A durian trader named Lan often transported her fruits along the highway 56 in Cam My District in the southern province of Dong Nai. Asked about what she would do with the immature durians, Lan at first gave an evasive answer.
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| A fruit seller punctures the stem of the fruit before pumping 2 or 5 cc of fruit-ripening chemical into it with a syringe - Photo: Tuoi Tre |
But after being offered with a large order for durians, Lan held nothing back.
“We usually need tons of durians and can’t wait for the fruit to mature naturally. We just use chemicals [to make them ripen faster],” she admited.
In normal conditions, it takes 100 to 110 days for the durians to ripen naturally on the tree. Yet the fruits Lan had collected were only in their 70th or 80th day.
Fruits soaked with fruit-ripening chemicals
At noon, Lan’s fruit barn was full of hundreds of unripe durians. Pointing at some 20-litre plastic barrels nearby, she carefully explained to us the “soaking” techniques.
“We pour two or three caps of ethephon into this barrel, stir the liquid and dip the durians in it. All of the fruits will become ripe after just one night.”
Looking at the bottle of chemicals bearing the name HPC-97HXN “Trai Chin” and produced by a manufacturer in district 12 in Ho Chi Minh City, Lan spoke to us frankly: “We use it, too. Some traders also use it for thin-skinned fruits like papayas or jackfruits.”
When the fruits go on sale, few consumers would know that they have been soaked in chemicals because the chemicals show no color and emit a very soft smell.
Dung, a jackfruit farmers in Cam My District said: “I just sold the fruits to the middlemen. They bought all, both young and old fruits. I don’t know what kind of fruit ripener they’re using but they seem to be doing a good business.”
It is not difficult to purchase fruit ripeners at fertilizer and pesticide shops along the highway 1A or 56 in Dong Nai. Tam, a grocer at Nhan Nghia Market, said: “These stuffs are very hot on the market, since they cause no health problem to the fruit eaters. The price is VND32,000 (USD1.6) per 500 ml.
Through one contact, we were introduced to Khanh, a jackfruit farmer in Thong Nhat District of Dong Nai. When we told him of our need to buy jackfruits, he refused, saying that it was close to the end of the harvest season and he could not sell his fruits to new middlemen.
When we went back the following day, Mai, Khanh’s wife, thought that we were some old traders who had done business with her husband before. She showed us some of the instruments -- some chemical bottles, a plastic syringe and a sharpened screwdriver.
“After puncturing the stem of the fruit, we pump 2 or 5 cc into it. If you want to get the fruit to ripen faster, just increase the dosage. I’m sure that after two days the fruit will ripen inside out,” she explained the techniques.
She revealed that the daily demand for jackfruits could hit around 1 ton, most of the need comes from Hanoi and the central area.
“The fruit will be all ripe when they reach the consumers,” she said firmly.
Extending the fruits’ shell life
Because we were introduced to him by one of his long-time business contacts, Thuan, a fruit trader in To Ky Street (District 12), had no reservation about disclosing his tips.
Each day he purchased a ton of fruit and, depending on the type of fruit, he would apply a different technique to each. For instance, he soaked durians in a yellow liquid made in China, while spraying that substance on the skin of apples and oranges to make them look more succulent. The fruits could last at least a month.
Thuan took out a jackfruit, cut a small hole on its stalk with a sharp screwdriver and pumped a colorless liquid into it.
“If you want it to ripen faster, you should do it this way. This jackfruit will be completely ripe for the next 24 hours,” he explained.
At the Kim Bien Market in district 5, Ho Chi Minh City, we recorded hundreds of plant growth accelerators bearing no brand, all imported from China.
A salesperson at the shop Loi Tin tried to get us to buy from his shop: “You shouldn’t worry because I have different kinds here and we’ve supplied many traders for many years. This concentrated liquid here costs just VND500,000 (USD25) per liter.”
Many different kinds of fruit preservatives are also openly bought and sold here. According to chemistry experts, these are actually antifungal and anti-mold substances (like carbendazim and benomyl), which can prevent fruits from decaying for a considerable period of time.
Phuong, a former fruit trader, said: “At Kim Bien Market there are different kinds of fruit-ripening and fruit-preservative substances.”
Many traders use these brandless chemicals on the fruits they sell in their shops. Huynh, a fruit seller in Linh Chieu Ward, Thu Duc District, admitted to using preservatives to keep the fruits fresh longer when consumption was low to avoid losses.
His justification: “What we do to our fruits here is nothing compared to what the Chinese do to preserve their grapes. Every time I open a package I find a small heavy-smelling bottle inside. The grapes can stay fresh for almost six months.”
Two jars of fruit ripening chemical
A seller is pumping chemical into fruits to make it ripe after just one night or extend fruit shell\'s life for months
