Pearl of heaven and earth

Those are good farmers, entrepreneurs, scientists, engineers, managers, etc. They have one thing in common: they always have a burning desire and passion, sticking together almost all their lives. life with cashew tree.

Where did you come from in this land?

This morning, my grandmother let me follow her to the field to collect cashew nuts, no matter how many times I followed her to collect cashew nuts, I still like…

Cashews are in the harvest, each bunch of heavy seeds swaying in the wind. Bees fly back and forth in each flower cluster. At the end of my field are still bee-keeping plants ( wooden crates with lids used for beekeeping, inside are bee bridges and partitions ) low under the cashew canopy. Flocks of birds salute the crest, green cuckoos chirping in the trees, they seek to eat ripe fruit seeds. Far away, the clusters of green, red, and yellow fruit seeds still have a dew that is spreading a characteristic strong and sour smell.

The cashew fruit has a slim shape, when ripe, it is dark red like a peach in the North, but it is different in that the bottom of the seed sticks out (that's why it is also known as "pruned seed"). Cashews are curved like a crescent, green when mature and turning gray-white as the fruit ripens.

I once asked Grandma where did the cashew tree come from? When I grew up, I saw cashews grow into countless forests in this red basalt land. My grandfather also said that cashews are very precious, people in my hometown used to exchange cashews for ice cream when children were young, old farmers brought cashew nuts to drink coffee, young people in the region had a wedding ceremony in the five-fruit tray. On holidays, anniversaries, people in my hometown also display cashews on the ancestral altar.

My grandmother also heard the village elder recount that:

“Once upon a time, a long time ago, a very large bird flew in from the sea carrying a kind of seed, which grew into a tree; As the years passed, the tree grew into a forest, blossoming and bearing fragrant fruit in the whole area. The season of flowering, fruiting, bees, butterflies, birds fly back bustling from morning to afternoon. People in my hometown see that birds can eat strange fruits, so they think they can eat them too. Taste sour, acrid.

Then one day the forest burned, and the cashew nuts were also burned. People picked up the nuts and found it fragrant, so when they tried it, they were very surprised because the roasted cashews were extremely delicious. Grandma said it was a product of heaven and earth bestowed on the people of her hometown.

My grandfather also told me that in the old days during the war, my grandfather also dug tunnels to avoid bombs and bullets under the cashew tree. She pointed out the cashew tree in the yard and said there, the cellar was there. My home's cashew tree is very big, its canopy is wide, covering the whole earth, the trunk is rough and tall. There was a wasp nest on the tree, but my grandmother wouldn't let me mess with it for fear of being hit by bees. Cashew trees bloom after the rainy season and begin to flower at the beginning of the dry season. Purple-pink cashew flowers bloom in clusters, from flowering to ripe fruit takes about 8 weeks.

My family's cashew tree is the most famous in this area, its fruit is evenly large, with only 110-140 seeds/kg when dry, the tree yields nearly 200 kg of seeds every year. My cashew nuts are not only large, but the kernel is also full and firm, delicious and very fatty. People in the area and even relatives in Dong Nai, Lam Dong, Binh Thuan, etc. also often come here to look, ask for seeds, or shoots for propagation.

My grandmother also told me that once the invaders carried skewers to go bum ( with sharp sticks to poke ) around the house to find the Viet Minh cellar, but fortunately they could not find my grandfather's cellar. During the times of bombs and bullets, but my grandparents' small stilt house was not destroyed thanks to hiding under the canopy of cashew trees and since then it has become extremely dear to my family.

A thousand-year-old dream of a countryside

My grandmother also said that the cashew tree has many benefits for people. Cashew leaves for mosquito bites for humans and livestock; young leaves used as vegetables; Banh mi leaves but stir-fried minced snake meat with lemongrass and chili are extremely delicious; cashew wood used for house construction; cashew branches for firewood; Cashew nuts for making jam cakes or cooking snakehead fish sour soup is a famous specialty dish from time immemorial. Cashew berries are also pressed to get water as a beverage or as a drink, which is also very impressive. But the part with the highest economic value is the cashew kernel because the cashew kernel has high energy, high unsaturated fat content and high protein content, etc., which is very good for human health.

As I told you, I was born and raised in a poor countryside, in Binh Phuoc province, where cashews grow into forests, etc. In the 80s and 90s of the last century, the people of my hometown always cherished. one thing is how to make them live a long life with the cashew tree, which is their lifelong dream.

At that time, we collected cashews from the fields, people came to buy them at night, but often we were forced and had to sell them at a cheap price. At that time, the people in my hometown did not know how to split cashews to get kernels for export as now, 100% are exporting raw cashew nuts, which can only be sold to a single customer from India. There are times when it is the cashew harvest season, it rains heavily, the cashews are piled up on the dream, moldy, etc. I don't know how to handle it, it's really hard!

But every spring, when Tet comes, the people in my hometown are anxious and anxious to pray for good weather, good weather and good season, winning prices to have money to cover expenses, pay debts for a living as well as have money for their children. children go to school… But sometimes their small dreams come true; often the good thing falls in price, or vice versa; The poor are still poor no matter how hard they try.

It's really "I'm so sorry!". ( continued... )

Another season of things comes to the people of my hometown. This afternoon, I and my son sat under the canopy of cashews, listening to the fruit drop and pounding, thinking about the ships calling at Hoi An port - Quang Nam carrying the first cashew seeds to Indochina... Grandparents and grandparents. My paternal grandfather passed away a long time ago. My parents are old and have handed over the farm, the factory to my husband and I, a factory is not very big, but it is the passion of my father's life and it has also raised my sisters.