Take advantage of your next stay in Vietnam to discover and taste the tasty tropical fruits that grow generously throughout the country. A great way to feast, awaken your senses while recharging your batteries with energy and vitamins. Let’s discover the 10 exotic fruits that you must absolutely taste during your trip to Vietnam.

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1. Lychee

From June to August, it is the lychee season in Northern Vietnam, especially in Bac Giang province, North-East of Hanoi. The capital's markets are full of heaps of this delicious red-brown fruit with a rough and thin rind that contains a fruit with white and soft flesh with flavours of rose and muscat. What a pleasure to bite into this sweet and refreshing fruit on beautiful sunny summer days!

2. Longan

Here is a sweet treat that looks like lychee and has no equal to tickle your taste buds. Mainly cultivated in the Mekong Delta, the longan or dragon's eye, offers a delicate translucent flesh, a little gelatinous, juicy and very sweet. This is a delicious little fruit that is an excellent source of vitamin C. In addition to its antioxidant properties, vitamin C also contributes to the health of bones, cartilage and accelerates healing.

3. Mango

Who has never dreamed of biting their teeth into a ripe, juicy mango? It is one of the favourite fruits of travellers to Vietnam and lucky enough to visit the orchards of the Mekong Delta where a wide variety of fruits grow. We like its dark yellow flesh, smooth, fatty and sweet with a false taste of peach and flowers. Delicious to drink in fruit juice combined with milk, the Vietnamese also like to taste green mango with a spicy blend.

4. Jackfruit

Weighing up to 36 kg, it is one of the largest fruits in the world! Grown mainly in the Mekong Delta, the ripe jackfruit is fleshy and characterized by its mild flavour and strong, sweet smell, evoking a blend of pineapple and mango. You can bring back jackfruit in the form of jam or more original in the form of crisps.

5. Dragon fruit

The plant, native to Mexico, was imported to Vietnam by French settlers at the beginning of the 19th century and the fruits were then reserved for the royal family and then for the local bourgeoisie. Today, the beautiful dragon fruit is very popular and is appreciated for its white or purple flesh, sprinkled with small seeds, with a fragrant and very sweet flavour similar to passion fruit, but with much less acidity.

6. Durian

It's hard not to mention durian when talking about the fruits of Vietnam. Durian, very popular with Vietnamese, is certainly the fruit that leaves the traveller the most skeptical. It is true that the smell and taste of durian are quite peculiar, more like a well-ripened cheese than a tropical fruit. This ovoid and graphic fruit, covered with thorns is so smelly that it is separated from other products and even banned in public places, public transport, hotels and taxis.

7. Starfruit

Often used in slices to decorate plates or cocktail glasses, starfruit is a juicy, fragrant five-rib fruit that deserves to be known. There are two species, the acidic species and the sweet species. The first is part of the composition of several popular dishes while the second is eaten plain, cut into thin slices. Starfruit is a real concentration of energy, containing a large amount of vitamins A and C.

8. Mangosteen

Mangosteen is one of Vietnam's tastiest fruits. Its thick, brown shell hides a tasty flesh with aromas of peaches, pineapple and raspberries. A real explosion of flavours on the palate! Not to spoil anything, mangosteen is very thirst-quenching, rich in fibre and micronutrients, and is one of the fruits richest in natural antioxidants.

9. Papaya

It is one of the most common fruits of Vietnam, found everywhere from the North to the South of the country. We appreciate its juicy, orange-yellow flesh and its many black seeds with a slightly peppery flavour. Rich in fibre, it is a highly vitamin-packed fruit that contains several antioxidant substances. In Vietnam, green papaya is also eaten which, in the form of a salad, is a very popular refreshing dish.

10. Pomelo

Pomelo or grapefruit is a very common fruit in Vietnam that you absolutely must taste! Often weighing several kilograms, it is one of the bulkier examples of the citrus fruits. In Vietnam, pomelo has a thick green skin that contains a fragrant pulp with a pleasant texture and is moderately juicy. Grapefruit is used in the preparation of many Vietnamese recipes such as shrimp salad and thin strips of pork with pomelo.

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