Many people have never seen, eaten or heard of the umbra fruit. This fruit is called ‘sar lei’ in Cantonese or buah kedondong in Malay.  Umbra is sometimes used in fruit rojak, where the fruit will be dipped with thick rojak sauce (made of shrimp paste).   These days, some restaurants and coffee shops sell freshly blended umbra juice.  A steamboat restaurant where we regularly patronize sells freshly blended umbra juice with ‘suen mui’ (dried sour plums).  The thirst quencher is sugar-free and is really refreshing especially when you are having a hot steamboat meal or on a sizzling day.  It costs a whopping RM3.50 a glass and a glass is usually not enough to satiate you.  According to the restaurant owner, the umbra juice is good for lowering blood pressure and cholesterol.

My mil bought a big bag of umbra from the wet market the other day. She had intended to bring them overseas but had forgotten all about them when she left. No one else in the family liked this sour fruit so I had to force myself to eat them – so much that my teeth felt sensitive after days of munching them, as a result of the high acid from the fruit corroding my teeth enamel! In the end, the remaining fruits turned black and all went into the bin!