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

Comments

Popular

Indian rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia)

Sonokeling or Java palisandre or Indian rosewood ( Dalbergia latifolia ) is a species of plant in the Fabaceae, a large tree producing hardwood, medium weight and high quality, rounded leaves, thin and broad pods, highly adaptive, grows in dry and rocky landscapes with lots of sunlight. D. latifolia has medium to large size, cylindrical stems, up to 40 m high with a ring of up to 2 m, the bark is brownish gray and slightly cracked longitudinally. The crown is dense, dome-shaped and sheds leaves. The leaves are compound and pinnate oddly with 5-7 strands that have different sizes and appear alternately on the shaft. The leaves are round or elongated in width or heart, the upper surface is green and the surface is pale green. The flowers are small, 0.5-1 cm long and clustered in panicles. The pods are green to brown when ripe and are elongated lanceolate, pointed at the base and tip. The pods have 1-4 seeds which are soft and brownish. Indian rosewood grows at elevations below 600 m,

Bush sorrel (Hibiscus surattensis)

Bush sorrel ( Hibiscus surattensis ) is a plant species in Malvaceae, annual shrub, crawling on the surface or climbing, up to 3 meters long, thorny stems, green leaves, yellow trumpet flowers, grows wild in forests and canal edges, widely used for vegetables and treatment. H. surattensis has stems with spines and hairs, branching and reddish green. Petiole emerges from the stem with a straight edge to the side, up to 11 cm long, sturdy, thorny, hairy and reddish green. The leaves have a length of 10 cm, width of 10 cm, 3-5 lobed, each has a bone in the middle with several pinnate veins, sharp tip, sharp and jagged edges, wavy, stiff, green surface. Flowers up to 10 cm long, trumpet-shaped, yellow with a purple or brown or red center, solitary, axillary. Epicalyx has forked bracts, linear inner branches, spathulate outer branches. Stalks up to 6-7 cm. The seeds have a length of 3-3.5 mm and a width of 2.5 mm. Bush sorrels grow in pastures, marshes, abandoned fields and plantations,

Lawe (Abroma augustum)

Lawe or devil's cotton ( Abroma augustum ) is a plant species in Malvaceae, a small tree or bush that is erect, up to 10 m tall but generally 2-3 m tall, stems and twigs covered with star hair that are sharp, brittle and cause skin itching, sometimes also with glandular hair. A. augustum has a single leaf, alternating, has a long stalk, a heart-shaped base, a pointed tip with a very variable base whose leaves near the base of the branch have a circular shape from the egg to the heart, 3-5 curves, diameter 20-37 cm, while the leaves near the tips of twigs have elongated shapes with smooth toothed edges. The flowers gather in cymes at the tips of the twigs or face leaves, 1-4 buds, 1-3 cm long stems and 6-8 mm bractea. Hanging flowers, 3-5 cm in diameter, 5 angles and 1-3.5 cm long stems. The petals have 5 leaves, share a deep, triangular, 15-20 mm long, 6 mm wide and greenish. The crown has 5 leaves, spoon-shaped, 2-3.5 cm long, 1 cm wide, dark purple or red or yellow, concave an