Bamboo worms 500,000 VND/kg - supply cannot meet demand

Crispy fried bamboo worms with lemon leaves are a favorite dish of Hanoians.

Carrying a bag of white worms weighing about 2 kg and still crawling, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Quan in Giang Van Minh (Ba Dinh, Hanoi) boasted that these were bamboo worms. He had to wake up at 5 am to ride his motorbike to the bus station and wait two hours to get this bag of worms.

He said this was his favorite dish, he had to order it all the way from Thanh Hoa a week in advance to get the goods. With these worms, he divided them into 2 parts, one part to give to his parents, the other part he used to make crispy fried bamboo worms with lemon leaves to treat his friends and wife and children.

This type of worm, when fried, is both fatty and crispy, extremely attractive. Mr. Quan had the chance to enjoy bamboo worms at this exact time 2 years ago, on the occasion of his work in Muong Lat (Thanh Hoa). At that time, he was treated to bamboo worms, a famous specialty of this area.

"At first, when I saw the bamboo worms as big as chopsticks and as long as two knuckles stacked on the plate, I felt a shiver. Actually, I had only tried flying shrimp and silkworm pupae. However, when I tasted the first worm, I found it crispy, delicious, fragrant and fatty, very appealing. After eating one, I wanted to eat more, and just like that, I became addicted to this bamboo worm dish," Mr. Quan shared.

Ms. Ha Thi Thuy in Trung Hoa street (Cau Giay, Hanoi) also said that during this season, bamboo worms, also known as bamboo worms, are always her family's favorite dish.

"Looking at the plate of fried worms placed in the middle of the meal tray is disgusting, but everyone in my family is addicted. My two children especially say that it is as crispy as potato chips. I can eat the whole plate in one meal without getting bored," she said.

However, this worm dish is very rare, expensive and must be ordered a week in advance. Once purchased, she divided it into several meals, each meal processing 3-4 ounces to eat sparingly. The rest, she stored in the freezer, fried 1-2 times a week.

Mr. Le Van Tho in Hoang Hoa Tham (Ba Dinh, Hanoi), a trader specializing in selling specialties of the Northwest region, said that bamboo worms are similar to bamboo worms. However, bamboo worms are often used to soak in wine while bamboo worms are often bought for processing.

According to Mr. Tho, the bamboo worm season starts from September and ends at the end of October. This is the time when bamboo worms multiply, the worms are most numerous and fattest. People in mountainous areas such as Son La, Muong Lat (Thanh Hoa) often go into the forests, look for bamboo trees with signs of wilting tops, bamboo joints that are unusually shrunken and shortened, then cut those joints, and will inevitably find wriggling white bamboo worms inside.

This worm is quite rare, not all bamboo trees have it. However, if you find a bamboo joint with a worm, each joint can contain up to half a kilo of worms.

Previously, bamboo worms were brought home by people to feed their families. But now the demand for bamboo worms from urban people has increased, bamboo worms are sold to restaurants and eateries to make a lot of specialties.

As a specialty food, only harvested seasonally in the wild, bamboo worms in Hanoi cost up to half a million VND/kg, but the amount Mr. Tho collects from his regular customers is still not enough to sell. Customers who want to buy must order a week in advance.

In particular, this type of worm is fresh, very difficult to transport, if not careful the worm will die, so when there is stock, he often transfers it to the customer who ordered it, ensuring the worm reaches the customer fresh and avoiding loss.

According to industry experts, insects and worms, including bamboo worms, when dead often produce toxins or the insect's body may be infected with toxic fungi, have strange proteins... which can easily cause allergies and poisoning in humans when eaten with symptoms such as rash, dizziness, nausea... Therefore, you need to be more careful when eating, avoid eating strange insects, bright colors.

Before processing, it is necessary to soak insects in diluted salt water or lime water to remove all toxins from their intestines, preventing the risk of poisoning when eating./.

According to VOV