If Xuan Dinh (Tu Liem, Hanoi) is known for Nhat Tan peaches, Quang Ba kumquats, Vong village’s nuggets, etc., Xuan Dinh persimmon is also a pride and a precious specialty of the suburban area.

“Visit my hometown, Xuan Dinh

Go to the garden and eat sapodilla fruit to your heart’s content.”

From the inner city, take Thuy Khe street to Buoi market, then turn left along Lac Long Quan street for about 3km, then turn left to Xuan La and then to Xuan Dinh commune.

Xuan Dinh sapodilla fruit is not very large, shaped like a filling, has a slim and uniform shape, very thin yellow skin. Because the skin is thin but wrapped inside the succulent and smooth fibers of sapodilla when eaten, it does not cause a burning or crunching sensation like other types of sapodilla, so Xuan Dinh sapodilla has long become a precious specialty of Vietnam. capital people.

No one can count how many persimmon trees the whole Xuan Dinh commune has, but almost every house grows persimmons. A pink year has two crops: the crop and the plum crop. The crop begins around October of the lunar calendar and lasts until April of the next lunar year. And the contemplation season starts from the 5th lunar month to September. In the wrong season, the persimmon crop is laden with branches and large fruits. The persimmon crop is less, the fruit is small, but has a richer sweetness and a more delicate aroma than the seasonal persimmon.

Along with the tradition of growing sapodilla, the people of Xuan Dinh also have a very clever way of vinegar (du) sapodilla. To have a batch of persimmons ripen evenly, sweetly, fragrantly and look beautiful, growers have to spend a lot of effort. When spreading persimmons, you must know how to choose the old, round, healthy fruits, the skin is smooth and the color is slightly pinkish red.

After washing, soak the persimmons in water for about 15 minutes to remove all the pink powder and then rinse. To clean the rose, you must choose a very soft cloth or sponge, wipe your hands to avoid scratching the pink shell. Persimmons, after being washed, are dried in the sun to bring them into vinegar. After putting the persimmons in a jar or jar, people here often burn a bunch of incense, break it into a bowl, put it in a jar and then cover it, avoiding opening it again and again.

That’s how vinegar in the summer. In the cold spring, pink vinegar must be placed in baskets, bamboo-lined with leaves, dry cloth around burning incense, covered with a thick cloth to keep warm. After three days, persimmons will ripen evenly and have a very unique aroma.

Like the Nhat Tan flower market, Xuan Dinh also has a persimmon market. The busiest market is from 4-7am. In the harvest season, the burdens of persimmons follow the rhythm on the shoulders of the farmers who jump on buses to the provinces and cities across the country.

Attaching and loving their local specialties, Xuan Dinh’s children are looking for ways to help their homeland’s sapodilla appear in many places, and expand the plant variety to other localities. They are willing to sell seeds and share experiences with anyone who wants to learn how to grow and care for Xuan Dinh sapodilla.

Visitors from all over the world come here, no one does not choose Xuan Dinh sapodilla as a gift for their relatives, and Hanoians when going away also take advantage of some time to return to Xuan Dinh to earn a few kilograms of sapodilla as a gift.

Carrying a backpack on my shoulder, filled with ripe sapodillas brought home, I bid farewell to Xuan Dinh when the afternoon was slowly falling, but my heart still lingered on the sweet and cool taste of the plump and round persimmons.

Legend has it that the persimmon tree was planted by Do Dinh Duyen (from Xuan Dinh village) brought from Thailand to grow. After a few years, the tree of fortune-telling, sweet and fragrant, Duyen extracted it and planted it all over his garden. Neighbors found it strange and asked for seeds to be planted. Since then, the original sapodilla tree from the garden of Mr. Duyen’s house has spread throughout the commune. Up to now, sapodilla has been around for more than a century.
In recent years, due to urbanization, the area of ​​land planted to Xuan Dinh sapodilla has shrunk, along with the appearance of a series of fruits, sapodilla no longer holds the unique position as before. However, there are still households who are still enthusiastic about sapodilla, still keep their rose gardens intact, both to collect fruit, and to get shade, and it seems more meaningful than it is a feeling of attachment, closeness and closeness. close, faithful to the home country sapodilla.
Since the 1970s of the last century, many people in the city and neighboring provinces have flocked here to buy sapodilla, so Xuan Dinh sapodilla has been replicated to other localities, however, are planted and cared for properly, but when planted in other places, persimmons do not give fragrant and delicious fruits like persimmons grown on Xuan Dinh’s own land. Perhaps heaven and earth have favored the people here?