Catching-eye ‘chocolate persimmon’ fetches US$ 11.5/kilo

The many faces of the chocolate persimmon

In a roughly one-hectare orchard in My Phuoc hamlet, Nhon My commune, chocolate persimmon trees of varying ages are growing well and bearing fruit. Some trees are just over a year old, while others are already in their second or third fruiting season.

In 2023, Tran Huu Thang began growing about five chocolate persimmon trees on a trial basis to test how they would adapt. After about six to seven months, the trees produced their first fruit. Seeing that the trees grew well, faced little pest pressure, and adapted readily to the local soil and climate, he began expanding.

Today, his orchard has more than 200 fruiting chocolate persimmon trees, along with others at various growth stages, yielding roughly three tons of fruit per year. But Thang has not aimed to sell his entire harvest as fresh fruit. Instead, he is drawing multiple streams of value from the crop.

For many large-scale fruit crops, growers simply harvest and sell the fruit. With chocolate persimmon, Thang is building a value chain in which the fruit can be eaten fresh, processed into smoothies, ice cream, or drinks, or supplied as raw material to processing plants; the seeds are used for propagation; and the young trees themselves become a separate commercial product.

According to Thang, chocolate persimmon has relatively low sugar content, with dense, rich flesh and a distinctive dark brown color that makes it well suited to processing. Blended fresh with condensed milk and ice, its flavor shifts noticeably, resembling avocado. Made into ice cream with fresh milk and peanuts, it takes on a rich chocolate flavor.

Building on these traits, Thang is using the orchard to draw visitors to his family's ecological garden, an approach that both enriches the visitor experience and opens an alternative sales channel beyond relying solely on the fresh-fruit market.

Notably, he already has a partner sourcing chocolate persimmon as raw material for ice cream, smoothies, and candy. However, limited volume has so far kept him from expanding into more product lines.

Since early 2026, he has begun selling young trees, with more than 1,000 sold to date. Prices range from about 200,000 to 800,000 VND (roughly USD 7.80 to USD 31.20) per tree depending on size and quality, while fresh fruit currently sells for about 300,000 VND (roughly USD 11.70) per kilogram.

Tran An Vien, Deputy Head of the Nhon My Commune Economic Office, said Thang's chocolate persimmon model shows promise as a crop conversion, appearing well suited to local conditions and aligned with growing consumer demand for high-value agricultural products.

Even so, the locality considers it a new model that requires continued monitoring and evaluation before broader replication. Going forward, local authorities will work with specialized agencies to provide technical support, develop it into an OCOP product, connect it to markets, and assess its development potential based on real-world results, to avoid expansion driven by trend alone.

Salt-tolerant, high-value, easy to grow

Thang said that in 2023, My Phuoc hamlet was affected by saltwater intrusion, with salinity reaching about 7 parts per thousand at times. Even so, the trial chocolate persimmon trees in his orchard continued to grow well. Judging the crop to be relatively salt-tolerant, resistant to pests, and undemanding of irrigation, Thang decided to expand.

Trees are typically spaced 3.5 to 4 meters apart; where land allows, growers may space them as wide as 5 meters to give the trees room to develop.

In the early stage, care focuses on the root system. Young trees are staked to limit wind sway and help roots anchor quickly. After this establishment period, growers shift to monitoring flowering and fruit set. Once trees enter heavy fruiting, particularly from the second year onward, branches carrying heavy fruit loads need to be propped or tied to prevent splitting or breaking.

After about a year of care, a chocolate persimmon tree can yield roughly 5 to 7 kilograms; by the second year, under good care, a tree can produce 40 to 50 kilograms.

Thang noted that the time from fruit set to ripeness is fairly long, about six to seven months. When ripe, the fruit turns yellow or pale green, with very thin skin and dense, dark brown flesh inside. Fruit typically weighs 300 to 400 grams, with some reaching 700 grams to a kilogram. Ripe fruit can remain on the tree for about a month without falling, giving growers flexibility in timing their harvest.

Thang currently grows three varieties of chocolate persimmon, two with seeds (a pointed variety and a round, flattened variety) and one seedless. The seeded varieties yield more fruit, allowing growers to harvest both flesh and seeds for propagation.

The pointed variety tends to have more seeds and less flesh, while the round, flattened variety has denser flesh better suited to fresh eating. Flesh quality is broadly similar across varieties, but their differing uses let growers choose based on their production goals.

A key part of the model is using seeds to propagate young trees. Thang currently buys seeds from other orchards at about 10,000 VND (about USD 0.40) each, with each fruit yielding an average of five to eight seeds.

Orchards focused on selling fresh fruit typically select larger fruit, around two to three per kilogram. Thang's orchard, geared toward seed collection and processing, doesn't need to prioritize oversized fruit.

Fresh chocolate persimmon currently sells for about 300,000 VND per kilogram, while Thang estimates production costs at about 30,000 VND (roughly USD 1.20) per kilogram.

To build a larger supply base, Thang is now linking with about 50 households to expand the growing area. His near-term goal is to develop the product toward OCOP certification, aiming for a 3-star OCOP rating.

1 USD = 26,380 VND (Source: Vietcombank).