It was getting dark, Mr. Nguyen Van Binh, 38 years old, living in Hoa Thanh town, preparing for the trip to catch cicadas. His luggage was nothing but a fully charged flashlight, a small used plastic jar. Before leaving, this man poured into a plastic jar some diluted salt water.
"The salt water has the effect of making the ticks die quickly and removing the parasites on the tick's body before processing them into food," explained Mr. Binh. After preparing his luggage, Mr. Binh got on a motorbike and moved towards the natural forests in the inner city of Cao Dai Holy See in Tay Ninh (Long Hoa ward, Hoa Thanh town).
In these forests, there are many old trees tens of meters high, with a trunk about the size of two adults with arms around them, estimated to be hundreds of years old. Interspersed around those old trees are many smaller sized forest trees, about 2-5 meters high.
Next to the natural forest are a number of yellow cotton Melaleuca gardens, rubber gardens are harvesting latex. In these forests there are dozens of other teenagers who are also engrossed in catching ticks. Some people hold a bucket of salt water, some carry a plastic bag.
They use flashlights to shine on the tree stumps to catch the mites that have just molted. From the ground, naked black-bodied pupa, the size of an adult's little finger, slowly crawled up the tree trunk. When about 50-70cm above the ground, they stop to wait to molt. That's also when tick hunters like the most. They gently grabbed the pupae by the neck, put them in a bucket of salt water, and wrapped them in plastic.
Any pupa that is not caught, after a while, about 10 minutes, the pupa slowly splits in half, a fledgling tick emerges from the shell. The small, short wings gradually grew and became noticeably longer. Under the flashlight, white wings appear transparent. Newly born ticks are also in the hands of tick hunters. These ill-fated insects were put in salt water. They wiggled for a while and then lay still.
Catching ticks doesn't take as much effort as I thought. The tick hunter only needs to move around on a forest area of about 100m2. After finding all the stumps in the area, go back to the first tree and so on repeat the search and catch cycle.
The night rain suddenly came, causing Mr. Binh and many others to end the tick hunting session earlier than planned. Even so, each person harvested several dozen pupae and ticks. Mr. Binh brought these insects home, took off their wings, washed them again. Then he marinated some spices and put them in a pan of boiling oil.
A rustic dish is about to be completed. Mr. Binh said, for decades now, every year, every year after the first few rain trees, he and some young people in the neighborhood go to catch ticks. Sometimes I can catch a bowl, every day I lose a bowl, I also get a few dozen. This insect is very delicious, fatty meat, nutritious, suitable for processing into food in family meals or as bait to enjoy with friends.
There are about 2.500 species of cicadas in the world. They live in both temperate and tropical regions. Cicadas are well known for their large size, distinctive shape, large head, and ability to make sounds throughout the summer.
In the Appalachian Mountains region, people in the United States call cicadas dry flies, because the carcass of the tick is still intact and dry after peeling. Cicadas do not sting, do not bite and are harmless to humans. Cicadas are also used as oriental medicine.
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