Gac fruit (Momordica cochinchinensis), also known as Baby Jackfruit, Spiny Bitter Gourd, Sweet Gourd, or Cochinchin Gourd, is a bright orange spikey fruit found in Southeast Asia. The plant is a perennial twining, dioecious vine, with an angular robust, glabrous stem and tuberous roots. Tendrils are simple and stout. Plants can survive for 10–12 years. Gac is a bright-red fruit that grows as large as a cantaloupe and covered with short spines, hence it is sometimes referred to in English language as “Spiny Cucumber” or “Balsam pear”. Traditionally, gac fruit, seed and its leaves are used as a traditional medicine in the regions in which it grows.
| Name | Gac fruit |
|---|---|
| Scientific Name | Momordica cochinchinensis |
| Native | South China through southeast Asia to north-eastern Australia. |
| Common/English Name | Chinese Bitter Cucumber, Chinese Cucumber, Cochinchin Gourd, Gac, Giant Spine Gourd, Spiny Bitter Cucumber, Spiny Bitter Gourd, Sweet Gourd, Baby Jackfruit |
| Name in Other Languages | Nepal : Jhuse Karelaa Bangladesh : Kakrol Vietnam : Dia Ta Pieu ( Dao ) Malaysia : Teruah Chinese : Da Ye Mu Bie Zi Laos : Khaawz French : Margose À Piquants India : Bhat Kerala ( Assamese) Thailand : Bai-Khai-Du Indonesia : Pupia Philippines : Tabog-Ok Italian : Cetriolino Spinoso Khmer : Makkao Spanish : Cundeamor Italian : Cetriolino Spinoso Sri Lanka : Tumba Karavila Czech : Tykvice Končičinská Japanese : Mokube Tsushi |
| Plant Growth Habit | Perennial twining, dioecious vine |
| Growing Climate | Thrives in the warm humid tropics. It is hygrophilous, prefers sunny positions but is slightly shade tolerant. |
| Soil | Fertile organic, humus-rich and moist but well-drained soils, e.g. around ponds, rice-fields, and abandoned areas, and home backyards. |
| Plant Size | About 6 meters long |
| Root | Tuberous roots. |
| Stem | Angular robust, glabrous stem |
| Leaf | Fairly large, alternate and deeply 3–5 palmately lobed with faintly dentate margins, cordate bases, glabrous, dark green above and lighter green below and petiolated |
| Flowering Season | June to September |
| Flower | Monoecious, unisexual, solitary in leaf axils, white to ivory yellow. Female flowers have small bracts and a scabrous ovary while male flowers have broad reniform bracts, calyx tube is short with triangular lobes, corolla has 5 yellow, ovoid-oblong petals, stamens |
| Fruit Shape & Size | Large, 13 cm in length and 10 cm in diameter, ovoid, globose to oval, with sharp pointed protuberances and a rigid peduncle |
| Fruit Weight | About 600 to 2500 g. |
| Fruit Color | Green when young turning orangey-red to dark red when mature and ripe |
| Fruit Skin | Coarse |
| Flesh Color | Light orange spongy |
| Taste | Mild taste like Avocado |
| Seed | Large, flat, ovoid, compressed with a wavy outline, blackish-brown with irregularly sculptured seed coat covered in a red oily, pulpy aril |
| Season | December and January |
| Major Nutrition | Carbohydrate 17.4 g (13.38%) Total dietary Fiber 1.6 g (4.21%) Protein 2.1 g (4.20%) Calcium, Ca 36 mg (3.60%) Total Fat (lipid) 0.3 g (0.86%) |
| Health Benefits |
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| Calories in (100 gm) | 80 K cal |