Visit An Giang to enjoy the guava fruit.

An Giang is not only famous for its picturesque scenery and unique culture, but also for being home to many unique wild fruits. Besides familiar fruits like the wild plum and the wild lychee, there is also a strange and delicious wild fruit that attracts both locals and tourists: the guava.

The guava fruit resembles the sapodilla in appearance, but its flesh and taste are sweet and sour like the mangosteen. When unripe, the guava is a refreshing green; when ripe, it turns orange-yellow. During guava season, people flock to the forests and mountains to pick the ripe fruit. According to Ms. Thi Thao, a resident of To Chau ward, guava trees used to grow abundantly on the mountains, and when the ripe fruit fell, people would gather it to eat as a refreshing treat while in the forest. In recent years, guava fruit has become popular with tourists, so during guava season, many people go to pick ripe fruit to sell and earn extra income. The guava tree is about 20 meters tall, so to pick the fruit, people must be skilled climbers, swinging onto branches or using hooks to pull branches closer to pick the fruit to avoid dropping the unripe green fruit. Guava fruit costs about 40,000 VND/kg, sometimes reaching 100,000 VND/kg, depending on the area and time.

People sell gourd-shaped fruits on the road near Ong Cop Cape, To Chau Ward.

Unripe guava fruit is green, inedible, contains a lot of sap, and has an astringent and bitter taste; when ripe, the skin softens, and when broken open, the inside reveals many small segments like a mangosteen; guava fruit has a sour and sweet taste and a fragrant aroma. Besides being eaten fresh, guava fruit is also used to make smoothies, pickled with sugar, etc. One of the popular dishes made from guava fruit is guava shaken with salt and chili. The guava fruit is separated into segments, sprinkled with salt and chili, then shaken well and enjoyed. The sourness of the guava flesh combined with the saltiness of the salt and the spiciness of the chili is very appealing.

From May onwards, the stretch of road near Ong Cop Cape, in To Chau ward, is lined with vendors selling various kinds of wild fruits, including the guava fruit, for tourists to buy as souvenirs after their trips . The small stalls are always bustling with customers. Nguyen Chi Cong, a resident of Can Tho City, shared his experience of tasting guava fruit for the first time: “I really enjoyed it the first time I tried it. If eaten raw, it's a bit sour, but if dipped in salt or seasoned with chili and salt, it's delicious.”

If you have the chance to visit An Giang in the summer, don't forget to enjoy the unique wild guava fruit, a local specialty with its eye-catching orange-yellow color and appealing sweet and sour taste. Once you try it, you'll surely never forget it.

THUY THAN

Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/ve-an-giang-thuong-thuc-trai-gui-a423955.html