The Sweetest Lanzones (Langsat (Lansium Domesticum)

Known as langsat in Malaysia from where it originated, lanzones is a fruit that grows abundantly on the slopes of the Sierra Madre mountain range in Luzon, particularly Laguna province, in the volcanic island of Camiguin (that also have the Lanzones Festival) and various provinces of Mindanao.


Lanzones trees are slender and has only a single trunk growing to about 10 to 20 meters tall (picture above). The fruit has an acidic taste and bitter seeds but the translucent flesh can be very sweet when ripe.

In eating lanzones, it's always best to select the fruit already detached from the stem since it means it's ripe therefore sweeter than the ones left connected to the stem. Don't also bite the seed since it's very bitter. Big ones also mean lager seed; go for the medium sized fruit.

Tutubi, in his childhood, got to to experience trekking up the slopes of Mt. Humarap, the hill fronting Paete, Laguna, and part of Sierra Madre mountain to harvest lanzones. He still cherishes the thrill of actually going up and eating fallen lanzones fruits held by his shirt.

Lanzones peelings, when dried, are burned by some people in Laguna to drive away mosquitoes. This may be a cheap alternative to de-fogging and fumigation against dengue-carrying, diurnal mosquitoes (Aedes aegypto and Aedes albopictus) and malaria-carrying, nocturnal anopheles. ((Tutubi used to do this in their small plot of kaingin in Paete)

freshly harvested lanzones by Tutubi in a basket

Picture of lanzones showing innards

Where can you find the sweetest lanzones there is? Tutubi doesn't have to be asked. He'll swear it's the variety found in his hometown. He's tasted samples from around Laguna, Sulu (currently sold in Metro Manila), and from Camiguin (but not the ones with less seeds in Bangkok, Thailand).

In fact, a few years ago, people asked specifically for Paete's lanzones and not from Laguna due to the inexplicable succulence of the variety. It's just that the fruit is not commercially cultivated in Paete, reason why you can't find them in commercial quantities. Lanzones also spoil rapidly making it inappropriate for export to other countries.

Even the legend of lanzones' magical change from a poisoned fruit to a sweet sensation is attributed to the artistic town of Laguna.



Ang Alamat ng Lanzones (The Legend of Lanzones) depicted at Paete's Wawa Park

Tutubi may, however, change his mind on which is the sweetest if anyone of the readers can give him a sample of the sweetest kind! :P

Lazones is also known in other countries as langsat, lansa, langseh, langsep, lanzon, lanzone, lansone, longkong and kokosan