Rimas
Also known as: Breadfruit (English) · Artocarpus altilis (scientific name) · Rimas (Filipino name used nationwide; related forms recorded across Visayan and Mindanao languages)
Definition
Rimas is the Filipino name for the breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis), a tall milky-sap tree of Pacific origin long grown in the Philippines for its starchy, melon-sized fruits. A relative of langka, kamansi, marang, and antipolo, it produces a carbohydrate staple — boiled, fried, or candied in provincial kitchens — from trees that bear for generations with little care. (Wikipedia)
Identities
| Source Type | Identity |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | Breadfruit |
| Wikidata | Breadfruit (Q14677) |
| DBpedia | N/A |
| ProductOntology | N/A |
| Wiktionary | N/A |
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) | N/A |
| MeSH | N/A |
| NCBI Taxonomy | N/A |
| AGROVOC | N/A |
| Google Scholar | Artocarpus altilis breadfruit Philippines food security |
| ConceptNet | fruit |
| OpenCyc | N/A |
Also Known As
- Breadfruit (English)
- Artocarpus altilis (scientific name)
- Rimas (Filipino name used nationwide; related forms recorded across Visayan and Mindanao languages)
Examples and Analogies
- The tree bakery: One mature rimas can deliver hundreds of kilos of starchy fruit a year — bread ripening on branches, no oven required, which is exactly how it got its English name.
- The potato that grows on trees: Boiled rimas eats like a dense kamote-taro hybrid — the root-crop experience harvested at head height.
Usage Scenarios
1. Boiled or Fried Staple
Slices are boiled with coconut milk or fried as a side, filling the carbohydrate role of rice or root crops in coconut-growing provinces.
2. Candied and Preserved Sweets
Cooked in syrup, rimas becomes a chunky, chestnut-like sweet — a church-fair and home delicacy in many regions.
3. Animal Feed and Fodder
Surplus and culled fruits feed pigs and backyard livestock, rounding out farm economics.
4. Shade and Coastal Agroforestry
The deep-crowned tree shades cacao, coffee, and homes, and tolerates sandy, salty sites near coasts.
Strategies
- Propagate preferred seedless types by root cuttings or suckers to keep fruit quality uniform.
- Harvest firm, full-sized but green fruits for cooking; a tree’s staggered crop supplies households over months.
- Integrate rimas as an overstory in mixed home gardens for shade plus food.
- Explore flour and chip processing to add value where local fresh demand saturates.
Security and Safety Measures
- Latex from cut fruit and bark stains and irritates; oil hands or harvest with gloves and clean at the tap.
- Ripe fallen fruits are heavy missiles — keep walkways clear during peak bearing.
- Fruits ferment quickly after harvest; process or refrigerate within a day or two.
Historical Context
Breadfruit was carried westward across the Pacific by Austronesian voyagers centuries before the famous Bounty voyages attempted to ferry Tahitian stock to the Caribbean as slave provisions; seeded forms reached island Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, where the name rimas took hold. Colonial-era botanists recorded its spread through coastal and lowland towns alongside its native relatives — kamansi and antipulo among them. Philippine cookery treated it as a provincial starch rather than a national staple, cherished locally in coconut-milk dishes and syrup preserves. Modern interest in resilient food trees has revived attention to rimas as climate-hardy sustenance. (Wikipedia)
Challenges and Controversies
Staple Blind Spot
National food programs centered on rice overlook “minor” tree starches despite their resilience.
Seeded vs. Seedless Confusion
Mixture of forms frustrates processors wanting uniform texture; farmers rarely label types.
Postharvest Losses
Without village-scale processing, seasonal gluts rot where cold storage is absent.