Marang (Artocarpus odoratissimus) - royal tropical fruit

Artocarpus odoratissimus, also called terap,marang, johey oak, green pedalai, madang, tarap, or timadang, is a tree in the mulberry and fig family Moraceae. It is a relative of durian, nangka, and breadfruit (rimas).

Dr Abe V Rotor


 Fully ripe marang is eaten with fingers to enjoy its fresh, sweet taste, and unique flavor that gives its species' name, odoratissimus.   

Tired of common fruits in supermarkets and sidewalk fruitstands?  Try something exotic, such as fruits from the south, Mindanao.  Try marang, a relative of durian, which is known to many, for its unpleasant smell.  In fact, marang and durian share the same odor when ripe, but to a much lesser degree.

 Now and then we have marang on the dining table. It goes well with any meal as dessert. Or it is simply served as is - ripe and easy to pry open, without knife. Just pluck the flesh straight to the mouth, and spit out the seeds.  The seeds are edible, like nangka seeds, which when boiled are enjoyed by young and old alike.  

So what's in marang?  Dubbed as "royal" food, I can imagine its special place on occasions celebrated in the tropical countries where marang grows, like Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia. Other than the celebrated ambiance I came to know of its high nutritiove value, from calories to elements needed for good health from a research conducted in Brunei.   

Artocarpus odoratissimus samples obtained from three different locations in Brunei Darussalam were analysed for their proximate composition which consists of moisture, ash, total carbohydrate, crude protein, crude fibre, energy content and crude fat. The mineral and sugar (fructose, glucose and sucrose) were also investigated *

A. odoratissimus flesh contains

• moisture (wet basis), 67.9 – 73.4 g/100g 
• ash (wet basis), 0.6 – 0.8 g/100 g
• total carbohydrate (wet basis),12.0 – 25.2 g/100 g
• crude protein,1.2 – 1.5 g/100g 
• crude fibre (wet basis), 0.8 – 1.3 g/100g 
• energy content (dry basis) 334 – 379 kcal/100g, and
• proline (wet basis) 85 – 363 mg/kg. 

 The seeds contain 

•  moisture (wet basis), 31.0 - 55.0 g/100g
•  ash (wet basis), 1.0 – 1.5 g/100g
•  crude fibre (wet basis), 3.2 – 4.7 g/100g
•  crude protein (wet basis), 5.1 - 6.6 g/100g
•  crude fat (dry basis), 10.1 – 28.1 g/100g 
•  energy content (dry basis), 488– 497 Kcal/100g 
•  fresh weight of total carbohydrate1.2 – 2.3 g/100g,  and
•  proline. 255 – 476 mg/ kg

Of the minerals in both flesh and seeds (potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, copper, cobalt, nickel, zinc, manganese cadmium and lead), potassium was found to be the most abundant mineral. No lead was detected in any parts of the fruit. From the quantification of sugar content, fructose was the dominant type of sugar in Artocarpus odoratissimus flesh (5.8 – 13.7 g/100g). From the range of nutrients, A. odoratissimus is generally comparable with A. heterophyllus (nangka), Artocarpus altilis  and A. integer (breadfruit or rimas).

*Proximate analysis of Artocarpus odoratissimus (Tarap) in
Brunei Darussalam
1,2*Tang, Y. P., 2Linda, B. L. L. and 2Franz, L. W.1Department of Agriculture and Agrifood, Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources, Negara Brunei Darussalam; 2Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Negara Brunei Darussalam