Fruits - Sri Lanka

One of the earliest mentioned fruits in Sri Lanka is the mango. Other fruits growing wild in the dry and wet zone jungles in Sri Lanka include divul (woodapple), palu, weera, mora, kon, nelli, madan, goraka, tamarind, beli, koholle lavulu, timbiri, himbutu. Fruits are by far the most natural and valuable source of nutrition for man because fruits can be eaten uncooked and cooking destroys the nutrients in most foods. The story of Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit is symbolic of the importance of fruits. It was very natural for man to pluck sweet-smelling ripe fruits that grew in the wild when man lived in caves. As long as man lived in the jungle in the natural setting, fruits formed the principal diet.


Fruits available in this country can be categorised into endemic, those brought from overseas and grown here and imported fruits. One of the earliest mentioned fruits in this country is the mango. The well-known questions Arahant Mahinda asked King Devanampiyatissa, to test the king's intelligence was about a mango tree.


Other fruits growing wild in the dry and wet zone jungles in Sri Lanka include divul (woodapple), palu, weera, mora, kon, nelli, madan, goraka, tamarind, beli, koholle lavulu, timbiri, himbutu.

Fruits brought from other countries and propagated here include jak, papaw, bananas and plantains, guava, pomegranate, avocado or alligator pear, mangosteen, rimbuttan, cashew apple, jambola, tangerine, orange, pears, peaches, strawberry, gooseberry, mulberry, loquats, lime, star-fruit, anona, passion fruit, pineapple, sapadilla, durian, rata goraka, breadfruit etc. Mulberry fruits when fully ripe make an excellent jam and a single tree in the garden will supply enough fruits to eat as fresh fruit also.

Breadfruit is not eaten uncooked. It is said even wild animals like elephants do not eat the ripe breadfruit fallen on the ground from trees in the African jungles because it contains some strong acid. It is because of this that boiled breadfruit is eaten with liberal quantities of scraped coconut or made into a mallun with a scraped coconut and turmeric etc or into a curry with coconut milk and spinach, to neutralise the acid.

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