A fruit that was once abundant and no one paid attention to, is now made into a specialty dish with a strange flavor and expensive price | Life – Entertainment

Areca nut is a well-known decorative plant that has been broadly grown within the Vietnamese countryside for generations. In Vietnam, betel and areca nut are likened to beginning a dialog as a result of “a bit of betel is the start of a dialog”. The customized of chewing betel nut is common amongst all lessons, from the frequent individuals to the royal courtroom, turning into a ravishing conventional cultural characteristic of the nation.

Prior to now, virtually each home had a row of areca bushes, every tree bearing a number of heavy bunches of fruit. Nevertheless, areca nuts have been very low-cost again then, and nobody within the countryside even purchased them on the market. Solely the aged chewed betel or soaked the seeds in diluted salt water to wash their tooth. However lately, the worth of recent areca nuts has elevated to an unprecedented excessive, reaching 70,000 VND/kg at its peak.

Areca nuts, which have been considered solely used for chewing betel, have been unexpectedly bought by merchants lately and exported to China to make areca sweet.

Native individuals mentioned that recent areca nuts are bought by merchants to provide to drying warehouses, exported to China to make sweet, medicinal herbs, prescription drugs…

After buying, individuals select younger areca nuts of fine high quality, that are these with small seeds or no seeds, boil them after which dry them to export to the Chinese language market to make sweet. One of these sweet has a candy, spicy style like ginger sweet, has the impact of stopping sore throats and holding the physique heat. That is thought of a preferred snack on this nation lately.

On social networks, some individuals posted clips of making an attempt areca sweet and mentioned that areca sweet may be very exhausting, has the astringent style of areca, and the wealthy style of chocolate. If you’re not used to consuming it or eat it early within the morning on an empty abdomen, it is rather straightforward to get drunk.

Chinese language areca nuts are additionally bought on Vietnamese on-line markets and e-commerce platforms for costs starting from 25,000 to 90,000 VND relying on the sort. Every package deal of sweet weighs about 20g, with many various colours and types. Desirous to strive the style of this unusual sweet, many individuals are curious and order it to take pleasure in.

Ms. Nga in Lao Cai has a row of greater than 300 areca bushes which can be 10-15 years previous, making a straight areca backyard. Every year, the areca backyard brings her an earnings of about 30 million VND.

Areca nut sweet is a well-liked snack in China, and can also be bought on e-commerce platforms and on-line markets in Vietnam.

“Beforehand, the worth of recent areca nuts was solely 2,000-10,000 VND/kg, however now merchants purchase them at excessive costs. In mid-June, I harvested the primary crop of the 12 months and bought it for 42,000 VND/kg. Just a few days later, the worth of areca nuts continued to extend. The worth of areca nuts in the beginning of the season has by no means been as excessive because it has been up to now two years,” mentioned Ms. Nga.

The areca season is thought to begin in the course of the 12 months and finish within the twelfth lunar month. Chinese language merchants choose the long-fruited areca selection over the round-fruited selection. It takes 3 to 4 years for the tree to begin producing fruit on the market.

“I discover that rising areca just isn’t troublesome, doesn’t take a lot time, simply requires care and weeding when the tree is small. When the tree has robust roots, simply let it develop, no must fertilize or spray. Specifically, the tree grows tall so it doesn’t have an effect on the crops under,” Ms. Nga added.