Vietnamese Pennywort: All you need to know

We will bring you useful information about Vietnamese pennywort

6 min

Pennywort

Pennywort is a common plant in Vietnam with a long history of culinary and medicinal use.

Introduction

Thriving in the cool, damp corners of Vietnam, pennywort or gotu kola, or “rau má” as it’s known locally, is a common sight. This versatile plant carpets roadsides, home gardens, and shady areas, offering its leaves not only as a delicious ingredient in Vietnamese cuisine, but also as a revered medicinal herb.

Traditionally, Vietnamese medicine values pennywort for its ability to:

Soothe fevers

Aide digestion

Help wounds heal faster

Improve memory

Improve eyesight

Pennywort in Vietnamese Cuisine

If you go to a market in Vietnam, you will easily find stalls selling pennywort. This vegetable is used by Vietnamese people to prepare everyday dishes such as pennywort soup, pennywort salad, and pennywort juice…

Pennywort Soup

Pennywort soup with fresh shrimp is a simple yet delicious dish. The cook starts by peeling the shrimp, then sautéing them with shallots and a little cooking oil. Once the shrimp are cooked, water is added and brought to a boil. When the water boils, pennywort is added. Season with 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of seasoning powder, and a pinch of pepper, and you’ll have a tasty pennywort soup.

Vietnamese pennywort salad

This refreshing salad is a Vietnamese favorite. It features thinly sliced beef marinated and stir-fried with onions, garlic, and oil for a burst of flavor. The beef is then mixed with a blend of fresh pennywort, thinly sliced onions, and julienned carrots. A traditional Vietnamese dressing ties all the flavors together, while roasted peanuts add a final layer of delightful crunch.

Pennywort juice

Made from the vibrant green leaves of the pennywort plant, pennywort juice is a beloved beverage in Vietnam. Prized for its unique flavor profile, it offers a refreshing and slightly bitter taste that many find pleasant.

Vietnam’s renowned pennywort cultivation areas

Quang Tho, Hue

Quang Tho Commune, located in the central province of Thua Thien Hue in Vietnam, is renowned for its lush green pennywort fields. The total area dedicated to pennywort cultivation here exceeds 70 hectares, with 52 hectares meeting the VietGAP (Vietnamese Good Agricultural Practices) standard, ensuring consumer health. 250 households participating in this model have diligently adhered to these standards.

Quang Tho residents have established Quang Tho II Agricultural Cooperative, specializing in three products: pennywort tea filter bags, dried pennywort tea, and pennywort matcha powder. These products are popular with consumers and were certified OCOP 4 stars in 2020. Notably, the pennywort matcha powder was recognized as an outstanding rural industrial product by the Thua Thien Hue provincial government in 2021.

Seeing the rising demand for organic products, Quang Tho farmers are gradually transitioning to organic pennywort farming.

OCOP is a Vietnamese government program that aims to promote the development of local products. The program was launched in 2018 and is based on the idea of “One Commune One Product.” This means that each commune (a small administrative unit in Vietnam) is encouraged to develop and promote a single product that is unique to its locality.

Ben Luc, Long An

Long An, a province in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, is renowned for its pennywort cultivation, particularly in Ben Luc district. Local farmers have transformed their practices, embracing scientific and technological advancements in production. They now cultivate pennywort following strict VietGAP (Vietnamese Good Agricultural Practices) standards, ensuring food safety and high yields.