5 strange fruits you must try when visiting Vietnam

With a tropical climate, Vietnam has many strange fruits. Enjoy them when traveling to Vietnam!

Vietnam is a fascinating country, full of surprises and one of the most attractive destinations in Asia. Plan your trip with the list of all best places in Vietnam with InboundVietnam.

It's always a mistake to visit a country without trying its food (what's the use of going to Vietnam eating eggs and chips?) But people often don't understand much other than banh mi. famous in this country or the steaming bowls of pho. Now these are great, but there's so much more on offer, like some of our big, weird and delicious fruits, which come in many unusual shapes and colors. Here are 5 delicious and strange, super delicious fruits that you should try when traveling to Vietnam..

1. Custard Apple (Quả Na)

Chi Lang Village in Lang Son Province is home to our most famous custard apple, which will have you craving in no time. But you don't have to go to Song Village to enjoy these juicy spoiled mussels as they are delivered and sold nationwide. This fruit comes in a variety of shapes with mesh patterns on the peel. For a quick taste, simply peel and eat the fruit with a spoon or directly from hand to mouth if you're feeling sick. Soursop is sweet, not easy to crush, easy to peel, and can be stored for a long time in the refrigerator. It also contains many vitamins that are beneficial for your health. However, the pulp contains many black seeds, so keep an eye out for small children as the seeds can easily get stuck in their throat. The ancient Vietnamese also used custard apple leaves to treat fever, it is believed that black custard apple seeds can be crushed and mixed with water to prevent lice. So why not give this custard beauty a spin?

2. Lekima/Eggfruit (Quả Trứng Gà)

Qua Trung Ga means egg because in the harvest season, the fruit bears the symbolic color of egg yolk. With the slightly fleshy flavor of mashed sweet potato, it was featured in the Vietnamese song "The Mystery of Vo Thi Sau" about Vo Thi Sau (1933-1952), a schoolgirl and national heroine. Vietnam. Then it was no joke: at the age of 14, she threw a grenade at a group of French soldiers, killed one, wounded 12, and escaped undetected. However, the lekima is said to represent the youthful beauty of After she was killed before the age of 18.

Indeed, this fruit has great spiritual significance for Vietnamese people. The fruit itself is also very appetizing: the pulp is very fleshy and has a mildly sweet taste. Simply removing the skin with a pocket knife and scooping it out with a spoon like butter is the perfect way to enjoy it. Lekima is well known for its ability to resist oxidation and aging because it contains high nutritional elements such as carbohydrates, beta-carotene and Vitamins B. Sounds promising, doesn't it?

3. Star Fruit (Quả Khế)

The star fruit is a sweet and sour fruit with, as the name suggest, a five-point star shape. This fruit is known to many young Viet teens through fairy tale “Cay Khe,” which features two brothers who furiously fight over a family’s star fruit tree. The best time to consume this is when its rind has mainly turned yellowish with only hints of green.

From then on, you will discover a unique mild and sour flavor. The more it turns yellow, the sweeter it becomes. The most common way for the Vietnamese to enjoy it, is to slide it into smaller pieces, remove edges and the seeds, and dip it into seasoning. It’s a treat that’s a little salty and a little sour, but still mild. What more do you want! But beware, since the fruit contains a high amount of oxalate, and people with kidney problems should avoid this fruit or at least consult a doctor before eating.

4. Mangosteen (Quả Măng Cụt)

Mangosteen or mangosteen in Vietnamese is widely grown in Southeast Asia. In the harvest season, it has a thick, dark purple-red color. The gum inside its protective shell is white and is divided into knots with a sweet and slightly sour taste, almost fragrant when taken in the mouth. It also has an attractive fragrance. Inside the flesh there are between 6 and 18 seeds depending on the cultivar. The sweetness of mangosteen comes from the many sugars it contains, such as sucrose, fructose and glucose.

There are two ways you can enjoy this fruit. One is to bite the shell and shred it with your teeth before simply sucking out the pulp; Another, gentler way, is to use a small knife to cut thinly and gently around the fruit in the vertical direction. But be careful not to cut the pulp inside; you deserve a perfect pulp. The fruit is said to have many benefits in folk medicine, such as curing bad breath, preventing cancer and making you look younger.

5. Rambutan (Quả Chôm Chôm)

It is hard to look at a rambutan for the first time and think this fruit is actually edible, as it looks like something resembling a red baby hedgehog, but it is oh-so-sweet and delicious, with a juicy flavor that hits you out of left-field. In Vietnam it sells like hotcakes during the summer season. The way to eat this fruit is much like eating a mangosteen, but be sure that the big seed inside is tossed away as it is unpleasantly bitter. This fruit, which has several cousins such as the lychee and longyan, can be either eaten fresh or canned and stored for a longer consumption period. A Chào editor even recommends the canned stuff as a side to vanilla ice-cream. The rambutan’s plants and roots can also be used for many other purposes, such as making oil, soaps and in the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals and coloring products.

And there it is, our top five strange fruits founds in Vietnam with all their unusual qualities and back-stories. Now, all you have do is go and eat them. Go on then, off you go.

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