Dai Hoang Royal Bananas spread their fragrance during Tet

On Tet holiday, Vietnamese families always have a tray of five fruits placed on the ancestral altar, in which a bunch of bananas is the centerpiece. With the title "Royal Banana" since ancient times, in 2012, the Vietnam Record Book Center announced it as one of the top 50 Vietnamese specialty fruits, the Dai Hoang Royal Banana (Hoa Hau, Ly Nhan) is not only a precious gift for everyday life, but also the top choice for families to buy to offer to their ancestors during Tet.

Royal Banana - Top 50 Vietnamese specialty fruits

Dai Hoang people recount that once King Tran and his entourage sailed from Thang Long citadel to Thien Truong palace, stopped at Ly Nhan and tried the local banana variety. Seeing the delicious fruit, the king rewarded it and ordered it to be propagated. From then on, Dai Hoang village bananas were named Royal bananas, or bananas for the King.

**Depending on the time, each bunch of royal bananas costs from over 100 thousand to several hundred thousand dong.** Photo: Yen Chinh

According to Mr. Nguyen The Vinh (member of the Provincial Literature and Arts Association), who has many research articles on folk culture, the gentle Chau River flowing through Hoa Hau, combined with the cool and fresh climate, has created a special soil for this countryside. The gifts of nature, along with the diligence and creativity of people, have created this countryside with famous delicious fruits, including the Royal banana.

In the book “Nam Cao - The Sources of Literature”, Mr. Nguyen The Vinh wrote about Dai Hoang village: “This place has few fields and many gardens, the main source of income is gardening, weaving, and trading. The first is near the market, the second is near the river, the land is fertile, the people are hard-working and skillful, since ancient times the products of Dai Hoang and Cao Mon have been famous in the court and outside the country. In the spring, there are oranges and tangerines. In the summer, there are lotus seeds and longan. In the fall, there are red persimmons, the ripe fruit, the ears are still green, when cut into pieces, the membrane is pulled out, so that the next day it is still sweet to eat. Persimmons wait for the season, bananas ripen all year round. Dai Hoang royal bananas are carried across the Chau River, brought to Trung Quang and Trung Hoa palaces, and offered to the Three Patriarchs of Truc Lam at Pho Minh Pagoda. Nam Dinh Dragon Market is famous for its silk and royal bananas.

Writer Nguyen Tuan described: the skin is very thin, the banana flesh shines with the color of sugar sand. There are bunches when you lift the dry leaves covering it, the old dry clothes are colored, you can see it stacked up to ten bunches. Some people, because they want to bring the royal banana bunch to the capital as a gift, have to take a boat. It takes more time than going by car or train. But sending bananas by boat is less likely to shake and fall, it is more secure... It is like that now. In the past, the precious royal layers are golden yellow, the fruit is slender like the fingers of a girl spinning, the skin is thin like silk, the scent is pure and noble, they used to go against the boat, carrying it on their shoulders to the capital Hue to present to the king".

Mr. Vinh said that in the past, there were more Royal bananas in Nam Dinh city, perhaps because at that time trade was difficult, Dai Hoang was close to Nam Dinh. In the 1980s, when he was working at Van Nhan Magazine (a publication of the old Nam Ha Literature and Arts Association), he often received poets and writers from the central region who came to Nam Dinh. Famous writers in the literary world were all quite picky about enjoying delicious food, but even the fastidious writer Nguyen Tuan had to exclaim: when coming to Nam Dinh, there were two "pleasures": "Reading Xuong's poetry (poet Tu Xuong), eating Royal bananas". The gifts he bought for literary guests when they came to work in Nam Dinh were all ham and Dai Hoang Royal bananas.

Dai Hoang Royal Bananas spread their fragrance during Tet — **Bunch of ripe bananas.** Photo: Yen Chinh

According to information on some websites, Dai Hoang royal bananas have three types: white royal bananas, buffalo royal bananas and jackfruit royal bananas. However, according to the locals, Dai Hoang currently only grows one type, which people still call Ngu Vang (because the fruit's flesh is yellow). Mr. Tran Quy Thuong, a person who both grows Ngu bananas and also collects Ngu bananas in the village to sell to traders, said that in Hoa Hau and neighboring areas, only one type of Ngu Vang is grown. In some other areas, there is another type called Ngu Tieu (or people also call it Ngu Mien Nam), which is similar to the Tieu banana that is not cared for, becomes stunted and sour.

The Golden Royal Banana is small, firm, and round. When ripe, it is plump, golden yellow, and has a very thin skin. Peel it and take a bite to see the yellow flesh. Although the skin is ripe and thin, when peeled, the banana flesh is still firm, not soft like a normal banana. The banana has a rich, sweet, and aromatic flavor that spreads throughout the mouth, awakening the taste and smell. The color, aroma, and flavor of the Royal Royal Banana cannot be found in any other banana.

The scent of Royal bananas spreads far and wide…

Ms. Tran Thi Lu, 64 years old, was born and raised in Hoa Hau, married a villager. Her family's garden has 2 sao of Royal bananas right next to the house, which were left by her parents. She said that since the time of her parents and grandparents, they have grown Royal bananas. Royal bananas sell well every full moon and new moon, especially during Tet, Royal bananas are always very expensive. Families buy a pair of bunches of ripe Royal bananas that have just been cut from the tree with the beard still intact at the top of the fruit, using a clean cloth with a little white wine to wipe them gently. The small green bananas shine. The two bunches of bananas are placed on two porcelain plates placed on either side of the five-fruit tray on the altar to offer to their ancestors. During Tet, thanks to the scent, the Royal bananas will gradually ripen, dyed a golden yellow and fragrant, making the Tet atmosphere very warm and cozy.

Ms. Lu said that in addition to her time at the market, she takes great care of her banana garden. Growing and caring for the Royal banana is basically the same as growing and caring for normal bananas, not too difficult. To have large bunches and plump fruit, you should plant them sparsely. Each banana tree should only have 2 trees, 1 mother tree and 1 baby tree, each year each tree will yield an average of 2 bunches of bananas. Royal bananas are very susceptible to stem worms, so you must regularly pay attention to peeling off the stems, dry leaves, and cleaning the tree trunk. The banana trunk is tall and brittle, so when the tree starts to bear fruit, you must use a walking stick. Bananas should not be harvested too old, the fruit is prone to cracking. She also said that growing bananas cannot regulate the fruiting as desired like some other fruit trees, bananas bloom and bear fruit at the right time, so even during Tet, the amount of bananas harvested is the same as usual, or even less because the cold makes bananas grow slowly. Normally, Ms. Lu's 2 sao garden harvests 5-7 bunches of bananas each month, priced at over 100,000 VND/bunch.

During Tet, the Royal bananas are many times more expensive, about 500,000 VND/beautiful bunch sold in the garden. All year round, the beautiful bunches of bananas are bought by traders right in the garden, only the small bunches she has to bring to the market to sell. Ms. Lu added that every year, around the 20th of Tet, all the bananas in the garden are sold. Growing bananas does not require much care, each month brings in a little extra money. I am also very proud that my hometown's specialty is increasingly sought after by many people, so I am determined to keep the Royal banana garden.

Thanks to good promotion, the popularity of Dai Hoang Royal bananas has spread far and wide, not only promoting the expansion of banana growing areas but also forming a team of people who specialize in purchasing bananas to supply to wholesalers in provinces and cities. Mr. Tran Quy Thuong said: The locality has about 20 people who specialize in collecting Royal bananas to supply to wholesalers in the South and the North.

Mr. Thuong has been doing this job for decades, specializing in supplying to customers in Nam Dinh. On a normal day, he buys about 30-50 bunches. During Tet, he buys about 400-500 bunches according to orders, but sometimes it is still not enough. The price of Royal bananas for Tet also increases, about 60-70 thousand VND/bunch. If there is not enough in the commune, he has to buy more from neighboring areas. Mr. Thuong also tells about the way to pickle Royal bananas: you have to make a rice husk stove, hang the bananas in it and burn the rice husks, then set a timer, leave it for about 1 night, then open it the next day and the bananas will be yellow and spotted. This natural pickling method is both safe and makes the banana peels yellow while the fruit remains firm.

Now the garden area in Hoa Hau has been reduced a lot, but going through the alleys in Hoa Hau commune, you can see many gardens still growing Royal bananas. According to the people, Royal bananas grown in the village are also delicious, but Royal bananas grown on the riverbank are still the best. The areas around Hoa Hau also grow a lot of Royal bananas to be able to supply the market.

Nature has endowed Dai Hoang with a precious fruit variety. However, the preservation, development and dissemination of the value of this specialty fruit is due to the Hoa Hau people. With diligence, creativity, quickness in market mechanisms, and the desire to introduce the specialty fruits of their homeland to many people, the Hoa Hau people have made the reputation of the Royal banana spread far and wide. They have been duly rewarded through the economic value obtained from the Royal banana, at the same time contributing to enriching the culture of the rice fields and promoting tourism development.

Do Hong

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