TAPAH: Fans of petai highly favour those sourced from the Tapah district in Perak, known for their thick flesh, crunchy texture, and rich and less pungent flavour.
It is said that Tapah petai owe their unique quality to their trees that grow in hilly areas over 1,000 metres above sea level as well as the maturity of the trees.
"Some people say plants grown at higher altitudes tend to grow better and are of higher quality than those growing in lower areas," Deraman Tulis told Bernama when met at Pos Musoh Orang Asli village here recently.
According to Deraman, 60, an Orang Asli from the Semai clan, the petai from Tapah are also larger size-wise compared to those from other places and have fewer worms, and remain "crunchy" even after being harvested and stored for over a week.
As a wholesaler who buys and sells them in bulk, Deraman is kept busy during the petai season which runs from August to December.
THREE TYPES OF 'PETAI'
Petai, also known as bitter beans, stink beans or stinky beans due to their pungent smell, is a legume that can be eaten raw as part of ulam (traditional Malay salad) or added to a sambal dish.
Deraman said the three types of petai that are in high demand are petai papan, petai padi and petai kacang.
"In terms of demand, petai papan is favoured by the Malays for its large size, while the Chinese and Indians prefer petai padi, which is smaller and less pungent," he said.
He said he sells 600 to 800 bundles of petai during each season, with each bundle containing 90 to 100 pods.
The petai are also graded in accordance with their quality. The premium or AA-graded petai are sold at about RM100 a bundle.
"It's expensive because each pod is large and contains around 18 beans," said the father-of-seven, adding each bundle of Grade A, B and C petai costs RM80, RM60 and RM50 respectively.
"For me, they all taste the same but the grade and price are determined by the size and number of seeds (beans) in each pod."
DANGEROUS
Harvesting petai can be a hazardous task as the trees that bear them often grow up to 30 metres tall, particularly in dense forests.
But for Long Bah Nyek, 42, who is also from the Semai indigenous group, it is all in a day's work. During the petaiseason, he scales trees as tall as 15 metres every day to harvest the pods.
He said he has been climbing petai trees since he was 21, having learned from his father who was also a petai harvester.
"So far, I've never fallen from a tree but I take safety very seriously. I don't climb when it's raining due to the risk of lightning. Not only that, the tree trunks become slippery," he said, adding petai harvesters are also at risk of being stung by insects such as hornets, bees and wasps.
He is able to harvest three to four bundles of petai a day and sends his produce to a collection centre run by the Pos Musoh Orang Asli Cooperative.
He added his ancestors' foresight in planting all those petai trees in the nearby forest has allowed their descendants to enjoy the fruits of their labour.
COOPERATIVE
The Pos Musoh Orang Asli Cooperative is among the cooperatives here that collect and market petai harvested by the Orang Asli.
A year ago, the cooperative concerned started supplying fresh petai to Aeon Co (M) Sdn Bhd's chain of supermarkets in several states.
Pos Musoh Orang Asli Cooperative chairman Kamal Bah Kan Lok said they supply at least 50 kilogrammes of petai every two weeks to Popular Meadow Sdn Bhd, which is responsible for packaging and marketing the product to the supermarkets concerned.
He added that each kilogramme of petai seeds is sold at RM40 to RM60 but the price can go up to RM120 during the off-season or when the yield is low.
Kamal said the cooperative also supplies other agricultural produce such as lengkuas (galangal), lemongrass, turmeric, kelulut or stingless bee honey and mushrooms to supermarkets.
"We've taken the initiative to diversify the crops, especially those that are not seasonal, to increase the income of our cooperative members (comprising the Orang Asli)," he explained.
Meanwhile, Batang Padang and Muallim district JAKOA (Department of Orang Asli Development) officer Anuar Shafie said they act as facilitators in the collaboration between the Pos Musoh Orang Asli Cooperative and Popular Meadow to ensure a win-win situation for all the parties involved.
"From our side, we conduct regular monitoring to ensure no issues arise between both parties," he said.
He added the same model will be expanded and implemented in other Orang Asli settlements around Tapah to enable the villagers to generate better income through their agricultural activities.
Meanwhile, for the women at Pos Musoh Orang Asli village, the petai season offers them an opportunity to earn some income. What they are required to do is cut open the pods and remove the seeds or beans.
One of them Reny Suriani, 25, said the job is not as easy as it seems as they must ensure the seeds are not damaged.
"The blade must never touch the seeds. If it does, the seeds are considered damaged and cannot be sold.
"So, this process is actually quite delicate and requires focus to ensure the quality of the seeds is not compromised… only then can they be sold at the market price," said the mother of one, adding she and her co-workers can usually extract 60 to 70 kilogrammes of petai seeds a day and are paid RM4 an hour. – BERNAMA