Great Morinda

Naming

Among some 100 names for the fruit across different regions are the more common English names of great morinda, Indian mulberry, noni, beach mulberry, and cheese fruit.

Habitat

"Morinda citrifolia" grows in shady forests, as well as on open rocky or sandy shores. It reaches maturity in about 18 months, then yields between 4 and 8 kg of fruit every month throughout the year. It is tolerant of saline soils, drought conditions, and secondary soils. It is therefore found in a wide variety of habitats: volcanic terrains, lava-strewn coasts, and clearings or limestone outcrops, as well as in coralline atolls. It can grow up to 9 m tall, and has large, simple, dark green, shiny and deeply veined leaves.

The plant bears flowers and fruits all year round. The fruit is a multiple fruit that has a pungent odour when ripening, and is hence also known as cheese fruit or even vomit fruit. It is oval in shape and reaches 10–18 centimetres size. At first green, the fruit turns yellow then almost white as it ripens. It contains many seeds.

"Morinda citrifolia" is especially attractive to weaver ants, which make nests from the leaves of the tree. These ants protect the plant from some plant-parasitic insects. The smell of the fruit also attracts fruit bats, which aid in dispersing the seeds. A type of fruit fly, "Drosophila sechellia", feeds exclusively on these fruits.

Food

A variety of beverages, powders, cosmetic products, oil, leaf powders have been introduced into the consumer market.

Noni is sometimes called a "starvation fruit", implying it was used by indigenous peoples as emergency food during times of famine. Despite its strong smell and bitter taste, the fruit was nevertheless eaten as a famine food, and, in some Pacific Islands, even as a staple food, either raw or cooked. Southeast Asians and Australian Aborigines consume the fruit raw with salt or cook it with curry. The seeds are edible when roasted. In Thai cuisine, the leaves are used as a green vegetable and are the main ingredient of "kaeng bai-yo", cooked with coconut milk. The fruit is added as a salad ingredient to some versions of somtam.