The champion cempedak

This arrived at the market yesterday. Had been waiting for months for this fruit to appear. "Have patience," the vendor kept telling me. "It should be available in January," he added.

Well, it had arrived a bit earlier than expected. My aunt alerted me to it yesterday morning and I made a beeline to the vendor. "See? It has come. The cempedak champion has come, all the way from Gurun," he said, perhaps a little too triumphantly. And there, stacked in a corner of his stall at the Kampung Baru market were about 10 of the fruits. All huge ones.  Those not in the know will buy the local versions which are smaller and yellower; those who know will go for the champion!

I bought one and after a moment's hesitation, bought another one for a friend. Mine weighed in at five kilos and cost me RM22. My friend's fruit was slightly heavier and it cost RM24. He opened it this afternoon and started posting it to his facebook. Aargh, how could he? And how can I wait until tomorrow then? I have to slice mine open tonight.

I know it is difficult to ascertain the cempedak's length from this picture but I assure you, it measured 15 inches from end to end.

Huge arils, glistening yellow and very sweet. Did not count the number of arils in this particular fruit but I ate only five of them. Need to watch my diet. Don't want my blood sugar to shoot up uncontrollably. My wife and aunt ate about the same number too. The rest went into the container, waiting for my son to arrive home tonight. But I doubt he can finish all of them. 

There you have it, the cempedak champion now stripped of all the arils. All that was left was the long, slender stalk.