Skip to main content

Petai (Parkia speciosa)

Stink bean or bitter bean or pete or petai (Parkia speciosa) is a tropical tree species in Fabaceae, 5-25 m high and branched, reddish brown bark, always green, compound and pinnate leaves, young seeds are harvested as fresh or boiled food .

P. speciosa has a hump-shaped flower that hangs with a long stalk, usually appearing near the tips of the branches. Flowers that are young and not yet blooming are green, mature flowers have stamens and pistils, old flowers turn yellow and are large in size.

Dlium Petai (Parkia speciosa)

Dozens of long, flat pod-shaped fruits emerge from a flower hump hanging from a tree. Each pod has up to 10-20 seeds that are neatly arranged, green when young and wrapped in a rather thick membrane of light brown. The fruit dries and becomes harder as it ripens and releases the seeds.

Petai grows well in wet and slightly wet climates, low land to mountains with an altitude of 1,500 m, open spaces and lots of sun throughout the day with fine-tinted soil and Ph 5.5-6.5. Trees start bearing fruit after 4 years, fruit ripening 3-4 months and produce 4,000-5,000 pods per year.

Stink bean has at least two varieties. Petai Gajah has 25-30 cm long pods and 15-18 seeds, while Petai Kacang has 20 cm long pods and 10-12 seeds. Usually sold with pods included, but modern packaging is also done in airtight plastic or styrofoam.

Seeds for a 100 gram serving have 91 calories including 3% fat, 69% carbohydrate and 27% protein. The 100 gram portion has an energy of 379 kj (91 kcal), 0.095g saturated fat, 0.159g polyunsaturated fat, 0.03g monounsaturated fat, 6.58g protein, 3.2g fiber, 1.86g sugar, 7mg sodium, and 413mg of potassium.







Seeds have a distinctive and pungent odor, are consumed fresh or as a mixture of a number of dishes. Petai is eaten raw with sambal as part of fresh vegetables, fried or roasted. Can also be fried and mixed with oncom.

Seeds are also added to a variety of vegetable soup or fried chilli mixed into cuts of beef or chicken. Nasi goreng petai kambing is a popular variant of fried rice with goat meat and petai.

Traditional medicine uses seeds to treat anemia, stress, premenstrual syndrome, depression, abdominal pain, intestinal worms and several other health problems. The cause of smelly petai seeds is amino acids that contain sulfur and produce H2S.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Mimosoideae
Genus: Parkia
Species: Parkia speciosa

Popular Posts

Sandbox tree (Hura crepitans)

Sandbox tree ( Hura crepitans ) is species in Euphorbiaceae, a tropical tree, growing up to 60 meters tall and with a trunk circumference of up to 13.2 meters, the trunk is covered with long and sharp thorns and exudes a poisonous sap. H. crepitans has large, oval leaves, 15 cm wide and 20 cm long. The petioles are 22 cm long. The flowers are red and lack petals. Male flowers grow on long stalks, while female flowers grow singly in leaf axils. The fruit is a large, flask-shaped capsule, up to 10 cm in diameter, with 12-16 radially arranged carpels. The seeds are flat and about 2 cm in diameter. The capsule bursts when ripe, dividing into segments and ejecting the seeds at a speed of 70 m/s, a distance of 30-100 meters. This tree prefers moist soil and partial shade or partial to full sun, a warm, humid environment. It is often cultivated for shade. The wood is light and used to make canoes. The sap is used to poison fish. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiosperma...

Telotaun (Manihot carthagenensis)

Telotaun ( Manihot carthagenensis ) is a plant species in Euphorbiaceae, trees or shrubs 2-10 m tall, erect and fibrous, white latex, leaves varying with the subspecies noted are Manihot carthagenensis ssp. carthagenensis , Manihot carthagenensis ssp. glaziovii and Manihot carthagenensis ssp. hahnii . M. carthagenensis has an erect stem, a tubular shape, a young stem which is bright green and covered in white wax, an old stem that has a thin layer of brown skin. Long leaf stems and white waxy, arranged alternately, growing in all directions, green on the bottom and redish on the top. Leaves have 3-7 fingers each up to 25 cm long and up to 15 cm wide, ellipses become obovoid, sometimes pandurate and apex acute. Each leaf finger has a bone in the middle that moves linearly with some pinnate bones. The upper surface is green and slightly shiny, the lower surface is whitish green. The base of the leaf is centered at the end of the stalk, the pointed end which ends at the head of the sp...

Giant green leech (Raksasa hijau)

Lintah raksasa or giant green leech ( Raksasa hijau ) is a species of animal in Salifidae, large green leeches, carnivores, not hematophagic, can grow to lengths of more than 50 cm, the front is perfectly tubular, but it is getting bigger, wider and flat backward. R. hijau has a front end that ends with a white mouth and has a width equal to the diameter of the front end of the body. The rear end ends with the anus and has a width equal to the diameter of the rear end of the body. The upper surface is whole dark green or leafy green, looks shiny and has no other additional color features. The bottom surface is lighter or brownish green. The skin is wrinkled like tight, elastic joints that make it possible to lengthen the body. Giant green leech moves forward by extending the tip of the front of the body to keep the new location farther away and this movement is then followed by the middle body and gradually the rear where the body moves completely. R. hijau does not suck blo...