Vietnamese Fruits: A Tropical Guide

Vietnam is one of the great fruit countries. The Mekong delta and central highlands grow most of Southeast Asia's tropical fruits at scale, and even the most ordinary city market will stock fifteen or twenty kinds at any given time. A short guide to what you'll see and when to eat it.

Durian (sầu riêng)

Season: May to August in the south, slightly later in central provinces.

The big green spiky fruit with the smell that's banned in hotels. Inside, custardy yellow flesh in three to five segments, each around a large seed. Vietnamese durian varieties — Ri6 and Monthong (Thai-imported) are the commonest — are creamier and less aggressive than Malaysian Musang King. A whole fruit costs 100,000 to 300,000 VND depending on size and variety. Most markets will open and bag the flesh for you.

Mangosteen (măng cụt)

Season: May to August.

The thick-skinned purple fruit with the white segmented flesh inside. Twist or score the top off, lift the cap, eat the soft segments with a spoon. Tart, floral, faintly grape-like. Around 80,000 VND per kilo at the height of season.

Rambutan (chôm chôm)

Season: June to September.

The red hairy fruit. Squeeze the skin to crack it open and slip out a single ball of white flesh around a seed. Sweet, mildly grape-like, slightly chewier than longan. Sold in bunches still on the stem at markets for 30,000 to 50,000 VND per kilo.

Longan (nhãn)

Season: July to September.

Smaller cousin of the rambutan with smooth brown skin. Crack open, pop the translucent flesh into your mouth. Sweet, faintly musky. Hưng Yên province in the north is the famous source.

Lychee (vải)

Season: May to June. The shortest fruit season in the country.

Red bumpy skin, translucent white flesh, single seed. Sweeter and more aromatic than longan. Lục Ngạn district in Bắc Giang produces most of the country's commercial lychees. A kilo for 50,000 to 100,000 VND in season; absent the rest of the year.

Dragon fruit (thanh long)

Season: year-round, peak May to October.

The pink-skinned fruit with the dramatic shape. White flesh studded with tiny black seeds; a red-fleshed variety is sweeter and more interesting. Crisp, very mildly sweet, mostly water. Bình Thuận province grows nearly all of Vietnam's dragon fruit for export.

Jackfruit (mít)

Season: peak March to August.

The enormous knobbly green fruit, often sold pre-segmented at markets in plastic trays. Each segment is a chewy yellow pod around a large seed. Sweet, slightly chewy, with a flavour somewhere between mango and bubblegum. Sold by the segment for around 10,000 to 20,000 VND.

Custard apple (na / mãng cầu)

Season: July to October.

A knobbly green fruit the size of a fist. Press it gently to check ripeness (it should yield slightly), then break open by hand and eat the cream-coloured flesh, spitting out the black seeds. Sweet, custardy, very floral. Soursop (mãng cầu xiêm) is the larger spiky cousin, more often used for juice and chè.

Pomelo (bưởi)

Season: August to December for the famous Bến Tre da xanh variety.

Large grapefruit-relative with thick green skin and pale pink or yellow segments. Sweeter and less bitter than a grapefruit. Often eaten as a snack with a small dish of chilli salt for dipping.

Mango (xoài)

Season: April to July.

Vietnam grows several varieties. Xoài Cát Hòa Lộc is the prized sweet yellow mango. Green unripe mangoes (xoài xanh) are eaten as a snack with chilli salt or tossed in salads.

Star apple, salak, soursop and the rarer fruits

Star apple (vú sữa) — purple, eaten by halving and spooning out the flesh. Salak (mây) — the snake-skin fruit, crisp and slightly sour. Soursop (mãng cầu xiêm) — large spiky green fruit, mostly used in juice. Pink guava (ổi) — eaten green with chilli salt or red and ripe as a snack.

Where to buy

Wet markets are best. Đồng Xuân in Hanoi, Bến Thành and Bình Tây in HCMC, Hàn in Đà Nẵng, Đông Ba in Huế. Street vendors with bicycle baskets sell the fruit of the day at lower prices than markets. Supermarket fruit costs roughly double the market price for the same quality.

How to eat unfamiliar fruit

If you see a fruit you don't recognise, point and ask "ăn thế nào?" — "how to eat?". The vendor will demonstrate. Most markets have a knife on the counter and will prep the fruit for you for an extra 5,000 to 10,000 VND.

Related reading: Markets of Vietnam, Chè, Central and southern cuisine, HCMC food guide, Hanoi food guide.