summary of may 24, 2015 meeting - pattaya city expats club · many trips like brazil; and on things...
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In our 15th year of Expats helping Expats
SUMMARY OF MAY 24, 2015 MEETING
Have you ever heard of soursop fruit? The lipstick tree or the pencil tree? Screw pines? Luffa
sponge plants? Inca peanuts? Baobab trees? Probably not. While they may sound exotic to you,
they are quite common in different parts of the world.
The other things these plants and trees have in common are that they are being grown in Hans
Fritschi‟s private botanical garden about 15 kilometres from Pattaya in Huai Yai. Hans calls it his
“Discovery Garden” and he plans to open it to the public in about a year. Hans spoke about his
Garden to the Pattaya City Expats Club last Sunday.
Hans said that when he bought a huge plot of land nine years ago in Huai Yai, it was incredibly
cheap, but very underdeveloped. It was mostly wilderness. “After I built my house,” he said, “I
started planting all kind of plants, first near the house, then expanding to the edges of my total
seven rai plot. I concentrated on „interesting‟ plants I had seen in other tropical countries on my
many trips like Brazil; and on things that everybody knows like chocolate (cocoa), coffee, cashew
nuts, nutmeg or vanilla, but few people have seen growing, especially in Pattaya.”
The Discovery Garden also includes other, more familiar plants, such as guava, passion fruit,
pineapple, avocado and banana. Some of these species come in multiple varieties.
Soursop, which Hans prefers to call by its Brazilian name “graviola,” is the fruit of the Annona
muricata, a broadleaf, flowering, evergreen tree native to Latin America and parts of Africa.
Soursop and its derivative products are consumed around the world, sometimes as a beverage,
sometimes as a dessert (including in the form of ice cream and fruit bars).
Soursop (or Graviola)
The graviola fruit is said to contain significant amounts of vitamins C. B1 and B2. Many sites on the
Internet promote graviola capsules as a cancer cure, but according to Wikipedia, Cancer
Research UK and other organizations they have said that there is no scientific evidence of this.
There are many varieties of guava.
Apple guava
Strawberry guava
Yellow-fruited cherry guava (aka lemon guava)
Thai maroon guava
Achiote is a shrub or small tree originating from the tropical region of the Americas. Hans
explained that Central and South American natives originally used the seeds to make red body
paint and lipstick. For this reason the shrub is also known as the “lipstick tree.”
Achiote flower
Mature achiote pods, showing the red seeds
The Discovery Garden also includes screw pines, more commonly known as “pandanus.”
Pandanus leaves are used in Southeast Asian cooking. They are also used to make handicrafts.
Fruit of the Pandanusutilis
You might expect the sugar apple to look like an apple, but you‟d be wrong.
Sugar apple
Hans explained that the flesh of the sugar apple is fragrant and sweet, creamy white to light
yellow, and resembles and tastes like custard.
Hans travels the world in search of interesting plants. He spotted a pear-shaped fruit in Brazil that
was labeled “Lotao” (see photo).
But Hans could find out nothing about the fruit after searching the Internet. It turns out that “lotao”
means “four pieces” in the local dialect.
During the Q&A, Hans said that he has tried to grow tomatoes in his garden, but that it is
exceedingly difficult in this climate.
The lufa sponge plant, another of the exotic plants in the
Discovery Garden.
Hans was born in 1957 in Zurich, Switzerland. He visited Thailand for the first time in1984 and
then moved here 1991 working as a journalist. He moved to Pattaya in 1995 but has another
residence in NongKhai. He was co-owner of the German language Magazine “Der Farang” until he
retired early about eight years ago. Hans says that although the Discovery Garden is not officially
open yet, people can visit if they contact him ahead of time. For more information, see Han’s
website: www.discovery-garden.org.
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