TIMES JAKARTA, JAKARTA – Have you ever seen Monstera Deliciosa fruit or what so you usually called as the seed? Well, if you haven't, you might need to check it out for this fruit is absolutely edible when it's ripen enough. And it will give you a tropical pina colada taste.

Yes, it should be ripen enough. For those unripe fruits will burn your throat. The unripe fruit contains calcium oxalate, a substance used to bleach wood and sometimes clean some rust on a metal.

Monstera Deliciosa is a plant native to Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, and Costa Rica. The name monstera means a monster derived from its weird looking leaves. The leaves mostly has holes in it. That's why some people also called it Swiss Cheese Plant.

Back on the fruit. The edible fruit has such exotic tropical taste. It's a medley between coconut, pineapple, and banana. Some people say it tastes like the pina colada, a tropical punch made from pineapple and coconut.

When its half ripe, you could cover it with plastic to help fasten the ripening process. When it's ripen enough, the scale which resemble small hexagon will peel off by themselves. That's a clue that you could enjoy the fruit right away.

But its not the hexagon part that you will eat, it's the inner part. Make sure you only eat those part which have been peel off. When you have been able to nudge the fruit easily then it means you can eat it. The texture will be mushy.

When you have to struggle to nudge it then it's a sign for you to stop eating the fruit. Never try to eat those unripen unless you want to be stink by burnt feeling. It's not poisonous, yet it will cause you a damage.

Not only the fruit, the leaves is also edible. According to Houseraccoon it has healing properties for arthritis. However it also full with calcium oxalate. To use it, you have to simmer it for at least 20 minutes and then dry it up.

Make sure you take your doctor permission before taking it on your prescription. And, better to keep in track with the ripe Monstera Deliciosa fruit rather than to eat something you were not really sure about. (*)