RETURN CAO LANH ENJOY THE HOA AN PLUM - STAY AT HUYNH DUC HOTEL

, 06/06/2020, 14:27 GMT+7

For the people of Cao Lanh, Hoa An plums are not only a specialty fruit but also for the ladies, sisters, and Hoa An plums are also a unique material that makes many delicious dishes to entertain friends near and far.

In the last days of the lunar October, walking around the tamarind zone on Nguyen Thai Hoc Street, Hoa An Commune, Cao Lanh City, it will not be difficult to see the Hoa An plum gardens of a few dozen years old, dangling with rows of ripe pink plums. before the wind

Up to now, there is no official and complete document about the origin of Hoa An plum tree, but according to the ancestors in this country, the Hoa An plum tree is in the land. along Tien river for more than 100 years.

Despite its reputation as Hoa An plum, but not grown in any land, Hoa An plum also has a special delicious flavor.

Hoa An plum has a sweet and sour taste, when ripe, it has a characteristic pink color, each cluster floats on the tree, everyone wants to try it every time they pass. Restoring Hoa An Plums is to preserve the good spiritual and cultural values of the ancients left for residents of Cao Lanh City.

According to the long experience of gardeners in Hoa An, only the area around Rach Meo in the territory of Hoa Long hamlet, Hoa An commune, the Hoa An plum has the strongest flavor.

It seems that everyone in Hoa An has special feelings for this simple homeland gift.

When asked about the Hoa An plum tree, from old grandparents to young people, they all enthusiastically and happily continued to talk to us and were always willing to tell us stories of real life they had attached to this land of plum trees.

Mr. La Van Hung, one of the elderly farmers in Hoa An village, shared: “About 40 years ago, Hoa An plum was a fruit tree grown very popular in Hoa An village. Plums and plums.

Every year around October of the lunar calendar when the weather is rising early is also the time of Hoa An plum in the season. In the past, prunes were counted in dozens (each with 16 fruits) for sale.

In the plum season, traders from Long Xuyen (An Giang) and My Tho (Tien Giang) take the ghe to buy, the whole village when the season is very busy. Although at that time the price of plums was not very high, but for the people in the countryside, this is a quite enough income to buy and prepare for the Lunar New Year.

According to many gardeners here, genuine Hoa An plums often have a very sweet and sour taste, plums have a bell-shaped balance with a light pink color. Unlike An Phuoc plums or Hong Dao plums, Hoa An plums do not have much water, the plum meat is very dry and has a slight aroma.

This is also a feature that makes Hoa An Plums can process a lot of country-flavored dishes. From sweet and sour jam dishes to welcome guests on Tet holiday to snakehead fish dish with strong plum, entertain friends from afar or just as rustic as braised fish with Hoa An plum ...

All are talented hands of the mother, the "stylized" very subtle. Recently, Hoa An steamed snakehead plum dish was recognized by the Vietnam Record in the Top 20 delicious and new Vietnamese dishes in 2016.

This is also a source of encouragement for Hoa An women to have more motivation to continue creating more unique dishes, contributing to diversifying specialties for their homeland of Dong Thap.
After many changes of the homeland, Hoa An plums are no longer the favored crop as they used to be, many lush plum gardens spread across the streets of the village are now only memories.

According to the People's Committee of Hoa An commune, the whole commune now has less than 2ha of Hoa An plum planting, this figure is less than 1/10 of the golden age of Hoa An Plum a few decades ago.

One of the reasons for the rapid disappearance of Hoa An plum area is the rapid urbanization, the expansion of roads and the conversion of people to other crops for high economic efficiency. more ... are the causes of this precious plum are at risk of being wiped out.

In order to preserve the typical plum varieties of their homeland Hoa An, the People's Committee of Cao Lanh City has a policy to restore the Hoa An plum varieties associated with the local tourism development orientation.

The city has selected 2 households with a lot of enthusiasm for this fruit tree to pilot.

In this model, gardeners are instructed on propagation techniques, produced according to a safe process and orientation associated with tourism development of Cao Lanh City. This is also one of the long-term orientations to help stabilize the output for Hoa An plums.

Although the current area of Hoa An plums is not much, in the commune there are still many households dedicated to preserving the same variety of Hoa An plums.

Ms. Tran Thi Be Tu, a resident of Hoa Long hamlet, Hoa An commune, said: “Although Hoa An plum is not of high economic value now, my family is still determined to keep the plum garden of our parents for more than 70 years. again.

With my family, Hoa An plum has many commemorative values, 3 generations of the family have attached to these plum roots, I want to preserve and pass on to my descendants the best cultural values. Hoa An villagers attached to this plum variety ”.

Hoa An Plum will not be nostalgic when the consensus between the government and the people in the field of conservation and development. Restoring to Hoa An plum variety is the way that today's generation preserves the good spiritual and cultural values of the ancients.