The melinjo seed is the round, olive-sized kernel of the gnetum tree, a tropical evergreen of Southeast Asia whose "fruit" ripens from green through yellow to a vivid crimson. Shelled, the ivory kernel is dense and starchy with a pronounced bitter, faintly resinous edge; pounded flat and sun-dried, then fried, it becomes emping — the pale, brittle, gently bitter Indonesian cracker eaten alongside rice meals and satay.