Barely awhile ago it was August and voila, September is almost here already. I was downloading my pictures from my camera to my computer and I discovered that I had snapped some pretty interesting photos from an accumulated 2-3 Sundays in Raub. These were all taken before the Ramadan begins...I thought they would be good end the month of August. Happy 52nd Merdeka Day to all Malaysians out there.
Chemomok, a feisty herb that exudes an exotic aroma only loved by the initiated (It smells like crushed cockcroaches to me but apparently can do wonders to a dish of lauk ikan masak lemak. Incidently, the perceived stinkiness disappear after cooking. It is still collected wild from certain jungles...
Daun kadok, another aromatic herb from the wild...used for cooking freshwater snails to mask the 'fishy' smell as well as in nasi kerabu.
Kangkong Putri, an aquatic plant found commonly in freshwater marshes. Has a distinctive smell like the petai and old stems produce massess of white spongy tissues that gives the plant its floating capacity. 
Pucuk Asam Gelugur, young leaf from the asam gelugur tree, a cousin of the mangosteen, is used in this part of the country as a souring agent in cooking. Pounded with the extremely acidic Asam Belimbing, the resulting paste is used to make Sambal Hitam, a very different and savoury sambal that is blackish-coloured. 
Fresh duck eggs are cooked in spicy masak lemak with tumeric
Kedondong, a tropical fruit from a very tall and sparsely crowned tree found commonly at the fringes of traditional villages in Malaysia. Used most frequently in conserve...i.e. pickles.
Pisang Sematu, the real McCoy used in the ever popular snack - Pisang Goreng, or fried banana. Observe that the ripe fruit is pale yellow, freckled and slightly angular in shape. The fruit is not good to eat uncooked and has an unpleasant bitter after-taste, called 'kelat' in BM.
Honey from the jungle - if you do not know how real wild honey tastes like, never buy these as they could be adulterated with caramelized sugar. Real 'wild' honey usually has a fruity-sourish after-taste, dissolve effortlessly even without stir in a cup (just pour in water) and REALLY helps with digestion and appetite. As wild honey is only available only once or twice a year depending on the condition of the jungle, one should only figure how much authentic harvest could be obtained in a year. If you see them being sold all year round, go figure it out yourself. The real McCoy is so sought after for traditional medication and health care that it hardly spills into the open market. According to my friend Uli (he is a real life honey collector), one should never eat melon and all its 'related' cousins like the cucumber as it can turn 'toxic' and it was once used as a subtle poison! Myth or unproven medical fact??
End of the season durian - the durian kampung, or we could call them organic durian since no fertilizer nor pesticides were ever used in their cultivation. However, the taste is never 'harmonized' as in certain hybrids and so every mouthful is an adventure...
Germinating Jering, an even stronger version the normal Jering which shares the same range of taste with the petai.
The lasts of the rambai for this season. The sourish and fleshy skin can be dried and cooked.
Whitish shoots of the Kemahang, an aroid that likes its feet soaked in the muddy banks of freshwater streams. A delicacy that needs skills in its cooking as it can deliver very nasty itches akin to the sting of the nettle due to the irritants in its sap. Usually cooked in gulai asam tempoyak...this is one vege you don't toy around with if you do not have the know-how as scratching your inner throat after a delicious meal can be a very, very delicate technical feat...
Last but not least, the rare cousin of the Jering - the Kerdas, a tiny petai-like nut that is collected germinating from the forest floor. A seasonal produce.
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