Back in May, I posted this picture and gave the following description:
I encountered this vegetation in Ho Tram and have no idea what it is. I’ve asked a couple of locals, but they were just as clueless as yours truly. One guy said it was related to gac fruit. All I know is that it’s hard, larger than a softball, heavier than it looks and definitely not a pomelo. Can anyone identify what fruit or vegetable this is?
I received a number of guesses from helpful readers, but no one hit the nail on the head. That is until Anh chimed in. “It looks like Trái Đào Tiên,” she wrote. “It belongs to the same family with Pomelo. Vietnamese use it as a medicine.” Ding ding!
After a bit of research using this pertinent new information, I discovered that the scientific name for the tree is Crescentia and that it is ”a genus of six species of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae, native to southern Florida, the Caribbean, southern Mexico, Central America and northern South America. The species are small trees growing to 10 meters tall, and producing large spherical fruits up to half a meter in diameter.” I also learned that the Vietnamese use the dried Calabash fruit to cure such ailments as athsma and diarrhea.
Thank you, Anh. I’m so glad we have finally identified this mystery fruit. Woot!
not an expert, but that looks like either:
- tra’i ba^n`
- some sort of melon my mom once used in “canh” (soup) but I didn’t like it so I did not pay attention when she said what it was.
How does the inside look like? It’s definitely not grapefruit is it? (cause the leaves kinda look like grapefruit leaves)
I know what it is. It’s name is vu sua. It’s sort of sweet.
You eat the inside of it. It’s white inside, like milk (hence the name sua which means milk).
It’s just a fruit you eat. You don’t use it in cooking especially.
Vivian - Not sure what the inside looks like, but it’s definitely not a grape fruit. Do you know anything else about the trai ban? I tried googling it but came up empty.
Kim - This is vu sua. Thanks anyway
Definitely not a Vu Sua, several trees of which I had on my property in Puerto Rico years ago. My two sources (wife and neighbor) say its a “trai Bau” (sp??) and that it’s not good for anything. Still, it seems strange that anyone in Vietnam would grow something that had no use.
Is it a guava?
Definitely not guava. But keep guessing!
Maybe a Sal tree (Shorea robusta)?
It looks like Trái Đào Tiên. It belongs to the same family with Pomelo. Vietnamese use it as a medicine.
I know that it is not a guava…but it is a midicinal plant that can cured cough and headache….
Hi! Glad to come back. I guess you are in Hanoi or Sapa now. Have a good trip and keep writing! Looking forward to your new entries