Hanoi tourists flock to Lang Son to 'search' for the specialty of densely packed thorns and sweet, fragrant seeds

"I myself have never seen a chestnut tree or chestnut fruit. When I saw some friends sharing pictures of chestnut gardens in the hills, with chestnuts growing heavily on the branches in Lang Son , I was so excited that I immediately invited my children to go experience it with me," said Ms. Hang.

Currently, the chestnut region of Quang Lac is entering the fruit ripening season.

People in Quang Lac commune, old Lang Son city (now Luong Van Tri ward, Lang Son) have grown chestnuts for about 20 years, but only in recent years have they attracted tourists to visit and harvest them themselves.

Chestnut harvesting activities attract tourists. Photo: Yen Le

Every year, chestnuts ripen from mid-August and last for 1 month. This year, there is an intercalary month, so the chestnut season is about 3 weeks later. Thanks to the suitable climate and soil, Lang Son chestnuts are large, soft, and fragrant, especially in the Quang Lac region.

The young chestnut fruit is light green, with soft spines like rambutan; when ripe, it turns brown and has many hard spines. The fruit falls to the ground or is picked by shaking the tree, then separating the shiny brown seeds covered with fine white fluff. Each fruit usually has 1–3 large seeds or 4–5 small seeds.

Each chestnut has 1-3 large seeds or 4-5 small seeds. Photo: Yen Le

According to Ms. Le Yen - the organizer of chestnut harvesting tours in Lang Son for the past 4 years, not only children but also many older tourists saw chestnut trees for the first time and participated in picking the fruit.

Harvesting chestnuts in Lang Son has become Ms. Yen's most popular tour every September.

Children love harvesting chestnuts. Photo: Yen Le

The Quang Lac chestnut area is more than 3 hours away from Hanoi by car. Tourists can choose a day tour or a 2-day-1-night tour. Ms. Yen often takes tourists to a perennial chestnut garden with 5,000 trees for harvest. The chestnut garden clings to the hillside.

At the garden, visitors are provided with gloves, scissors, and baskets by tour guides to participate in the chestnut harvest. This experience requires physical strength, as you have to climb hills, search for chestnuts under the trees, and also need dexterity to separate the hard, thorny shell.

After harvesting a full basket, visitors will enjoy hot roasted chestnuts and fragrant chestnut milk.

The journey to "hunt" for chestnuts makes tourists excited. Photo: Yen Le

"Chestnuts are a crop with high economic value. Therefore, tourists will leave the harvested chestnuts back to the garden owner. If they want to buy them as gifts, they will pay the garden owner at the market price, usually 100,000 VND/kg," said Ms. Yen.

One-day package tour, including round-trip transportation from Hanoi, lunch, chestnut garden tour, stops at some places in Lang Son, with tour guide and photographer, costs about 700,000 VND/person. Lunch menu includes specialties such as roast duck, roast pork, and braised pork.

Chestnut harvest time lasts about 1 month. Photo: Yen Le

Over the past 3 years, Lang Son province has organized many events to honor chestnut growing, introduce chestnut gardens to locals and tourists, and promote local OCOP products made from chestnuts.

Vietnamnet.vn

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/khach-ha-noi-do-ve-lang-son-truy-tim-dac-san-gai-chi-chit-hat-ngot-thom-2439096.html