Limonia asidissima

Limonia asidissima

In English also called Wood Apple, Elephant Apple, Monkey Fruit or Curd Fruit.
Its a highly delicious but very unknown fruit. I very recomand to taste the heavenly flavor.
During my stay of more than 30 years in Thailand I have seen this fruit on Thai market only two or three times. Some days ago I could get it on the Ayothaya floating market.
The rind of the fruit is so thick and hard it can be carved and used as a utensil such as a bowl or ashtray. The bark also produces an edible gum. The tree has hard wood which can be used for woodworking.
Bael fruit pulp has a soap-like action that made it a household cleaner for hundreds of years. The sticky layer around the unripe seeds is household glue that also finds use in jewellery-making. The glue, mixed with lime, waterproofs wells and cements walls. The glue also protects oil paintings when added as a coat on the canvas.
Ground limonia bark is also used as a cosmetic called thanakha in Southeast Asia. The fruit rind yields oil that is popular as a fragrance for hair; it also produces a dye used to colour silks and calico.
The fruit is eaten plain, blended into an assortment of drinks and sweets, or well-preserved as jam. The scooped-out pulp from its fruits is eaten uncooked with or without sugar, or is combined with coconut milk and palm-sugar syrup and drunk as a beverage, or frozen as an ice cream. It is also used in chutneys and for making jam. A drink, Bael-panna made by blending the fruit with water and spices, is drunk during summers.