Mr. Bui Xuan Tam, from Tan Hung commune, Hung Yen province, owns the largest area of ancient longan trees in the locality, with hundreds of trees bearing the brand "Bui Tam's Authentic Ancient Longan Tree". Photo: Nguyen Cong Hai/TTXVN
Those who are passionate about this specialty longan variety.
Despite being over 80 years old, brothers Trinh Van Cuong and Trinh Van Huu, from Ne Chau village, Tan Hung commune, remain dedicated to their family's precious longan orchard.
Mr. Trinh Van Cuong shared that the square-fruited longan tree was planted by his father in their garden. Recognizing the delicious fruit, in 1995, his family began grafting and propagating it in their garden. To date, they have expanded the tree to an area of over 4,000 square meters. In 2022, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Hung Yen province (now the Department of Agriculture and Environment) recognized his family's longan orchard as a mother tree orchard and allowed them to harvest a maximum of 60,000 grafted buds per year. This has created favorable conditions for his family and other households in the village to expand the cultivation of this valuable longan variety.
According to Mr. Cuong, the square-shaped rock sugar longan is a precious local variety. When ripe, the shoulders of the fruit protrude, giving it a square shape. Compared to other longan varieties, the square-shaped rock sugar longan doesn't have a high yield, but it compensates with very uniform, beautiful fruits, crispy flesh, easy-to-remove seeds, and a rich, honey-like flavor, making it very popular with customers.
For Mr. Trinh Van Huu, owning a specialty longan orchard is not just a idyllic pastime but also a family treasure. Each longan season brings him more worries, his diary growing thicker with each passing year, his anxieties increasing with each passing season. Mr. Huu confided that each square-fruited, rock sugar longan tree is not just a tree but a local specialty, and therefore, it requires collective effort, especially the continuation of the younger generation, to ensure that the sweetness of his homeland is not lost.
Mr. Bui Xuan Tam, from Tan Hung commune, Hung Yen province, has been recognized for his many achievements in preserving and developing the famous longan fruit, a specialty of the Pho Hien region. Photo: Nguyen Cong Hai/TTXVN
Also in Tan Hung commune, Mr. Bui Xuan Tam owns the largest area of ancient longan trees in the locality, with over 200 trees bearing the brand "Bui Tam's Ancient Longan Tree". Encouragingly, his daughter is following in her father's footsteps, bringing Hung Yen's longan fruits and processed longan products closer to consumers both domestically and internationally.
Mr. Tam shared that in 1990, his family bid for a plot of old longan trees at the foot of the dike in Ne Chau village. During the harvest season, he discovered a longan tree that produced very delicious fruit, with a crispy flesh, easy-to-peel seed, and a rich honey-like aroma, comparable to the rock sugar longan variety. Afterward, he took the seeds home and planted them in his garden.
By 1997, when the trees had matured and were producing a stable yield, his family began grafting to propagate this precious longan variety. In 2022, Mr. Tam's family's ancient longan variety was certified, allowing them to harvest a maximum of 1,000-1,500 grafted buds per year.
Recognizing the decline of the ancient longan variety, and the dwindling reputation of Hung Yen longan growers in the village, Mr. Tam, as the head of the Veterans' Association in Ne Chau village, gathered members with similar interests to share longan cultivation experiences and find solutions to preserve and propagate this valuable variety. To realize his idea, in early 2022, Mr. Tam purchased 1,000 young longan trees and grafted them with his family's ancient longan variety. To date, he has donated over 100 saplings to members of the association.
A variety of processed products made from longan.
Mr. Bui Xuan Tam's ancient longan tree (Tan Hung commune, Hung Yen province) is preparing for the 2025 longan harvest. Photo: Nguyen Cong Hai/TTXVN.
Born in Tan Hung, the capital of longan cultivation – a place known for its many valuable varieties such as the "old-fleshed" longan, the "rock sugar" longan, and the square-fruited "rock sugar" longan – Bui Thi Thu Huong witnessed her family and other longan growers struggling with the problem of "bumper harvest, low prices," which further strengthened her resolve to start her own business. In 2020, Ms. Huong partnered with other longan growers in the commune to establish the Pho Hien Green Agricultural Cooperative for the sale of fresh longan fruit.
She realized that besides fresh longan fruit, the local area also had many other specialties such as cassava flour, lotus seeds, and longan flower honey with great potential for development. Through research, learning, and gaining experience, Ms. Huong has brought many products with the distinctive flavors of her hometown to consumers.
Speaking about the idea of revitalizing local products, Ms. Huong shared that the longan season only lasts about two months, and dried longan is mainly produced on a small scale in households, so not many people know about it, and the product value is not high. Not only focusing on fresh longan fruit, the cooperative utilizes local specialties to enrich its product range, helping members trust and stay committed to the cooperative. To date, the Pho Hien Green Agriculture Cooperative has many products certified with OCOP 3-star (One Commune One Product Program), including fresh longan fruit, dried longan, and dried longan wrapped in lotus...
Currently, the cooperative sells an average of over 5,000 gift sets of various kinds each year, with average prices ranging from 300,000 to 1 million VND per set, depending on the number of products. Notably, each gift set includes a thank-you letter from the cooperative to the customer, which not only helps customers know the origin of the products but also gives them a better understanding of Hung Yen's longan-growing region.
At the courtyard of Hien Pagoda in Hong Chau ward, Hung Yen province, there is still a centuries-old "ancestor longan tree," commemorated with a commemorative plaque, attesting to the origin of Hung Yen's specialty longan variety. Photo: Nguyen Cong Hai/TTXVN
Sharing her pride in the recognition of "Folk knowledge of growing and processing Hung Yen longan" as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Huong, Director of the Hung Yen Provincial Relics Management Board, said that longan is a famous product, once used as a tribute to the king, and is the pride of the land and people of Hung Yen. Longan trees have been cultivated for hundreds of years, closely associated with Pho Hien - a major international trading center of our country in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Today, at the courtyard of Hien Pagoda in Hong Chau ward, Hung Yen province, there still stands the "ancestor longan tree," over 300 years old, with a commemorative plaque marking its origin as proof of the Hung Yen specialty longan variety. Most of the longan trees in Hung Yen today have some genetic material from this ancestor tree.
Hung Yen currently has about 50 longan genera, of which more than 40 are of indigenous origin. Longan varieties are named according to their characteristics and flavor: rock sugar longan, fleshy longan, watery longan, woody longan, rice longan, Huong Chi longan... and mainly the fleshy longan and rock sugar longan are called "cage longan".
Following in her father's footsteps, Bui Xuan Tam, Bui Thi Thu Huong (Tan Hung commune, Hung Yen province) researches the market and develops designs for lychee-related products to meet market demands and enhance product value. Photo: Nguyen Cong Hai/TTXVN
According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Huong, there are several different explanations for the name "longan cage." Most believe that the name "longan cage" originated from the practice of people in the past using bamboo or rattan cages to cover the longan clusters near harvest time, protecting them from bats and birds. Longan is grown in many communes and wards such as Hong Chau, Son Nam, Tan Hung, Khoai Chau, Trieu Viet Vuong, Tien Lu… Among them, Ne Chau village in Tan Hung commune is home to many valuable longan varieties such as the "old-fleshed" longan and the "rock sugar" longan.
Protecting and promoting the value of folk knowledge in growing and processing longan not only contributes significantly to the preservation of this precious plant variety in Hung Yen, but it is also a valuable research subject in the fields of genetics, sustainable agriculture, cuisine, and medicine… From there, it promotes economic and tourism development, bringing livelihoods to the local community, said Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Huong.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Huong further informed that the recognition by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of "Knowledge of growing and processing longan in Hung Yen" as a national intangible cultural heritage is a prerequisite for Hung Yen to build a dossier to submit to UNESCO for inscription on the list of representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity. Currently, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has assigned the Relic Management Board to coordinate with relevant departments and localities to build the dossier.
Source: https://baotintuc.vn/van-hoa/phat-huy-gia-tri-di-san-van-hoa-phi-vat-the-nhan-long-hung-yen-20260120075720976.htm
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