Dao fruit
Dracontomelon dao · Anacardiaceae family
A forest fruit with a hard stone, and a name better known to timber buyers.
Find it near DetroitGet to know it
Dao is a small, round forest fruit with a thin layer of sweet-sour yellow pulp around a hard stone. It grows on a towering relative of the mango. The ripe fruit has a strong, musty smell that helps draw fruit-eating bats.
What it is
The fruit measures 2–3.5 cm (about ¾–1⅜ in) across and turns from green to yellowish brown as it ripens. Most of the bite is occupied by a hard stone: the yellow pulp around it is only 2–5 mm thick. Its sweet and sour taste comes with that distinctive musty smell.
The tree’s scientific name is Dracontomelon dao. Like mango, it belongs to the Anacardiaceae family.
Where it comes from
Dao’s native range stretches from India and southern China through Southeast Asia to Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. It grows in lowland forests and along rivers, and people also plant it in Malaysian villages and beside roads.
Dao is its Tagalog name in the Philippines. Malay names include asam kuang and sengkuang; the latter also names the unrelated yam bean. The tree supplies wood for furniture and veneer as well as fruit.
How it's eaten where it grows
In Southeast Asia, dao is eaten fresh or stewed in honey, and in Malaysia the fruit is also eaten pickled. It remains a minor fruit, often eaten by children. The thin pulp is the part surrounding the hard stone.
In Papua New Guinea, the tree contributes more than fruit to a meal: its flowers and leaves are cooked as vegetables. In Indonesia’s Moluccas, those same parts are used to flavour food.
How it's grown
A dao tree can reach 45 m (148 ft), with a rounded crown and tall, plank-like roots bracing the trunk. In peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak and Brunei, a dry spell can make it briefly shed its leaves.
The fruit ripens away from the foliage, leaving room for bats to fly in. For propagation, fresh seed matters: in Java, seeds kept for six months without special storage failed to sprout.
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What it tastes like
As mild as a peach, softer than a pear≈
More about the taste
Dao fruit has a thin yellow pulp with an unusual sweet-sour flavor around a hard stone. It's not especially popular in Southeast Asia, and it's a different species from the familiar Vietnamese sấu.
Dao fruit has a strong, musty odor — part of what draws bats to disperse it. It's edible but generally considered of limited appeal.
Choose, ripen, eat
1ChooseYellowish-brown color
Look for
- Yellowish-brown color
On the label
- Dracontomelon dao
Dao fruit turns from green to yellowish-brown when ripe, with only a thin layer of pulp around the hard stone.
2RipenDao fruit ripens on the tree, away from the foliage where bats can reach it
Dao fruit ripens on the tree, away from the foliage where bats can reach it.
3EatThin pulp · not hard stone
Eat
Thin pulpNot eaten
Hard stoneThe thin pulp around the stone is the edible part.
Detroit, Michigan
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7 names in 6 languages
Strange but trueHistoryNatureWhere the name came fromCustoms and culture
If you like Dao fruit
Tastes alike
Same plant family
Sources
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Sources
Dao fruit · Fruitopia · checked Sep 22, 2026