After being smoked, the milky white soil will turn yellow and smell the aroma of smoked sim leaves. This is also the only village in Vietnam where people dig the soil to eat like … candy.
Strangely, the village digs land to eat “unique” in Vietnam
At an age beyond eight weeks, but old Khong Thi Bien in Lap Thach town (Vinh Phuc) is still quite lucid. Seeing a stranger visiting, he immediately guessed that someone went to buy land to eat, he asked: “How many pounds do you need to smoke? Now the land is very little, if you take a lot, let me ask my son.” After the gatherer picked up more “.
Then she quickly went to the kitchen and took out a plastic bag, inside was the opaque white soil that was already dried, Mrs. Bien shared: “A few years ago I still went to the market to sell this smoked earth, But when I am old, I just hang around at home, sometimes people still come to buy them to eat or as a gift “.
According to Mr. Bien, the price per kilogram of land is now 120,000 VND, the Golden Hill of his family is the place with the most edible land, this land is often called by people in the area with its familiar name is tile land.
To get the soil, the collectors have to dig a hole about 5 to 6 meters deep, then turn over the yellow soil layer above to reach the tile layer. After digging up, the soil is dried, cauldled into small pieces according to the grain, scraping off the outer layer of soil, the inside reveals a pure white plaster like soil.
“Now, not many people eat anymore, a few decades ago, people up here were no strangers to this dish, back then there were no candies like now, from children to the elderly everyone ate.
In particular, when pregnant women are very fond of this tile, some people go to the market to go to the land right away to eat a few pieces to help reduce cravings, in some markets, I can sell the land, as expensive as shrimp. fresh “- said Mr. Bien.
Taking off the outer layer of coat, Mrs. Bien went to the back of the house to pick a few branches of myrtle leaves and a handful of dried straw, he went back to the kitchen to set a fire, then held a basket of dirt above the high smoke column in his hand. .
Mr. Bien said that by doing so, so that the sim leaves smoke blended into the ground, about 15 minutes, the land will turn yellow.
“Smell the smoke, I feel craving, the fragrant tile, the pulpy taste, the more delicious it is to chew. Eating a lot of people is addicted to it, my grandfather, when I was alive, had to take it for food every few days, now I live far from the land. God is but without it we cannot stand it.
In the past, there were people who wanted too much and went to places where there was soil and tile, picked up the fragments and kept eating without processing. But now not many people eat anymore, children have more delicious cakes and candies, so no one wants to eat earth anymore “- Mrs. Bien said.
According to the elder, now the Golden Hill does not have this much edible land anymore, because his descendants have been leveled to build the house.
“I only have about 1 quint of land to eat, all of which is no longer available for sale, Golden Hill has been nearly all of my children and grandchildren to build houses on. Later when I died, the custom probably will also no longer exist, what remains are just memories of many people’s memories of a poor countryside “- nostalgic Mrs. Bien remembers.
According to research, the custom of eating tile soil in Lap Thach dates back to the 1970s and before, the soil is like young kaolin soil. This is also the only village classified as “Vietnamese strange story” where people dig soil to eat like … candy.
Many people in the past, including pregnant women, used to buy this land to eat. Because the people believe that the above soil is cool, has more calcium, good for the fetus. However, in reality, there is no scientific basis to prove this.
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