Sunday January 9, 2011
Buddha’s hand pulling in orders for Chinese New Year
By FOO YEE PING
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IPOH: “Buddha’s hand”, an odd-looking citrus fruit, is now beckoning worshippers to the pomelo paradise of Tambun.
The fruit, so named because it resembles a hand with outstretched fingers, is popular among people who want it as a prayer offering for Chinese New Year.
“Orders have been pouring in,” said Lin Hwee Kiew, an orchard owner who grows pomeloes and the Buddha’s hand fruit tree.
Coming in handy: Lin inspecting the Buddha’s hand fruits in her orchard in Tambun, Ipoh.
Each Buddha’s hand fruit is sold for about RM10.
Besides its popularity during the festive season, Lin said the Buddha’s hand fruit was also much sought after during the first and 15th of each month of the lunar calendar for religious purposes.
“People would pray and then place the fruit on the altar,” Lin, 63, said.
She said the Buddha’s hand fruit also has health properties, and that depending on the method of preparation, it could be consumed to ease ailments such as “wind” in the stomach.
“You can make soup out of it, or add water to it as a drink, or preserve it,” she said.
Lin has worked on the orchard for three decades with her 66-year-old husband Chin Too Kam.
Chin said they hire four workers to help in their orchard.
The plant could be also be found in abundance in Batang Kali, Selangor, he added.
