Fruit vendors are a major mainstay of the street food culture here in Bangkok and all over Thailand.  The amazing array of tropical fruits available make it easy to grab them morning, day or night for a quick refreshing and healthy treat!  Often some of the longest lines for street food are for the fruit cart at lunchtime!

Have you ever noticed vendors will often offer you a small plastic bag filled with seasoning when you order your fruit?  It’s one of those very Thai things that visitors are constantly fascinated with, so we thought we’d share a bit on these fruit ‘condiments’ with you!

Due to the nature of Thai food as including sweet, salty, spicy and sour, we even tend to like our fruit to embody these traits!  So that little seasoning is intended to round out the naturally sweet or sour flavor of your fruit. For example, when you order some green mango (especially the more sour type) from the street vendors in Thailand you can dip it into one of these tasty mixtures to help add a bit of salty sweetness to a more sour mango.  The result is a satisfying balance of the different flavors.

Some of these are very spicy, some are sour, but all have some sweetness to them. Ingredients are typically, sugar, salt and red chillies and may include even fish sauce, palm sugar and dried shrimp!

Some popular Thai fruit dips are:

• Prik (kap) Glua – chili, salt and sugar
• Kapi Wan (sweet shrimp paste sauce) – mixture of shrimp paste, palm sugar and chili
• Nam Pla Wan (sweet fish sauce) – mixture of fish sauce, palm sugar, dried shrimp, shallot and chili  
• Prik Glua Buay – mixture of plum powder (buay), salt and sugar

So next time you are offered one of these little packets, give it a try with your fruit for a new and interesting take on Thai eating!