Hoàng Lan

A group of Hanoians headed by Đặng Xuân Tùng recently took a tour in Lạng Sơn Province’s Bảo Lâm Village to enjoy its special seedless persimmon, buying the fruit and bringing it home for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

The golden fruits are specialty for the festival tray.

“When we arrived at the village all over the path, yellow and red ripe persimmons were dangling above our heads, radiating an attractive fragrance in the air around us, it was like we were lost in the paradise of fruits,” said Tùng.

Tùng said the group decided to visit a local house, in the middle of a large garden planted with persimmon trees. A Tày ethnic elderly man, Nông Quý Mão welcomed them to his home, inviting them to sit and enjoy a big plate of peeled and cut red persimmon pieces.

Lạng Sơn Province's Bảo Lâm seedless persimmon has been famous nationwide for its special rich sweet, fragrant and crispy compared with others. — Photo moit.gov.vn

“The fruit is so attractive, rich sweet and crispy and fragrant, so we were competing to try it. We have eaten persimmons every season, but this time the taste was very special,” Tùng said.

Mão then led the group to his garden where he invited the visitors to pick the fruits for themselves, saying they can eat as many fruits in the orchard which they pick for free and if they wanted to take them home, the price would be VNĐ40,000 (US$1.6) per kilo.

Tùng and his friends not only enjoyed the tasting session, but the picking was also a nice activity, so they promised themselves they would return next year. “We all are very pleased with the fruits and it was such a nice treat from the local elderly. We tell each other that we would return to Bảo Lâm Village next Autumn season,” he said.

A seller packs seedless persimmons to send them to buyers from Hà Nội and HCM City. — Photo baolangson.vn

Lạng Sơn is well known nationwide, for not only its special fruits such as peach and tangerine, but also seedless persimmon, said Mão who is 90 years old.

The seedless persimmon tree has been widely grown in Bảo Lâm Village of Cao Lộc District. It is among native plant varieties, said Mão, adding that no one knows exactly when the tree came into being, but it had been planted in his grandfather’s time more than 100 years ago.

Generation after generation has cultivated the tree, which is renowned for an extra sweet and rich harvest. A special fruit with a different crispy and fragrant flavour compared with others, said Mão.

A farmer picks the ripe fruits for sale. — Photo mia.vn

“We often harvest it when the fruit skin turns yellow, so inside the smooth flesh is orange. When it is ripe it turns red and the flesh is softer and has a richer flavour compared with persimmon already soaked in water, said Mão.

After harvesting, growers have to soak the fruits in water for four days and four nights, with the water changed once a day to remove any tartness. The fruit is then suitable for transportation to big cities such as Hà Nội, Hải Phòng, HCM City and others, along with being exported to countries such as China and Thailand, he said, noting also that while it can be eaten fresh, it is also good for turning into jam.

One traditional belief held by villagers is that the person in charge of soaking the fruit should not be allowed to drink wine or have already some wine in them, because if they did, all of the soaked fruits will be rotten.

The Bảo Lâm seedless persimmons have to be soaked in clean water for four days and nights to release its tartness. — Photo baolangson.vn

Bế Thanh Hòa, head of Cao Lộc District’s Agriculture and Rural Development Office, said the Bảo Lâm seedless persimmon tree was granted Geographical Indication (GI) certificate in 2012. “The GI is the legal basic and importance for growers to invest their finance and efforts for the development of these special fruits,” he explained.

Hòa said his village planted more than thousand persimmon trees on 100ha of land. “All households grow the tree, some of them harvest up to seven tonnes of fruit a year, earning between VNĐ100-120 million per persimmon season. The seedless persimmon has helped a number of households escape from hunger and poverty,” he said. — VNS