Gac

Momordica cochinchinensis · Tropical fruit

40 pairings

Gac (Momordica cochinchinensis) is a spiny, melon-sized tropical fruit of Southeast Asia, native to Vietnam and across the region from southern China to northern Australia. Beneath its bright orange-red, soft-spined rind sit large seeds wrapped in a deep-crimson, oily aril — among the richest natural sources of carotenoids known, prized in Vietnam for festive red sticky rice (xôi gấc).

Picking a good onedrag

Even red-orange, aril deep crimsonSlumped and sour, aril browning

Red and givingA shade past peak, still evenly red. The aril lifts off the seeds in whole crimson sacs; only that aril is eaten, never the seeds it wraps.Scoop it this week

SkinStill evenly red but gone matte, spine tips darkening

HeftA little softer under the thumb, but it springs back

Cut faceCrimson still even, sacs lifting whole off the seeds

SmellStill neutral and clean, that faint buttery squash note thinner than at peak

What to look for, from even red-orange, aril deep crimson to slumped and sour, aril browning.

Preparing

Gac