Fruits usually have only one of four flavors: bitter, spicy, sweet, and sour. However, in the Central Highlands, there is a special type of fruit that produces a salty taste like salt, and has been used by many people as a substitute for salt.

According to Nguoi Dua Tin, this is the fruit of the wild salt tree (also known as salt mountain tree, salt tree).

This is a woody plant, 2-8m high, divided into many branches. Wild salt flowers are yellow, growing in clusters. Wild salt fruits are round, small like beans, green, when ripe they turn orange-yellow or red and dark brown.

Wild salt trees usually flower from June to July and bear fruit from October to November. In Vietnam, they grow a lot in the Central Highlands region.

Besides Vietnam, wild salt trees also appear in some other countries such as Japan, Malaysia, and China.

The special thing about the wild salt fruit is that the liquid it secretes contains salt. Just gently squeeze the wild salt fruit and the “salty salt” will be secreted, which can then be used to process as a common spice.

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Wild salt fruit is now a sought-after specialty. Photo: Arttimes

Previously, this fruit grew wild in the forest and fell off by itself but no one picked it. Later, people in some places in the Central Highlands went into the forest to pick wild salt fruit to use as a spice instead of salt because it has a characteristic salty taste.

In recent years, wild salt fruit has suddenly become popular. This fruit is known by chefs at big restaurants and is “hunted” to prepare unique dishes.

Selling wild salt fruit on the online market, Ms. Thuy Linh (in Ho Chi Minh City) shared on Knowledge and Life: the reason this wild fruit is popular is because it has a salty and sour taste, and a fragrant smell, so when creating a dish, it will bring different flavors. In addition, people also pound wild salt seeds into powder and mix them with salads or just dip boiled pork in the water made from this type of seed and eat it without getting bored.

Wild salt is the ingredient that creates the special flavor of free-range chicken. Chicken is very compatible with salt, pepper and lemon, so when using wild salt as a spice, the moderate saltiness and light sourness blend well into the meat, giving a delicious feeling without being greasy.

According to Knowledge and Life, wild salt fruit has now become a unique spice appearing on high-class banquet tables, used by restaurant chefs to prepare dishes.

A chef in Kon Tum introduced the dish of spiny loach with forest salt sauce and five-spice leaves at the Golden Spoon banquet.

Because wild salt fruit is sought after by many people, recently, when the season comes, ethnic people go into the forest to pick wild salt fruit to sell to traders or display on the roadside to serve tourists . One kilogram of wild salt fruit costs about 120,000 VND/kg.

In addition to fresh fruit, many people also dry wild salt fruit and grind it into powder to use year-round and sell to restaurants and eateries.

A type of young fruit in the Vietnamese market costs 850,000 VND/kg, but the goods are still "expensive as fresh shrimp" . It is thought that durian is the most expensive fruit in the Vietnamese market, but a type of young fruit in our country is also being sold for up to 850,000 VND/kg, but the goods are still "expensive as fresh shrimp".