Nghe An sea mulberry specialty

Rau lot is a wild vegetable that grows scattered in salty salt fields, along brackish water swamps and shrimp ponds in coastal communes of Quynh Luu. Rau lot grows and develops entirely in the natural environment, so this is a vegetable with a very special taste, good for health and is considered a clean vegetable.

When spring comes, the water mimosa grows well, women in coastal areas often take advantage of the opportunity to pick the vegetable to prepare dishes for their families, if they pick a lot, they sell it at the country markets. Because it is a clean vegetable, rich in nutrients, many people seek to buy it. Recently, water mimosa has been selling for a good price, even "selling out". Therefore, from being a picker, Ms. Phu boldly brought the wild vegetable to grow in her garden.

The vegetable garden of Ms. Le Thi Phu's family in hamlet 12, Quynh Thanh commune (Quynh Luu). Photo: Nhu Thuy

According to Ms. Le Thi Phu, due to the fact that her garden was contaminated with salt water from shrimp ponds, for many years she did not grow any vegetables, but sowed the seeds that rotted because of the salty soil. In March 2017, after a day of picking jujube to sell, she thought that since jujube can survive in salt water, why not bring it back to try growing on her own land. Thinking and doing, she dug up the vegetable roots and planted them in an 8-meter garden. After 2 months, the vegetables took root and grew well.

Up to now, after nearly 1 year of experimenting, the jujube garden has covered the vacant land and grown well. Currently, the jujube garden is in the growing and harvesting season. While other households have to wake up early to go to the salt fields and shrimp ponds to pick vegetables to sell for extra income, Ms. Phu's family only needs to pick within 1 hour to harvest 40 - 50 kg of fresh jujube; her family harvests vegetables once every 2 days.

The young and fresh water spinach grown in home gardens is better than that grown in salt fields; the current market price is 20,000 VND/kg. Photo: Nhu Thuy

Currently, with a purchase price of 20,000 VND/kg at the garden, Ms. Phu earns about 1 million VND per day. Traders order as soon as vegetables are harvested, so there is no worry about unsold goods. In particular, the loquat vegetable can be harvested all year round if provided with enough water, and will not dry out or turn yellow like when growing in the wild.

"An important thing when growing water mimosa is to plant it on loam or sandy soil contaminated with brackish water. Once the vegetable has taken root, just watering with salt water is enough. When growing water mimosa, you do not need to add phosphate fertilizer or chemicals, otherwise the vegetable will be shocked by the salt and die" - Ms. Phu added.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hien - a trader purchasing jute in Quynh Luong commune said: Currently, the demand for jute as food in restaurants and hotels is increasing, so supply cannot meet demand. We buy as much as we harvest but still do not have enough to import to Hanoi and Vinh city. Previously, the price of jute only fluctuated from 5,000 - 8,000 VND/kg, but in the past 3 years, the price of jute has increased sharply from 20,000 - 30,000 VND/kg.

From a rustic dish of the salt workers in coastal Quynh Luu district, rau lot has now become a specialty known by many people and sought after to prepare dishes for their families and give as gifts to relatives. It is thought that from Ms. Phu's model of growing rau lot, coastal households can refer to domesticated vegetable varieties grown in their home gardens to serve market demand as well as increase income./.