Yummy: Chestnuts stewed with pork leg is often prepared to welcome visitors.
The
trees have existed in Trùng Khánh District, about 62km from Cao Bằng City, for
thousands of years, said 98-year-old Tạ Văn Nậm.
Nậm
said his ancestors had grown the trees and the job had been handed down through
the generations.
Ripe: The Trùng Khánh chestnut, an ancient specialty of Cao Bằng. Photos dulichcaobang.com
“Thanks
to the cool climate and favourable land, Trùng Khánh chestnuts are well known
far and wide,” Nậm said, noting that apart from boiling and frying them, Cao Bằng
housewives used them as the main ingredient to cook many dishes, such as
chestnut stewed with pork leg, chestnut pudding, chestnut porridge and
particularly chestnut mixed with cốm (young sticky rice) made from Pì Pất
sticky rice - a special rice planted by Tày ethnic people, which is very soft
and fragrant.
Chân
giò hầm hạt dẻ (Chestnut stewed with pork leg)
Nậm’s
wife Nông Thị Thắm cooks the food well. She said she had to wake up early in
the morning to go to the market to buy a fresh pork leg about 1.5kg.
The
pork leg must be burned over fire to clear all the hairs, then cut into pieces
and soaked with spices such as fish sauce, pepper, a little sugar and chili for
two hours, before being stewed with carrots and chestnuts.
Fruitful: Trùng Khánh chestnuts are available in Cao Bằng market this lunar month.
The
chestnuts should be boiled for half an hour then taken off their covers and cut
into two parts, said Thắm.
“I
have to stew the food over light fire for an hour until the fragrance is flying
out. The dish should be eaten hot when it is more tasty and delicious,” said Thắm.
She
said the dish was often cooked to welcome guests and for big parties, such as a
death anniversary and for Tết holiday.
“I
often cook the dish as a gift to my two children’s in-law families in Hà Nội
during the chestnut seasons in the ninth and tenth lunar months. They said they
like the food so much,” said Thắm.
Cốm
hạt dẻ (chestnut mixed with cốm)
Different
from young sticky rice in famous Vòng Village in Hà Nội, the cốm in Cao Bằng is made from a special
sticky rice named Pì Pất, which agriculturists say is high quality compared
with other sticky rice grown in the north.
Thắm
said the cốm is ground in a wooden mortar shaped like a boat by young Tày couples,
who often sing Tày ethnic songs called sli while doing the work.
“Our
villagers, particularly children are very cheerful running around the mortar,
laughing and talking loudly. Our entire village enjoys the cốm fragrance,” said
Thắm.
She
said the cốm mixed with chestnut
powder will make an unforgettable dish.
Through the grind: Tày people in Cao Bằng make cốm (young sticky rice).
Nguyễn
Văn Hiến and his wife Phạm Thị Thuần, who recently visited Trùng Khánh, said
they heard about the food but tasting it on the spot was beyond imagination.
“We
enjoyed the dish so much. It is the quintescence of Cao Bằng itself and our
country as well,” said Hiến.
He
said he met a group of Danish visitors who agreed that the Trùng Khánh chestnut
was bigger and much more fragrant compared with other chestnuts. “It should be
exported to the world,” he said.
Herbalist
Nguyễn Văn Vinh from the National Hospital of Traditional Medicine said
chestnuts were good for human health. They are rich in cellulose,
carbondydrates, vitamins, minerals and kali.
Vinh
said cellulose helped to stabilise glucose, reduce cholesterol and
constipation. He warned however that those with stomachache should not eat many
chestnuts because it produced acid in the stomach, causing indigestion.
Rich
kali in the nuts helped stabilise cardiovascular system and hypertension, while
vitamins helped improve brain function and prevent breast cancer, said Vinh.
“Chestnut
porridge is very good for pregnant and women who have recently given
birth." he said.
Together
with Tân Cương Tea of Thái Nguyên, anise of Lạng Sơn and several others, Trùng
Khánh chestnut has been chosen as top 10 well-known natural specialties in the
country by the Việt Nam Record Organisation since 2012.
By VNS