Ly Son Island is known as the “Kingdom of Garlic”. The quality of Ly Son garlic is unmatched. In addition to taking tubers, people also use young garlic stems to process into delicious dishes.
Ly Son island district has about 300 hectares of land for garlic cultivation. Sea sand and sediments from volcanic eruptions millions of years ago have created a characteristic flavor for Ly Son garlic.
In recent years, in addition to most of the area of growing garlic for tubers, Ly Son people also grow garlic to get the young body to process into food. Coming to Ly Son at this time, visitors will enjoy the fragrant young garlic salad, fried young garlic.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Bon (Ly Son district) said, in the past, the garlic fields that were too thick to be removed would be removed to ensure the highest productivity of the garlic plant. The garlic trees were removed and the people made use of the food processing. Now, the garlic fields grown for the harvest of young garlic are grown separately because the care is different from the garlic fields grown for tubers.
“The most important thing is to plant it separately to ensure the garlic plant is clean, not affected by fertilizers and plant protection drugs,” said Ms. Bon.
The fields planted for young garlic have a fairly thick density, are well taken care of so that the body of the garlic is large. From planting to harvest about 2 months. At this time, the tubers have almost not created shrimp, the base is still young.
After harvesting, the garlic plant is cut off the tops, taking only the tubers and the base about 10 cm long. The tubers and young stalks are split in half then blanched with boiling water. Now you can use young garlic as a salad with seafood, or as a fried garlic dish with meat. The sweet taste, strong aroma of the bulb and the young garlic body create a characteristic flavor of the dish.
Ly Son young garlic dish is not only delicious but also quite good for health. The dishes from young garlic plant help increase resistance, fight colds, provide many good nutrients for the body.
Therefore, about the past 5 years, the young garlic dish has been favored by many people. The need for increasingly high consumption of young garlic brings a good source of income for garlic growers.
Mr. Nguyen Thai Hoa (Quang Ngai City) specializes in providing Ly Son young garlic to customers in many provinces and cities. According to Mr. Hoa, this time the number of customers ordering young garlic increased sharply, the amount of young garlic transported from Ly Son to the mainland was not enough to provide. The consumption is strong, while the output of young garlic is not much, so the price increases compared to before.
“Not only customers in the province but many other places also love young garlic. A large part of Ly Son baby garlic has been transferred to the southern provinces and cities. Currently, young garlic is being sold for 45,000 to 50,000 VND per kg” , Mr. Hoa said.
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