How we eat fruits in Viet Nam?

I wonder who was the inventor of those magical mixture of ingredients for eating fruits!
Not every fruits! But many!

I remember my student time! Sitting with some friends from Cuba in the train on the way back to our city, after one month working in the farm, we talked about many things, just to kill time and we ate green apple. With salt mixed with sugar !?

Cuban seemed surprised and asked why salt & sugar? I said "for better taste!"

              Ready-to-eat mango Keo stall near to Ben Thanh market. 
                 Do you notice two big pots of salt & chili and chili saté on the right hand side? 

That's true!  But I can't remember why salt & sugar. Usually no sugar!!!

Anyway it reminds me how we eat some fruits, even sweet but especially green, sour ones in Vietnam we always need special dips!

Xoài tượng (Elephant mango literally!) 

Elephant because the size of this mango! Big!

And we dip in shrimp paste (mắm ruốc) or thick sugared fish sauce!

Xoài tượng is a green mango. No way to eat without any dips. It's crispy and very sour !

Shrimp paste has several variations, depends on the area, "mắm ruốc" is different from what we usually add to some dishes with rice noodles. Very strong smell. Tastier with chili.

The taste of sour, sweet, spicy combined together with smell of sour mango or strong shrimp paste
awake all our senses! Seeing it, we already salivate!

Xoài tượng can also go very well with thick sugared fish sauce (nuớc mắm đường) 

This fish sauce, again, different from what we used to have with rice noodles. No garlic, no lemon juice, only big amount of sugar added to fish sauce, makes it thick and better with some slices of hot chili!  

Mouthwatering smell and sight!  

Another mango. Mango Keo. Originated from province Ta Keo in Cambodia, now widely cultivated in Mekong delta. I didn't see this mango before, could be a new species!

Mango Keo is not sweet as other expensive mango, but very popular these days on the streets.
10,000 VND per kilo! (compared to 60,000 VND for sweet mango!) 

Mango Keo is crispy, a lightly sweet (if you are lucky to get sweet ones!) and sour.
Very good if we dip it in either thick sugared fish sauce or speciality from Tây Ninh - salt with shrimp (muối tôm Tây ninh)!      

Talking about muối tôm (salt & shrimp), I remember one thing.
Young Japanese tourists seems love it. Many of them keep buying this special salt when they are here!
Maybe it's good to have with rice?
Actually it's true when I do fried rice, if I have salt & shrimp nearby I surely add it to the rice! Tasty!







Guava. Pineapple. Jicama or even sweet water melon. 
When you buy from street vendor, they never forget to give you either  a very small bag of salt & chili or sometime - luxury salt & shrimp!

   Pineapple (thơm or dứa) - usually very sweet or very sour! If we eat too much, we have a
   burning tongue (rát lưỡi). The combination of sweet, sour, spicy, savory... hard to describe!

   Jicama (củ sắn) is not fruit! It's edible root! Widely using in cooking! 

   Good snack for school children, esp. for girls! Not sweet, watery, good if it's cold! 

    Water melon (dưa hấu). Sweet, juicy... and I don't know why salt & chili here! If it's cold very good
    as refreshment for summer days!

Pickled fruits 

It's similar to preserved fruits concept in many other countries, our pickled fruits, esp. sour fruits, mostly for snack. School children, esp. girls love it!

              Fruit stall with big pots of pickled tamarind, malay gooseberry, mango!

The combination of sweet, spicy, savory, sour and Chinese liquorice (cam thảo) for better aroma can "knock-out" all sour & sweet flavor lovers!

Pickled mango from supermarket 

Easy to find on the street but for hygiene reason or chemical sugar the vendor may use, we prefer to prepare it at home or buy from supermarket!