Little-known Vietnamese fruit is a hit in China

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Spiky orange fruits the size of a small watermelon dangle from vines in northern Vietnam. It's not a fruit I can recall seeing in my 20 years living in Malaysia and traveling around Southeast Asia.

It's the gac fruit, known as Momordica cochinchinensis in Latin, and apparently goes by the name red melon, baby jackfruit or sweet gourd, the Internet tells me.

In Vietnam, people commonly grow the vine in front of their houses to provide a shaded entry. They use the deep red to purple flesh to add flavor and color to glutinous rice for festive occasions such as the Vietnamese Lunar New Year celebrations. It is also used locally as a traditional medicine.

Gac fruit puree can be mixed with fruit juices and drunk, or used in cooking. /CGTN Photo

The fruit is packed full of carotenoids, including beta-carotene and the phytonutrient lycopene.

Turning the fruit into nutritional – and palatable – products was no simple task.

"We spent a lot of time on R&D work," said Myron Chen, a Chinese national who has been living in Vietnam for many years and is general manager and a partner of a Vietnam food company.

"We found the best way to extract the oil from the gac fruit with the highest lycopene inside. And we also found the best way to produce the powder to preserve the lycopene inside, to try to keep all the nutrition inside the gac fruits and we also found the best way to produce the (juice) blend to make it easier to drink," said Chen.

The fruit ranges from orange to deep red on the outside. /CGTN Photo

The company already exports its products to ten countries and territories. But until now, they have sold little in China. They aim to change that and will be one of the Vietnamese companies showcasing their products in Shanghai in a few days at the China International Import Expo (CIIE).

"We needed to prepare well. So now the Chinese market is a small part of our business but it is the highest target of our company to catch the China market," said Chen.

At farms in the mountainous Sapa region of northern Vietnam near the border with China, members of the local hill tribes cut the fruits from the vines, load them into baskets which they carry on their backs to a collection center from where they are transported south to Hai Phong.

A sterilizing machine uses European expertise for its production. /CGTN Photo

Within gleaming stainless steel tanks and pipes and sterilizing units, they transform the fruit into the finished products.

Economic adviser optimistic about the market opportunity

Former government economic adviser Le Dang Doanh – now with the UN's committee for development policy – tells me that Vietnam has enormous potential to boost its agro-based exports to China if it takes the right steps.

"Vietnam must have very large scale agricultural production, apply modern technology, reach constant, durable quality of agrarian products. And keeping the standard and high quality of agrarian products is not easy."

It took a lot of research and development to come up with the best way to make products like oil from the gac fruit. /CGTN Photo

The senior economist has advice on the marketing side too.

"I think Vietnam must do the best to get a small segment from the gigantic Chinese market, which is becoming more difficult on quality, more challenging on demand and the competition is tough. And that's why the Vietnamese companies must try to have a durable connection and to create a value chain with the Chinese counterparts."

Vietnam is set to send dozens of companies dealing in agricultural products, processed foodstuffs, services and consumer goods to the expo.

Vietnam's trade with China grew an astonishing 29 percent with Vietnam's exports to China rising 37 percent.

But Vietnam still has a sizable trade deficit with China so it will be keen to see more companies boldly taking steps to tap into this enormous market on Vietnam's border.