Gac - A Tropical Fruit

Hi, steemians ! What's up?

Well, this is my second post here.

You might be curious about this fruit, right? For sure, most of us never heard about this but don't worry I will give you some information what is this fruit all about including its health benefits. ;)

Gac or Momordica cochinchinensis (scientific name) also known as baby jack fruit is a bright orange spikey fruit found throughout the Southeast Asian region from South China to Northeastern Australia. It's only harvested for two months each year ans is often used on special occasions especially in Vietnam.

Gac fruit has very little taste (someone described it as tasting a bit like avocado and I would agree) – it’s not sweet at all and has a very mild taste and mushy texture.

The fruit itself becomes a dark orange color upon ripening, and is typically round or oblong, maturing to a size of about 13 cm (5.1 in) in length and 10 cm (3.9 in) in diameter.

As with most fruits and vegetables that are orange/red in color, Gac fruit contains a high concentration of beta-carotene (a precursor of vitamin A)and lycopene (a non-provitamin A carotenoid that is responsible for the red to pink colors). And most of the claimed health benefits of the gac fruit arise out of this high beta-carotene and lycopene concentration.

The gac fruit pulp is often mixed with glutinous rice to make a Vietnamese dish called xôi gac, which sounds to me like a natural golden rice that can help prevent vitamin A deficiencies.

Gac fruit has very little taste (someone described it as tasting a bit like avocado and I would agree) – it’s not sweet at all and has a very mild taste and mushy texture.

As with most fruits and vegetables that are orange/red in color, gac fruit contains a high concentration of beta-carotene and lycopene. And most of the claimed health benefits of the gac fruit arise out of this high beta-carotene and lycopene concentration.

In fact, per gram, gac fruit has more beta-carotene than carrots or sweet potatoes (which already have pretty high concentrations).

The gac fruit pulp is often mixed with glutinous rice to make a Vietnamese dish called xôi gac, which sounds to me like a natural golden rice that can help prevent vitamin A deficiencies (beta-carotene is converted to vitamin A in the body).

Gac fruit is also high in lycopene, a carotenoid commonly found in tomatoes that has been linked to various health benefits including reducing the risk of strokes.

And just to make gac fruit even healthier, a 2005 study found that gac fruit contained a protein that inhibited tumor growth in mice.

A strange name but a powerful fruit. Right?