Business Opportunities for Palm Fruits in Tenganan

Tenganan Pegringsingan Traditional Village is an old village located in Karangasem Regency, Bali. The existence of Tenganan has been recorded since the 11th century, namely in the Ujung Inscription. This inscription was issued on Sukra (Friday) Umanis, wara (week) kelawu, two days after the full moon of the Kartika/Kapat month (around October) in the year Isaka 962 (1040 AD) regarding the jurisdiction (territory boundaries) of Ujung Village.

As told in BUPDA: Efforts to Optimize the Management of Tenganan Pegringsingan Potential and BUPDA Compilation Study: from Tenganan to Pengotan, this Traditional Village seeks to manage its resources through the establishment of BUPDA. BUPDA Bumiaga Tenganan Pegringsingan is a business institution established to cultivate and/or optimize the benefits of the potential and economic opportunities of the Traditional Village through direct or indirect business activities by forming business units.

The establishment of business units is carried out by considering several things, including:

• Economic potential and business opportunities in the Traditional Village;
• Capital participation from the Traditional Village;
• Potential resources of the Traditional Village community;
• The existence of community-owned and group-owned business units; and
• The management of these business units is carried out in collaboration with the BUPDA.

One of the business units that will be developed is Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs), namely the manufacture of candlenut oil and processed sugar palm products. Candlenuts are a prohibited wood that cannot be picked, but can only be collected when they have fallen from the tree. Candlenuts are seasonal fruits, namely for six months in one year, consisting of a main harvest in January – March and a regular harvest in April – June, the results of which are less than the main harvest. Candlenuts are a very important fruit because their oil is used as a base dye for gringsing yarn which will be made into gringsing cloth, a typical Tenganan cloth.

Another NTFP is sugar palm from the aren/jaka (palm) tree. So far, the main product of the jaka tree in Tenganan Pegringsingan is palm wine made from palm sap, as a source of income for the community, both the traditional village community and the penyakap/cultivators. All parts of the jaka tree are useful and can be utilized. The part of the jaka tree that is also important is the ijuk (palm hair) for the roof needs of sacred buildings.

Jaka leaves, both young (ambu) and old (ron) are used for ceremonial needs. Uyung or jaka trunks can be used for furniture. The jaka trunks used are old and dead. Uyung can also be used as a place to keep honey bees. Another is wong jaka, which is a mushroom that grows on dead jaka trees. This mushroom is often sought after to eat because it tastes good, usually cooked by stir-frying or cooking in soup. In addition to mushrooms, dead jaka trees are also home to ancruk (jaka caterpillars). Ancruk contains high protein and is also used as food.

The result of the jaka tree that has not been optimally utilized is jaka fruit. Jaka fruit is peeled in a simple way into kolang-kaling (palm fruit) and sales of kolang-kaling usually increase during holidays. The Tenganan community itself has not utilized kolang-kaling for consumption, even though kolang-kaling is very beneficial for health.

Then, kolang-kaling was tried to be processed into derivative products in the form of pickled kolang-kaling and candied kolang-kaling with various flavors and fruits. The derivative products of kolang-kaling that were made were:

• Spicy pickles: lime and cayenne pepper; vinegar and cayenne pepper
• Candies: butterfly pea flowers, srigading (night flowering jasmine) flowers, rosella flowers, sappanwood, and palm sugar.

This processed kolang-kaling product has been tried by the BUPDA formation committee and prospective administrators on December 3, 2024, as part of a joint activity with The Samdhana Institute. Many prefer pickles because of their spicy and fresh taste. As for candied fruits, they vary according to taste. In terms of taste, rosella provides a strong rosella flavor. While in terms of color, each color has its own fans. Telang produces blue color, srigading flower is turmeric yellow, rosella and sappanwood are red, and palm sugar is brown. It is hoped that this processed sugar palm product can be introduced and utilized first by the Tenganan community, before being widely promoted.