Gac, Si Bulat Berduri

Ini postingan pertama saya. Di postingan ini, saya akan berbagi tentang buah unik yang saya temui selama berada di Thailand dan gak ada di Indonesia. Gac (Momordica cochinchinensis), a fruit which were I used as one of material for my research project about functional food. I made yogurt and added this fruit in order to increase the functionality of the yogurt. I spent a lot of time to get the best compotition of yogurt.

Momordica cochinchinensis which family is Cucurbitaceae is indigenous fruit from Southeast Asia and it is claimed originally from Vietnam.  It has different name in some countries.  It is called Fak Kao in Thailand, Gac in Vietnam, Bhat Kerala in India, and Mak Kao in Laos.  Classification of gac are :

Kingdom         : Plantae

Division           : Magnoliophyta

Class                : Magnoliopsida

Order              : Cucurbitales

Family             : Cucurbitaceae

Genus              : Momordica

Species             : Momordica cochinchinensis

Gac which is round to oval in shape, and its peel is covered by spikes.  It has green to yellow peel in immature stage and orange to red in mature stage.  Gac consists of rind, mesocarp, aril, and seeds with the proportion of the aril is about 19 %, while the seeds are 13 % from the total weight.

Gac is highly nutritious fruit, and the inner side of gac consists of yellow mesocarp and red aril that cover the seed. These parts contain a lot of phytochemicals and antioxidants.  The aril was high in lycopene and β-carotene, while the mesocarp contained the highest amount of lutein.  Lycopene, β-carotene, and lutein are carotenoid compound that might prevent vitamin A deficiency.  Lutein is chemically similar to β-carotene.

Gac can be added into cooked rice.  Vietnamese sometimes add gac as colourant for cooking red glutinous rice that is called as Xoi Gac. Xoi Gac is commonly served in festive occasion. Thai people consume gac mesocarp as vegetable-like menu, especially the mesocarp of immature gac.  Gac mesocarp is also added in curry, and gac mesocarp could be served as boiled mesocarp which is usually consumed with chili paste.  Recently, the aril has been developed as functional drink in Thailand due to its phytochemicals and antioxidant content.

References

Vuong, L.T. 2001. Gac : A fruit from heaven. Vietnam J., 1: 1-14.

Vuong, L.T., Franke, A.A., Custer, L.J. and Murphy, S.P. 2006. Momordica cochinchinensis Spreng (gac) fruit carotenoids reevaluated. J. Food Compos. Anal., 19: 664-668.

Kubola, J. and Siriamonpurn, S. 2011. Phytochemicals and antioxidant activity of different fruit fraction (peel, pulp, aril, and seed) of Thai gac (Momordica cochinchinensis Spreng). Food Chem., 127: 1138-1145.

Edwards, W.P. 2000. The science of sugar confectionery. RSC Paperbacks. United Kingdom.