PEKAN: Those who use the Pekan-Paloh Hinai road near here will find dozens of stalls offering packets of white and red fruits.

It's a rare sight though as the villagers only sell fruits which are known as buah kabung or attap chee, during the fasting month.

Afsah Awang (picture) of Kampung Pulau Rumput said: “The process is time-consuming and needs a lot of skill.”

The 51-year-old housewife said the hard jelly-like fruits were the immature seeds of a palm tree whose leaves were used to make attap roofing material.

If wrongly-handled, she said, the fruits could cause severe itch and skin inflammation.

“Only a skilled person can pluck the fruit bunch. They will charge RM10 for each bunch,” said the mother of 12.

Afsah said she had to peel the skin and cut off the tip of the fruit which contained a poisonous white sap.

The seeds are then soaked for several days before they are boiled for a few hours.

Some of the buah kabung are sweetened with rose sugar syrup. She sells these at RM3 per packet. The unsweetened ones are sold at RM2 per packet.

Afsah, who has been selling buah kabung for more than six years, said it could be added to ais kacang or any type of drink.

She recalled how young men would use the fruit to play tricks on the girls in her youth.

“When I was young, some youths would throw bunches of buah kabung in the river when the girls were bathing downstream.

“They loved to see the girls scratching incessantly and in some cases, would loosen their sarongs,” said Afsah with a laugh.