There are strange plants that bear fruit once every few years, expensive prices that everyone likes. Bamboo fruit is an example of rarity and strangeness. This is the fruit of a type of bamboo tree, eaten with a mild sweet taste. This fruit has a thick and hard skin like bamboo, the inner flesh is yellow green, seedless and very succulent. And this is the fruit of the cork tree – a plant that also belongs to the bamboo family. Fruiting is also a very rare phenomenon, so it is difficult to enjoy it. This toe-shaped fruit is called “Stinking Toe” (translated into Vietnamese as “stinky toe”). Stinking Toe is considered a pretty delicious fruit. The Stinking Toe tree takes decades to bear fruit. Each fruit has only a few seeds. The skin of this fruit is very thick, hard, when broken, a pungent odor similar to foot odor is emanating from the pulp-like pulp surrounding the seed. However, when eaten, it has a sweet taste like milk. In addition to Mexico, Central and South America, Stinking Toe trees also grow in Jamaica and some islands in the Caribbean. Orangutan fruit is also little known because it grows mainly in the mountainous areas of the Central and Central Highlands. The tree only flowers and bears fruit once every few years, so the orangutan fruit is considered “lucky”. Currently, orangutans are purchased by traders at prices ranging from 150,000 to 350,000 VND/kg. Ripe orangutan fruit that falls by itself will be appreciated for its quality, more expensive than the kind that is picked and dried.

Here, mussels are not only a specialty dish with a famous brand throughout the country, but thanks to that, people have a fairly stable income. Every day, thanks to mussels, a section of La River in Ben Hen village is as bustling as a miniature market. Present in Ben Hen village, witnessing the busy buying and selling scene, besides in the village, the stoves boiling mussels smoke and the aroma from boiled mussels spreads throughout the whole area. The smokey mussels boiling stoves in Ben Hen Boiling mussels in a hut, Nguyen Thi Hoa, from Ben Hen village, Truong Son commune, Duc Tho district (Ha Tinh), said: “I don’t know when this profession was formed, only know that generations People in Ben Hen village, when born and grow up, all follow each other in the profession of raking mussels and boiling mussels. All expenses in life, building houses, buying supplies, taking care of their children and grandchildren’s education, all depend on income from mussel farming. According to Ms. Hoa, in the past, mussel making was difficult, very hard, all day long, husband and wife, brothers and sisters were stuck in the river, just worried about making enough to eat, did not have enough money, because at that time the price of mussels was too cheap. About 10 years ago, when mussels became a clean food, a popular specialty, the price was high, so the mussel industry in Ben Hen is growing strongly and bringing a good source of income. determined for the people. Ben Hen is growing stronger and bringing a fairly stable source of income The reason is called the profession “going backward” because in the past, mussel making was not as modern as it is now, to catch mussels, people had to use a rake with a rectangular trough, 1-1.5m long handle to rake. The rake just went backwards and shook it to treat the mussels. Now, just sitting on a motorboat, plugging a rake into the sand and then running the engine along the river a few times, there are dozens of kilograms of mussels. Because the value of mussels is high and the mussels in Ben Hen have affirmed their brand, many traders have come to the place to buy in large quantities and then transport them everywhere for consumption. Thanks to that, mussel workers do not have to worry about output, raking as much as they can consume. The mussel fishing season lasts almost all year round, but the peak season and the most mussels are from January to June of the lunar calendar. Ben Hen village currently has 150 households living by raking mussels – a job “going backwards”. Ben Hen village currently has 150 households living by raking mussels – a job that “goes backward”, sunbathing with his back, his face in the water all day, and working hard at night picking and washing mussels. Although it is less difficult than before, the job of making mussels requires health, perseverance and hard work. After scraping, all mussels are used up, the shells are gathered and calcined into lime for construction, agricultural production or finely milled as food for chickens and ducks; mussel intestine used to process dishes; Mussels are used to make soup. Mr. Nguyen Quang Tuan, a resident of Ben Hen told reporters about the process of making mussels. He said: “We men, who are healthy, go on a motorboat to rake mussels on the river, on average 2-3 people per boat. And women stay at home to soak mussels, boil mussels, treat mussels clean… Every day, work usually starts from 2-3 am until late afternoon”. Mussels enrich the whole village Sharing with reporters, Ms. Nguyen Thi Sen, who has been involved in this profession for a long time, said: “Mussels are “a blessing from heaven” given to these villagers, my whole family has been working as mussel rakes for 4 generations on the La River. I also ate mussels but grew up, so even though I worked hard, I still had to keep the traditional profession of the village, “said Ms. Sen. Currently, mussels here are considered a clean specialty Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa, a resident of Hen wharf confided: “In the past, every day my husband and I just needed to go along the La River to rake a few tons of mussels, but now the mussel production is increasingly depleted, so people have to overcome kilometers along the river Ngan Sau, Ngan Pho or upstream Ben Thuy bridge (Vinh City) to bring back mussels. According to Mr. Tuan, in the peak season, there are boats raking more than 1 ton of mussels/day, the remaining average is 300-600kg/boat. The average income from making mussels is about 500,000 – 1 million VND/house/day. Compared to other occupations, this is the profession that is bringing in the highest and most stable income, creating many jobs for people… Especially, mussels here are now considered a clean specialty with economic value. high so people are very secure to stick to the job.

It is said to be a “gift from heaven” as a “gift of the earth”, so the Western termite fungus on the market is extremely expensive in the market, up to 800,000-1,000,000 VND/kg, even at times the price is up to 1.5 million VND/kg. The termite fungus grows in forested areas and hills where termites reside. Depending on the weather, the termite mushroom season can last for 2-3 months. However, this fungus only grows around 3-4 am and needs to be harvested early in the day when the sun has not yet risen, otherwise it will fade or be damaged by termites. With drought often occurring in the West, the mushroom that was “rare and hard to find” is now more scarce. Ms. Thu Huyen, a seller of termite mushrooms in Ho Chi Minh City, said that this item is increasingly scarce, so traders and small traders compete fiercely for goods. So at the end of the season, the price is high, but when there are goods, customers take them all, there is no surplus. It is also because of the expensive price, so customers who want to buy this mushroom must deposit 50% in advance to get it. “This year, in addition to guests in Saigon, the number of guests outside of Hanoi ordered mushrooms quite a lot, some people ordered 3-4kg, waited half a month and still no mushrooms.” There are 2 sources of termite mushrooms for sale in Ho Chi Minh City: Eastern mushrooms and Western mushrooms with very different prices. Eastern mushrooms, mainly from Binh Phuoc, cost from 500,000 VND – 600,000 VND/kg (bud mushrooms) while Western mushrooms, especially Ben Tre mushrooms, cost up to 1.2 – 1.5 million VND/kg. According to Huyen, the reason for such a price difference is because the Ben Tre termite mushroom is fragrant, sweeter than other places thanks to alluvial soil, and the quantity is increasingly rare, so the price is increasing. However, recently, there has been a phenomenon that traders bring mushrooms from other places, mixed with mushrooms collected from the local to sell at high prices, buyers should pay attention to avoid buying wrong. The termite mushrooms can be cooked into many different dishes such as: stir-fry, grill, pour pancakes, cook porridge. If you buy a lot, you can store it in the refrigerator for about 1 week, if you want to eat it gradually, you must clean it, put it in a bag or box and then store it in the freezer, when eating. Just leave the mushrooms out, wait for them to freeze and cook, but don’t wash them because washing the mushrooms will lose nutrients. For many people, termite mushrooms are a gift from nature. This is considered “fortune heaven”, whoever finds mushrooms is considered lucky. (According to GiadinhNet)