Every year, around the end of May and the beginning of June, not only famous lychee growing regions such as Bac Giang , Hung Yen, and Hai Duong enter the season, but also the entire northern countryside is bustling with the colors of lychee. This year's lychee harvest is good, blooming early. When the fruit skin has begun to turn red, it only needs a few more sunny spells to become plump and ready to harvest. There are trees that are still green, but after just a few days of harsh sunlight, they have grown visibly.
The lychee trees in the home garden, although not as sweet and round as those grown in specialized fields, each fruit brings joy and excitement because of the “homegrown” mentality, and is completely clean because there are no fertilizers or pesticides. The first fruits of the season are carefully selected to offer to ancestors. The rest are divided into bunches to give to relatives and neighbors, so everyone gets a share.
The family that ripens first invites first, the family that ripens later gives back, then everyone compares which tree is sweeter, which fruit is bigger. The best thing is the atmosphere of lychee picking day: people climb trees, people help pick leaves, break branches, work and chat animatedly, even though sweat soaks the back of their shirts.
Families with children living far away always set aside a few branches from the tree. Sometimes parents trim them neatly, pack them in cardboard boxes, and send them on a bus trip of thousands of kilometers from North to South.
Eating homegrown lychee in the middle of the city, why does it taste so different - even though the fruit is smaller, the skin is rougher, but it is sweet and strangely refreshing. Perhaps because it is not just a fruit, but also a gift from the countryside filled with love, a childhood memory, a piece of the countryside soul in the hearts of children far away from home.
These days, the streets of the South are also flooded with the color of lychees. From traditional markets, supermarkets to street vendors, everywhere you see lychees bundled in bright red bunches. Vendors are constantly spraying water to keep the fruit fresher under the harsh Southern sun.
After the batches of pink lychees grown in the Central Highlands, lychees from Bac Giang, Hung Yen, and Hai Duong have also begun to be shipped to Ho Chi Minh City by truck. Gourmets are still patiently waiting for the lychees: thin skin, thick, dry flesh, small seeds, and a sweet taste that is not too harsh.
In addition to being eaten fresh, in the South, lychees are also transformed into many cool desserts: lychee tea, lychee yogurt, lychee shaved ice, lychee wrapped in lotus seeds, soaked lychee... Each dish has a gentle, pleasant flavor, very suitable for the Southern summer sun.
Each year, lychee only has one season, a short time, only a few months. But that sweet fruit not only brings sweetness to the tip of the tongue, but also the aftertaste of family love, of homeland. A bountiful lychee season, joy also smolders, like the scent of lychee spreading in the wind, touching the tip of the tongue and anchoring for a long time in the heart.
Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/mua-vai-post799531.html
Comment (0)