Dalat specialty, a farmer spends billions to make wind-dried persimmons, a delicious gift that everyone loves

After retiring, Mr. Tran Phu Loc (71 years old, Ward 3, Da Lat City, Lam Dong Province) still decided to spend billions of dong to learn and build a model of making wind-dried persimmons, creating a famous specialty in Da Lat City.

Starting a business making Da Lat specialties after retirement

In the last days of 2024, when the persimmon season in Lam Dong was gradually coming to an end, Mr. Tran Phu Loc's family's wind-dried persimmon workshop was still bustling.

Each stage such as peeling, hanging persimmons on the trellis, and classifying finished persimmons requires 2-3 people to work continuously.

Mr. Tran Phu Loc, Ward 3, Da Lat City (Lam Dong Province) checks wind-dried persimmons at his family's workshop.

Up to now, the egg-shaped persimmon trees in Da Lat City and Lac Duong District have gone out of season, so Mr. Loc has to buy square persimmons in Don Duong District to make wind-dried persimmons.

Leading reporters into the factory, Mr. Loc said that he was previously the Director of Dalat Beer and Wine Company. In 2013, Mr. Loc retired according to the regime.

"I'm 60 years old, retired but still feel healthy, I want to do something special for Da Lat city. At that time, in Da Lat, wind-dried persimmons were a specialty but the output brought to the market was very small. Therefore, I decided to "start a business" with wind-dried persimmons", Mr. Loc shared.

Also according to Mr. Loc, at that time, the JICA Project in Lam Dong saw people cutting down many areas of persimmon growing, so this organization worked to send Vietnamese people to Japan to learn how to make wind-dried persimmons using their technology.

Mr. Loc decided to start a business with wind-dried persimmons at the age of 60.

Up to now, Mr. Loc's wind-dried persimmons have been ranked 4-star OCOP.

However, those who went to Japan to study and make it were not successful due to differences in climate and natural conditions. Meanwhile, the technology transferred from Japan could not be applied 100%. That was the reason why the profession of making wind-dried persimmons was not popular in those years, and few people were successful.

Checking the persimmon vines hanging in his workshop, Mr. Loc said: "When I contacted him to go to Japan to learn how to make persimmon vines, the project had ended.

I used to know a professor who worked at Dalat University, so I asked him to introduce me to Japan to study how to make dried persimmons. The travel, accommodation, and interpreter expenses were about 200 million VND, all of which I paid for myself.

Before going to Japan to study officially, I contacted those who had studied before to understand the process and methods of making dried persimmons in Japan. Therefore, after only about 15 days of studying, I was able to return to Vietnam and prepare the conditions to apply their technology."

Tourists enjoy visiting the process of making wind-dried persimmons in Mr. Loc's workshop.

After returning from school, Mr. Loc still determined that his "startup" was a 50/50 chance, it could succeed or fail. He decided to invest 1 billion VND to import machinery, technology and build a factory to make wind-dried persimmons.

Because he was new, in the first year, Mr. Loc only brought to the market about 1 ton of finished wind-dried persimmons. However, the good news is that the products he brought out were well received and highly appreciated by everyone.

Unexpected success

Up to now, after decades of dedication, Mr. Loc has brought to the market dozens of tons of finished persimmons each year. His wind-dried persimmon product is also ranked as a 4-star OCOP product, a national typical product in 2015.

Every year, Mr. Loc brings to the market about 15 tons of finished wind-dried persimmons.

"Currently, our facility's wind-dried persimmons have stabilized, supplying the market with about 15 tons of finished persimmons each year. In 1 year, the time to make wind-dried persimmons is only concentrated in about 4 months.

Because the area of ​​​​persimmon cultivation has decreased, the output has also decreased, so the purchase of fresh persimmons as raw materials must follow the criteria of selecting fruits to ensure ripeness (fruit size, fruit maturity). There was a time when I had to buy raw persimmons at a price of up to 35,000 VND/kg," Mr. Loc shared.

Currently, the wind-dried persimmons in Mr. Loc’s nearly 1,000m2 workshop are made according to the standard process he learned. Fresh persimmons are carefully kept from being picked to minimize bruising and breakage.

After harvesting, the persimmons will be brought to the factory to be washed, drained, peeled, keeping the stem, and then disinfected. Next, the persimmons will be hung on a wire and brought to the disinfection area for about a week. Finally, the persimmons will be hung for 15-20 days, then collected, packaged, and vacuum-sealed.

Fresh persimmons are peeled, sterilized and then hung on a wire.

Mr. Loc said that with his wind-dried persimmon technology, the temperature must be maintained below 30 degrees Celsius and the humidity below 70%. Therefore, the machinery system in his factory must be automated to ensure that the temperature and humidity are maintained at the allowed level, minimizing losses.

Wind-dried persimmons must always be maintained at a temperature below 30 degrees Celsius and humidity below 70%.

With the technology and quality of the wind-dried persimmons, Mr. Loc sells them on the market at a price of 400-500 thousand VND/kg. Tourists can visit, taste the product, see the wind-dried persimmon production process firsthand before deciding whether to buy or not.

Talking about the wind-dried persimmon making model of Mr. Tran Phu Loc, Mr. Nguyen Van Hoa - Chairman of Ward 3 People's Committee (Da Lat City) said that Mr. Loc's method has brought economic value many times higher than the traditional method of selling fresh persimmons, pickled persimmons and dried persimmons. Not only that, Mr. Loc's model also helps develop local experiential tourism when many tourists come to visit the wind-dried persimmon making process at the workshop.

Source: https://danviet.vn/dac-san-da-lat-mot-ong-nong-dan-bo-tien-ty-lam-hong-treo-gio-thu-qua-ben-mieng-van-nguoi-me-20241225162353784.htm