The kamachile
On our last trip up to Baguio, I was gazing out the car windows and had a déjà vu moment, that feeling that you had been in that exact spot before, in nearly identical circumstances. The place? A stretch of road with several large kamachile/damortis trees flanking both sides. It’s as if time stood still for the past 30 years. In the shade of the trees were vendors sitting at small bamboo tables with portions of kamachile in plastic bags hanging from the tree trunks beside the road. If supplies ran low, vendors simply reached for their long poles with a little pouch at the end to reach up and harvest more stock. It always amazed me that with a little effort to pick the fruit and sell them there was money to be made. How it was determined who owned what when it came to those trees that appeared to be in the public domain is a mystery to me… And in retrospect, those couldn’t have been the only trees that supplied the vendors and frequent tourists who stopped to make purchases.
Kamachile were also plentiful one the shorelines of Batangas province. The hardy trees held up well in salty surroundings, and they seemed to thrive in relatively harsh conditions. I have stepped on several thorns of kamachile trees while walking near or on beaches, and if only for that reason, the fruit is not one of my favorites… I don’t recall ever climbing a tree as a kid, and couldn’t be bothered to harvest much fruit with a pole when there were other sweeter or more appealing summer fruits to be had.
A native of Mexico and Central America, kamachile were brought to the islands during the Spanish era. Birds love the fruit and I think they are responsible for propagating the tree all over the archipelago. From here, kamachile seeds/seedlings were taken to India, where they are known as “Manila tamarind,” according to Doreen Fernandez in her book on Philippine Fruits. The fruit turns reddish brown once ripe and the seam of the pods easily burst open. At their best, they are slightly sweet and possess a creamy colored flesh with a texture that is sometimes described as pliant or reminiscent of soft popcorn. They have a hard black seed that is not eaten. They are a simple and easy snack in the provinces. I have only ever seen kamachile eaten raw, and know of no recipe wherein it is cooked.
Perhaps the quality that I find difficult to overcome is the sometimes acrid taste of the flesh, which some would describe it as being aphud, or possessing the quality of “drying one’s tongue.” High tannin content in both the fruit and the bark of kamachile trees is probably responsible for that acrid taste. Nevertheless, there are many who are fond of kamachile and it is currently abundant in the weekend markets for fans who seek it. They should continue to be available for another month or so.
