China is a vast country with many different industries. For Chinese merchants business is war, and they do it in the Chinese way. Some of them choose to fake different products. Nowadays, fake Jordans, Gucci bags, iPhones, or something don’t surprise anyone. However, in China, even fruits can be fake. People, in general, like a novelty, and because in China people are into eating, so when someone introduces some new, unusual kinds of food, it could attract crowds of people. So how can you recognize Chinese fake fruits?

Where can you find Chinese fake fruits

It is common to see street vendors in China selling fruits. Usually, it’s something like pineapples, bananas, oranges, pears, mangos, etc, depending on the season and the province. Sometimes they lie about the country of origin of fruits that they sell. Fruits often may be a bit dirty because of the road dust. But after you wash and peel them, the fruits will be fine, nutritious, and juicy. However, near some popular tourist spots, especially in rural areas, you can see some vendors selling two kinds of fruits you need to be aware of, the so-called wild ebony plums and golden prunes. As the result, many tourists will think they are local specialty fruits and buy them, but actually, it’s a fraud.

Wild ebony plum

The first fruit is wild ebony plum (乌梅). The plums seem full of juice, they look like something in between grapes and big black currant. Unlike real ebony plum that grows in China, it’s dark purple instead of pinkish-blue, and their taste is sweet instead of sour. And they are more expensive. For example, half a kilo of wild ebony plums can cost 15-20 RMB.

In fact, those wild ebony plums are not fresh fruits. Producers make them of processed raisin with the addition of sugar water, and then dye them to get a more juicy shape and intensive color.

Golden prune

The second one is golden prune (金西梅), but they even look like something not from this world. As one of my Chinese friends said, “I never saw such beautiful fruit in my life”. Chinese people often see bright unusual fruits depicted in their traditional culture. For them, the fake golden prunes look like something from mythology or “Journey to the West”. The fruits cost expensive, for example, about 20 RMB for half a kilo, and taste like chemical jellies.

To produce this fake fruit, they take some regular prunes, peel them off, dye them into golden pink with some chemicals, and then add some artificial flavor. The fruit looks very unusual from the beginning, so many people buy and try it, just to be sure it’s artificial.

Anyway, those fruits are not fresh, they are fake and full of chemicals. You never know how they were made, so if you see those Chinese fake fruits, better avoid them for the sake of your stomach!