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The Amazing Gac Plant ( Momordica cochinchinensis )

( Update: 30/01/2015 )

 Momordica cochinchinensis, commonly known as gac, is a Southeast Asian fruit found throughout the region from Southern China to Northeastern Australia. It is also known as Baby Jackfruit, Spiny Bitter Gourd, Sweet Gourd, or Cochinchin Gourd. It has been traditionally used as both food and medicine in the regions in which it grows.

Because it has a relatively short harvest season ( harvest normally starts about 8 months after planting, harvest only lasts for 2 months ), making it less abundant than other foods, gac is typically served at ceremonial or festive occasions in Vietnam.

This probably also accounts for why the fruit is not know better throughout the rest of the world, commercial businesses do not like to deal with fruits with a short season, and the fruit must be ripe when harvested, it cannot be picked green and shipped like bananas.

It is most commonly prepared as a dish called xôi gac, in which the aril and seeds of the fruit are cooked in glutinous rice, imparting both their color and flavor. More recently, the fruit has begun to be marketed outside of Asia in the form of juice dietary supplements because of its allegedly high phytonutrient content.

Gac grows on dioecious vines and is usually collected from fence climbers or from wild plants. This means male flowers on one plant, female on another, you will probably need about 10 plants to make sure you have a combination of male/female plants. The vines can be commonly seen growing on lattices at the entrances to rural homes or in gardens. It only fruits once a year, and is found seasonally in local markets. The fruit itself becomes a dark orange color upon ripening, and is typically round or oblong, maturing to a size of about 13 cm in length and 10 cm in diameter. Its exterior skin is covered in small spines while its dark red interior consists of clusters of fleshy pulp and seeds.

 Other than the use of its fruit and leaves for special Vietnamese culinary dishes, gac is also used for its medicinal and nutritional properties. In Vietnam, the seed membranes are used to aid in the relief of dry eyes, as well as to promote healthy vision.

Similarly, in Traditional Chinese medicine the seeds of gac, known as mubiezi, are employed for a variety of internal and external purposes. Recent attention is also beginning to be attracted in the West because of chemical analysis of the fruit suggesting that it has high concentrations of several important phytonutrients.