Forest trees such as guava, moon, cinnamon, and bait clusters are planted by Mr. Di to pick leaves and sell them as a specialty dish of Tay Ninh.
Understanding the need to use wild vegetables for rice paper with dew-dried pork rolls – a specialty of Trang Bang (Tay Ninh province), Mr. Le Van Di (54 years old, Gia Loc commune, Trang Bang district) introduced forest varieties. about the home garden.
Currently, his vegetable garden is more than 1 hectare, with more than a dozen types of forest vegetables such as brocade guavas, cinnamon, sesame buds, water lily, moon, toads, bunches of bait…
“Wild vegetables rolled with pork, Trang Bang dew-dried rice paper has long been a specialty of Tay Ninh. In the past, people had to go along the river and into the forest to find vegetables, but less and less. Therefore, I come a lot. places in the province, go to Cambodia to find vegetables to grow,” said Mr. Di.
The seedlings he brought back to plant at first were stunted due to the unsuitable soil. After a period of planting, knowing the characteristics of riverine plants that need high humidity, he dug many trenches in the garden.
Cutting off the young dark red moon leaves, he said that this plant has been planted for more than 5 years, propagated by cuttings. When eating, only pick the young leaves, which have a mild acrid taste like plum leaves.
Most other leaves are also picked only the young tops. The most grown in his garden is the guava tree, the young leaves are dark brown and taste acrid.
The sour young leaves are also indispensable in dishes with wild vegetables. “Hundreds of toadstools grow into separate beds, all over 5 years old. Planting to get leaves, the tree picks it every time it comes to the top, so it doesn’t grow taller than a person’s head,” said Ms. Le Thi Ro (52 years old, Mr. Di’s wife) .
In another corner, the gardener plowed the soil, fenced the net to grow cinnamon vegetables. Mr. Di said that this vegetable smells like sassafras, which is almost indispensable in the specialty of Trang Bang forest vegetables.
“Cinnamon is difficult to grow, only suitable for black soil and must be cultivated all year long until the soil settles with alum and can be sown. The characteristic of this vegetable is that it still grows well after many times of cutting close to the root,” said the owner of the garden. .
Sesame buds are also planted by him to get young leaves. Most vegetables are perennials, so they can be harvested evenly without having to replant. According to Mr. Di, wild vegetables are inherently wild, can withstand harsh environments and rarely encounter pests and diseases, so they grow quite well.
In addition, in his garden, he also intercropped many other plants such as bunches of bait, bamboo leaves, squash, leaves… and was harvested with mats to have vegetables every day.
Every day, he and his wife collect an average of 50 kilograms of vegetables of all kinds. On holidays and weekends, the output can be doubled, having to hire extra people.
After picking vegetables, they are classified into large bunches, dipped in water for freshness.
Vegetables are transported to a purchasing agent at the price of 15,000 VND per kilogram. Mr. Di said that after deducting all expenses each month, he also earns nearly 900$.
Many households in the area also grow forest vegetables and make rice paper to dry with dew. After baking, the rice paper will be dew-dried in the early morning or at night for a short time so as not to become soft.
The raw vegetables served with the pork roll must be acrid, sweet, sour, fatty… In addition to the wild vegetables, the roll also has herbs such as basil, lettuce, chives, perilla. .. This dish is not only popular in Tay Ninh but also in Ho Chi Minh City and neighboring provinces.