Canarium album

Canarium album
Canarium album leaves and fruit
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Burseraceae
Genus: Canarium
Species:
C. album
Binomial name
Canarium album
Synonyms
  • Canarium album Raeusch. [Invalid]
  • Canarium album Leenh.
  • Canarium tonkinense Engl.
  • Hearnia balansae C.DC.
  • Pimela alba Lour.

Canarium album is a species of flowering plant in the family Burseraceae native in Cambodia, China, Singapore, Laos, and Vietnam. The Catalogue of Life does not record any sub-species. It produces an edible fruit commonly called Chinese olive or white olive (though it has no relation to Oleaceae let alone Olea) in those countries.

It is mostly cultivated in Thailand, but has also been spread on a smaller scale to Fiji and northern Queensland in Australia.

Uses

Culinary

The pulp of the tree's fruit and its seeds are edible, with a strong resinous flavor when they are fresh. Culinary oil can be extracted from the seed.[citation needed] Preserves can be made with the fruit, both sweet like jam or liquorice olives, or pickled preserves.

In China, a pickle called olive vegetable made from a mix of Canarium album fruit and mustard greens, is commonly used as a flavoring for congee and fried rice, with Teochew people specifically being very fond of the pickle.[citation needed]

Among the Teochew, it is custom in the Chinese New Year to keep these "olives" (which they call 珍果 diêng1 guê2 lit. 'precious nut' or 檳榔 bing1 lang5 'betel nuts') in a compartment of a traditional candy box: it was said to harken back to the Teochew's habits of chewing betel nut like the people in the neighbouring home regions during the Ming dynasty, but given up by late Qing dynasty or early Republican period where they consumed green olives as a substitute. From then on, eating "olives", both green and black, become a custom among the Teochew.

Other

Its fruit, resin and seed are exported to Europe where they are used in the manufacture of varnish and soap.

References

  1. ↑ known in Vietnamese: trám trắng, quả trám for the fruit; Thai: สมอจีน samo chin or กาน้า kana; simplified Chinese: 橄榄; traditional Chinese: 橄欖; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: káⁿ-ná; pinyin: gǎnlǎn; Malay: buah kana
  2. ↑ simplified Chinese: 橄榄菜; traditional Chinese: 橄欖菜; pinyin: gǎnlǎn cài
  1. ↑ de Kok, R. (2024). "Canarium album". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2024 e.T218985732A218992731. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2024-1.RLTS.T218985732A218992731.en. Retrieved July 3, 2025.
  2. 1 2 "Canarium album (Lour.) Raeusch. ex DC". Plants of the World Online. The Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. n.d. Retrieved July 3, 2025.
  3. ↑ The Plant List (retrieved 14 December 2017)
  4. 1 2 Roskov Y.; Kunze T.; Orrell T.; Abucay L.; Paglinawan L.; Culham A.; Bailly N.; Kirk P.; Bourgoin T.; Baillargeon G.; Decock W.; De Wever A. (2014). Didžiulis V. (ed.). "Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2014 Annual Checklist". Species 2000: Reading, UK. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
  5. 1 2 Siong Kiat Tan; Keng Soon Chua; Kok Peng Lim (2019). "Chinese olive". Minnan (Hokkien) Botanical Names Used in Singapore. Singapore: Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, National University of Singapore. p. 26. ISBN 978-981-11-4440-0.
  6. ↑ GRIN: Canarium album (retrieved 14 December 2017)
  7. ↑ Ragvald, Lars; Ragvald, Wai-Ling; Björverud, Susanna (2012). Norstedts Kinesisk-Svenska Ordbok. Stockholm: Norstedt.[page needed]
  8. ↑ Hamilton, Arthur Wedderburn (1924). "Chinese Loan-Words in Malay". Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 2 (1 (90)): 51. ISSN 2304-7550.
  9. 1 2 Janick, Jules (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Fruit and Nuts. Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International.[page needed]
  10. ↑ Khoo, Hedy (27 July 2021). "Comfort Cooking: Olive vegetable fried rice". Life. The Straits Times.[page needed]
  11. 1 2 "潮州人的橄榄情结". www.sohu.com. Retrieved 2025-01-13.
  12. ↑ "趣说槟榔：潮汕人缘何把吃橄榄说成"食槟榔"-槟榔网" (in Simplified Chinese). Retrieved 2025-01-13.
  13. ↑ 莫美颜. "各籍贯新春食品意义深长讨吉利". 联合早报 (in Chinese). Jan 8, 1995. p. 6.
  14. ↑ Chia, Wylyn (2019-12-18). "CNY Traditions Observed by the Different Dialect Groups in Singapore". Wonder Years. Retrieved 2025-01-13.
  15. ↑ "潮汕「時年八節」禮俗逐個數，潮汕人，你懂的_國際潮團總會官方網站-国际潮团总会官方网站". teochew1981.com. Retrieved 2025-01-13.