December 31, 2025

12 native Philippine fruits for the New Year

These 12 fruits welcome the New Year, but they’re not your ordinary fruits found in the palengke or merkado.

New Year round up of 12 native fruits.

Each one is considered an ancient ingredient, long found in our forests! Some used for sweets and wines, others to sour soups, or to compliment fresh fish like in kinilaw or kilawin.

These fruits come from trees that existed long before supermarkets, and even colonization. They fed communities, shaped early recipes, and many continue to grow in forests that protect us through flood control, climate regulation, clean watersheds, and other FREE ecosystem services – including free food.

Decided to draw these fruits that I’ve tried or encountered during my travels. I also drew them along side their local names in Baybayin. If you can read it, let me know if I spelled everything right!

Unfortunately I don’t have actual photos for all of them, but here are a few below. Complete list of the fruits are at the end of this post.

The largest of the fruit in my art above is this one – a relative to persimmon. Mabolo fruit of the Kamagong tree, one of the strongest Philippine hardwoods.
One of the smallest fruits portrayed are these little berries – sampinit. Rocel and I was able to try these on Mts. Banahaw-San Cristobal in Laguna province. Delicious, and have long been used for desserts, wines, jams, and more.
Most of us know what this is, a very cool-looking fruit – rambutan.
Ingredients for katmon sinigang
Speaking of looking cool, Philippine katmon have these cool spiral patterns when you remove the rind. I used katmon for a sinigang at some point as they are an old souring ingredient in the Philippines.

Complete list of fruits illustrated

  1. Calamansi (Citrus × microcarpa)
  2. Katmon (Dillenia philippinensis)
  3. Mabolo / Kamagong fruit (Diospyros blancoi)
  4. Rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum)
  5. Lanzones (Lansium domesticum)
  6. Santol (Sandoricum koetjape)
  7. Bignay (Antidesma bunius)
  8. Lipote (Syzygium polycephaloides)
  9. Tabon tabon (Atuna excelsa)
  10. Batwan or batuan (Garcinia binucao)
  11. Sampinit (Rubus rosifolius)
  12. Pili (Canarium ovatum)

Learn more about Philippine native fruits from resources such as Lokalpedia, and support local environmental groups like the Haribon Foundation or the Philippine Native Plants Conservation Society.

Filed Under: Environment, Food