Braised palm, a specialty of the mountainous region

(Baonghean) - This time going to Quy Chau, visitors will enjoy braised palm fruit. A rustic specialty, imbued with the rich flavor of the mountainous region. Palm fruit is not fragrant, not sweet, but has a very unique, characteristic, rich, and astringent flavor...

When I was a child, my neighbor was an uncle from Chau Hoi commune, Quy Chau district. Every time he returned to his hometown, he often brought down some stewed palm as a gift. Hometown gifts are precious, but neighborly love is even more precious. In my feelings at that time, stewed palm had a slightly different smell, but a strange taste, with a fatty, nutty, and astringent taste that went well with rice. Not yet satisfied, the children ground the seeds to eat the white, hard, and chewy part inside... After a while, the neighbor grew old and weak, so he returned to his hometown less and less, and the stewed palm dish gradually faded into memory.

Palm fruit - Internet photo

Recently, when I went to Quy Chau, I had the opportunity to enjoy a dish from my childhood, braised palm fruit. This dish was delicious and unique, and suited many people in the group, so the basket of palm fruit was quickly emptied. Everyone wanted some as gifts, so they asked the host if they still had palm fruit. - the hostess replied "yes", when asked "are they for sale", the answer was "no. But giving each person a little is fine" - the hostess smiled brightly.

In Nghe An, palm trees often grow wild in a few mountainous districts. All parts of the palm tree can be used. Palm leaves are used to thatch roofs, the veins are stripped for sale, leaf stalks are used to split bamboo strips to weave blinds, or old palm trunks can be used to make handicrafts. In the 7th lunar month, palm trees begin to flower and bear fruit. The ripening season begins in the 10th lunar month. When ripe, the fruit changes from dark green to light blue. To pick the fruit, people often climb the tree or use a long pole to pull it down. Palm fruit can be eaten raw, however, to soften the fruit and reduce its astringency, people stew it.

The palm fruit is picked, washed to remove dirt, mixed with pieces of old bamboo to peel off the green skin, then stewed. When stewing (boiling), attention must be paid to the time, the boiling point of the water and the experience and dexterity of the woman, otherwise the palm fruit will be crushed or too hard. If you want to keep the astringency of the fruit, there is no need to peel the skin when stewing - said Ms. Lang Thi Hanh, a resident of Chau Hanh commune. The stewed palm fruit has a dark brown color on the outside, the soft flesh inside is golden yellow, when eaten it has a rich, sweet, fatty taste and a characteristic smell. Depending on each person's taste, it can be eaten without dipping sauce or dipped in chili fish sauce or seasoning powder... Palm fruit can also be cooked with meat, fish and no matter how it is prepared, it has a characteristic rich, astringent taste.

It is a seasonal delicacy and can only be eaten once a year, so many people are looking to buy it. Now is the beginning of the palm season, some Thai ethnic women in Quy Chau harvest and process it to sell in town from 9am to 12pm until it is sold out. The price of finished braised palm is about 20,000 VND/kg. For those who are far from home, palm is attached to their childhood memories and will follow them throughout their lives. For them, even though they have been away from home for a long time, every time palm is mentioned, no one can help but remember the afternoons of herding buffaloes on the palm hills, when the buffalo herders' faces were dirty, they could smell the fragrant palm sticky rice, warmed by the love of their grandmothers and kind mothers in the midland mountains...

Thanh Son