Delicious 'hammered dishes' in Nghe An

Troi is a perennial woody plant, tens of meters high, found in many gardens, hills, and forests in Anh Son and Thanh Chuong districts. Troi flowers in spring and bears fruit in autumn.

The fruit is as big as a persimmon, shaped like an upside-down bowl, the skin is rough like a custard apple, when young it is green and when ripe it turns dark brown. Inside the fruit there are large seeds, heart-shaped kernels, delicious, fatty and a favorite dish of many people.

The tree sprouts. Photo: Huy Thu

In the past, when the season came, the fruits fell all over the ground, and the locals just had to go up the hill to pick up the fallen fruits and boil them to eat. Now, the fruits have become a specialty, the demand for the fruits is high, and many people hunt for them, so "the fruits don't fall off before they are old."

Every time the season comes, everyone goes out to pick the fruit. Short trees are easy to pick, but tall trees require climbing and using poles to poke. Picking the fruit is as hard as picking canarium. On rainy days, the tree trunks are slippery and difficult to climb, so the pickers have to stand under the tree and poke upwards.

Fresh pomelo fruit. Photo: Huy Thu

The ripe Troi fruit looks like gray-brown stones, 1 kg has about 30 fruits, at first glance, no one would think that it is a delicious dish. Eating Troi fruit is also very elaborate, requiring all kinds of tools such as pots, hammers, cutting boards, etc. After picking the Troi fruit, put it in a pot and boil it for nearly 1 hour under high heat until cooked, drain it and then take it out to "process".

Because the seed has a thick, hard shell like a canarium seed, to eat the kernel inside, the seed must be broken. Local people often use many ways to break the seed, but the most common and safest way is to use a hammer to break it. Place the seed on a rock or cutting board, then use a hammer to break it into many pieces.

Cracking the seeds requires practice, so that they “break properly”, without falling or breaking. When the seeds break, people use bamboo sticks or toothpicks to separate the kernel from the shell to enjoy. The dish of cracked seeds has long been associated with a hammer, so people often jokingly call it “dish with hammer”.

Dried fruit. Photo: Huy Thu

The fruit has a rich, fatty, and delicious flavor that is so appealing to diners that anyone who eats it will remember it forever. According to folk experience, ripe fruit that falls at the base is more delicious than fruit picked from the tree. The older the fruit, the richer the fatty flavor.

In areas where there are poplars, children are the first to discover poplars each fruit-falling season. In the past, children in the mountainous communes of Anh Son often invited each other to go up the mountain to pick poplars to exchange for books for studying.

To eat the fruit, you must use a hammer to hit it. Photo: Huy Thu

Currently, the fruit of the Troi tree is being thoroughly harvested by the people. In Anh Son, Troi tree is abundant in Hoa Son, Tuong Son, Phuc Son communes... In these places, a team of people has been formed who specialize in picking Troi tree fruit to sell. From a fruit to "eat for fun", Troi tree has become a specialty of the mountainous region, a product that is actively sought after by traders.

The kernels are fatty, rich, delicious and very attractive to diners. Photo: Huy Thu

Ms. Tran Thi Duyen (26 years old) in Duc Son commune - a person who specializes in selling seeds of the genus Troi said that during this time, she has to drive her car around Anh Son district every day to collect seeds of the genus Troi, however, seeds are becoming increasingly rare because of the large number of buyers. The demand for seeds of the genus Troi is high, while the supply is limited, mainly harvested from the wild.

Currently, Troi is not only consumed locally but also transferred, sent far away and imported for traders to sell to China. The price of Troi seeds is fluctuating from 16,000 to 18,000 VND/kg.

Anh Son forest sprouts have long been familiar to local people, but are still new to many people. Along with gai cake, gay tea... "hammered food" has been and is one of the attractive gifts of Anh Son people far from home.