae, some even call it ‘green sapodilla’. The shape is round and the taste is sweet. This fruit is often found in traditional markets, but difficult to find in supermarkets or modern markets.
The skin looks shiny and varies in color, some are green, brownish green and purple. The flesh of the kenitu fruit has a sweet taste, so it is suitable as a choice for making fruit soup combined with other fruit variants. Kenitu can also be used as fruit juice or juice.
That said, kenitu comes from the Caribbean and can grow in countries that have tropical climates with hot or warm temperatures. However, this fruit is also commonly found in areas of America where certain seasons experience winter.
Kenitu has a variety of important nutritional content that nourishes the body, starting from vitamins, carbohydrates, proteins, and minerals. This rare fruit contains various amino acids (tryptophan, methionine, lysine) and phenols.
Morphology
Tree-shaped plants are evergreen and thriving, can reach a height of 30 m, many years old. Including hermaphrodites. Stem taped and woody, cylindrical, erect, rough striped surface, bark dark gray to whitish, with many parts of the tree that secrete sap, thick white sap when injured
Single leaf, color on the upper surface of green-base brown, 9-14 cm long, 3-5 cm wide, rather thick leaf blade, stiff, oval shape, pointed tip, tapered base, flat edge, pinnate bone.
Flowers are located in the axils of the leaves, in groups of 5-35 long-stemmed small flowers, yellowish white to purple, smell good.
Buni fruit is oval to breech, 5-10 cm in diameter, with smooth, shiny fruit skin, purplish brown or yellowish green to whitish.
Habitats
The Kenitu tree grows well in the tropics or near the tropics and thrives in the lowlands up to 400 meters high, and in areas with a typical dry season. If the dry season is long this tree sometimes loses unnecessary leaves which results in the fruit not being juicy or even looking wilted, indicating excessive drought and the need for irrigation. The temperature for growth is between 12 – 35 °c with an optimum temperature between 22 – 38 °c. Mature trees cannot tolerate cold temperatures below -2°c and young trees may die even with brief exposure to -0.5°c.
The annual rainfall range for growth is between 800 – 2,200 mm with an optimum between 1,000 – 1,400 mm. Chrysophyllum cainito or Kenitu requires moist and/or well-drained soil. Fertile, well-drained and slightly acidic soil makes it ideal for good growth, although the plant can do well in almost any type of soil, it prefers sunny positions. Established plants are drought tolerant. Trees take about 5 – 10 years to produce fruit from seeds.
Young Kenitu or Sawo Hejo trees are sensitive to water stress in the first year, and make their growth slow. After the tree grows, the rate of growth and development becomes faster. Deep mulching with straw or grass clippings, frequent application of fertilizer and watering during dry seasons appear to be necessary for the success of this species.