Red-fleshed Jackfruit, A Highly-prized Fruit in Vietnam
Like other tropical fruits in Vietnam, jackfruit is quite familiar. The jackfruit plant is not only grown in home gardens but also in commercial orchards. Aslo, there are dozens of different types of jackfruit such as: Thai jackfruit, turmeric jackfruit, Tố Nữ jackfruit (a.k.a cempedak), honey jackfruit or chewy jackfruit, …
However, in the southern Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, there’s an orchard that grows super strange jackfruit which has red flesh. Those jackfruits arials are sold at verey high prices, and always out of stock due to limited quantity.
According the farmer named Nguyễn Minh Trắng, who first planted the unique jackfruit, he bought 50 jackfruit seedlings at an agriculture trade shows in 2003. Only one of them bears heavy fruits (15-17 kgs or 33-37 lbs) with red-fleshed arils. The color is best described as baked terracotta color or crab tomalley. The other 49 jackfruit trees only bear normal fruits.
Now the farmer multiplied the jackfruit trees into an area of 3 hectares (7½ acres), which is still small for the demand of the strange fruit.
The red-fleshed jackfruits are sold in various agro mimimarts in municial cities like Hà Nội, Hồ Chí Minh city and Đà Nẵng. In Hà Nội, the price of these fruits is 4 times higher than common jackfruits. It is reported that there are overseas orders from Russia, Canada, and Dubai (UAE).
