My Tho fruit market

The Mekong River Delta is the richest and most fertile area in Vietnam; the river itself has its source as far north as Tibet and passes through more countries in Asia than any other river. The name signifies the river “of nine dragons”, the atmosphere is languid and the heat is tough; the mangroves rule the swamps; and the canals’ dark waters have tales to tell.

My Tho is always the first stop on tourists’ bus tour, and you are going to get a lesson on exotic fruit; even if you are not passionate on the subject, the mere color and shape of some of these delicacies will change your mind.

It appears that the durian has earned its place as the "King of Fruits" among the peers. The fruit is distinctive for its large size, unique odour, and formidable thorn-covered husk. It is huge, green on the outside, and smells like Camembert cheese on the inside. The fruit can grow up to 30 centimetres long and 15 centimetres in diameter, and typically weighs one to three kilograms. Its shape ranges from oblong to round, the colour of its husk green to brown, and its flesh pale-yellow to red, depending on the species. The edible flesh emits a distinctive odour, strong and penetrating even when the husk is intact. Regarded by some as fragrant, others as overpowering and offensive, the smell evokes reactions from deep appreciation to intense disgust. Hold your nose and take a bite! It is much more delicious than its odour!

You are also enjoying another kind of fruit - rambutan. The rambutan is very similar to lychee and tastes like a sweet, chewy apple. The rambutan is a medium-sized tropical tree in the family Sapindaceae, and the fruit of this tree. It is probably native to Southeast Asia, although its precise natural distribution is unknown. It is closely related to several other edible tropical fruits including the Lychee, Longan and Mamoncillo.

Longan is a wonderful and delicious tonic fruit to build energy, to nurture the heart, and to add luster and beauty to the skin. It is believed that Longan is not only great for the skin, but is also a fantastic sex tonic. For that reason, Longan is considered as a special tonic for women who wish to be both beautiful and sexual. It has a 2000 year reputation as a special love tonic. Longan is equally beneficial to men. It is believed to have a calming effect and to add radiance to the eyes. Longman is Vietnam’s most profitable, farmers in the Mekong Delta have already sacrificed coconut farming for this fruit. Well, it is a mad fruit!

Mango consists of numerous species of tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. Mango is one of the most extensively exploited fruits for food, juice, flavor, fragrance and color, making it a common ingredient in new functional foods often called superfruits. Mango fruits are oval and egg shaped with smooth, soft skin.  The skin is usually a combination of green, red, and yellow. The interior flesh is bright orange and soft  with a large, flat pit in the middle. The ripe fruit is variable in size and color, and may be yellow, orange, red or green when ripe, depending on the cultivar. When ripe, the unpeeled fruit gives off a distinctive resinous sweet smell. In its center is a single flat oblong seed that can be fibrous or hairy on the surface, depending on the cultivar.

The most attractive one is the dragon fruit (Thanh Long in Vietnamese), because it looked like a flower about to bloom. It has interesting black seeds inside and a white flesh, so that when it is cut, the red rind gives it a really lovely frame. Dragon fruit is cactus family, origin in Central America desert area. Thanh Long is planted in Vietnam, especially in the Southern areas, since the beginning of century 20; and since the beginning of 1990 it becomes a product. Vietnam is a country that exports dragon fruit with a large trade scale. Dragon fruit is a fruit that has high nutrition value, a lot of water and mineral substance; makes liver well and laxative. Dragon fruit is good for people who get high blood pressure and obese. Beside that, dragon fruit can limit development of diabetes, thus dragon fruit is a kind of fruit that many people like best.

Pineapple is the common name for an edible tropical plant. This herbaceous perennial plant grows to 1–1.5m tall with 30 or more trough-shaped and pointed leaves 30–100 cm long, surrounding a thick stem. The pineapple is an example of a multiple fruit: multiple, spirally-arranged flowers along the axis each produce a fleshy fruit that becomes pressed against the fruits of adjacent flowers, forming what appears to be a single fleshy fruit. Pineapple is commonly used in desserts and other types of fruit dishes, or on its own. Pineapples are the only bromeliad fruit in widespread cultivation. It is one of the most commercially important plants which carry out photosynthesis.

The star apple or “vũ sữa” is very sweet and creamy. You will also see guava, banana, custard-apple, water-melon, strawberry and lots of others.