Mountain apples are common in the South Pacific and Southeast Asia. I didn’t know it, but there are several different fruits called mountain apple. We encountered the variety shown above at the ‘Imiloa lunch buffet, where they were served cold with a pinkish brown spice as a dessert. It is delicately flavored, crisp, and juicy, but not very sweet. Fans of mountain apples, scientific fans, that is, know this variety as syzygium samarangense, Note the exaggerated pear shape, which explains why it also sometimes called bellfruit. They are a beautiful bright red.

A few days later, we happened upon a vendor in the Kona farmer’s market selling mountain apples. They were syzygium malaccense, sometimes called Malacca Apples ot Malay Apples.

These were intensely perfumy, with an odd slightly-chemical flavor. Perhaps they were past their peak ripeness; I don’t have enough mountain apple experience to judge the ripeness, but they were not soft. The peels were brownish rather than full red, which adds to the suspicion they were past their peak.

Mountain apples grow wild in the tropics. The wild fruit has to be checked for worm holes in the bottom of the fruit. There were no problems with the ones we bought.

The fruit is thin-skinned and does not ship well. Seeds for Malay Apples can be purchased from Tradewinds Fruit, but they are too cold-sensitive to grow outdoors in most of tthe mainland U.S. Some say they will grow in Florida and California. The trees grow to sixty feet and have showy purple-pink puff blossoms.

Mountain apples are a treat on visits to the tropics. Don’t hesitate to ask for syzygiums.