“In previous years, my husband and I often bought the whole garden, from when the lychee was still green until harvest, we would sell it to traders. Now the lychee is in the right season for the outbreak, so my husband and I decided to switch to drying and selling dry cloth. Because it was too urgent, I didn’t have time to make a drying oven, so after I harvested fresh lychees, I rented them to dry them and then sell them on my personal page as well as online market groups,” Thuy said. The price of dried fabric is halved compared to every year Ms. Thuy said that the drying time for a batch of fabric ranges from 5 to 6 days, depending on the drying process of each kiln owner. A satisfactory batch of dried lychee is that the lychee fruit must have uniform color, sharp sweetness, flexibility and a very characteristic aroma. Due to the impact of the epidemic, the price of dried lychee this year is much lower than every year. According to Ms. Thuy, in previous years, the average price of dried lychee was from 120,000-150,000 VND/kg, this year the price fluctuates around 60,000 VND/kg. This price is for Thuy and her husband to make it public on their sales page. She and her husband only do wholesale, not retail, with a minimum order of 10kg. Customers taking in large quantities, from 50kg or more, I will reduce the price a little more. “Because I have been selling for nearly 15 years, the number of regular customers is very large. There are customers who order immediately at 2-3 quintals, on average I output about 4 quintals a day. In less than a week, I sold 1.5 tons of dried lychees,” she said. Thuy and her husband only wholesale dried cloth for customers who buy 10kg or more “Actually, this year, I switched to selling dried lychees like this and didn’t make much profit. However, due to the Covid-19 epidemic, I want to join hands so that litchi growers don’t suffer much damage.” The woman shared that if the dried fabric meets the standards, it can be preserved for a whole year. Dried lychee can be used to eat directly, soak in alcohol or use to cook tea, as a spice for traditional Chinese medicine. How to choose a drying cloth In the market, there are many establishments that sell dried fabrics, but to choose quality dried fabrics, it is necessary to pay attention to buy them at reputable addresses. The dried fruit must be large, the outer skin is dry evenly, keep its shape or slightly dented. Dried fabric can be kept for a long time Especially when peeling, the lychee must be flexible, have a characteristic aroma, sweet taste, peel off without sticking to your hands, and have a dark color of cockroach wings. Long litchi with black color means it has been burnt, while long with light brown color means that it has not been dried enough, must be used immediately and cannot be stored for a long time. Methods of preservation In order to preserve the dried fabric for a long time, when we buy the fabric, we dry it under 2 or 3 times in the sun. During the drying process, pay attention to turning the fabric to the sun, and the fabric to dry evenly. Then put it in the shade to dry in the wind for another 3, 4 days, then put it in a tightly tied plastic bag. When storing, about 2-3 months, you should open the cloth bag to check the probability of a few fruits to see if the dried fabric is still of good quality or has been moldy, damaged or opaque. If you store a lot, every few months, you should take the fabric out to dry in the sun and follow the exact same preservation process for the first time, thus ensuring that the dried fabric can be kept delicious and nutritious for years to come.

In the past 2 years, across forums and groups of online markets, many small traders are selling butterfly pea flowers at prices ranging from 450 to nearly 700 thousand VND/kg. It is worth mentioning that despite being sold at a price as high as that of precious medicinal herbs, many people are still willing to pay for it. On the internet market, butterfly pea flower tea is sold a lot. Screenshots. In the early days of May of the solar calendar, Ms. Tran Thu Minh, 29 years old in Kim Ma, Hanoi started selling butterfly pea flower tea. According to Ms. Minh, this is the second year she sells this flower tea and is interested by many people. This type of climbing flower has purple-blue, dark blue-white flowers, but the most common is purple-blue. Illustration. This 29-year-old woman said: “ Butterfly pea flower is no stranger to many people. Because this type of climbing plant is grown as a fence in many countryside. Or many families plant them as a flower bed in front of the porch or in the corner of the garden to keep cool. This type of climbing flower has purple-blue, dark blue-white flowers, but the most common is purple-blue. When I was a child, my house in Nam Dinh also had a fence of butterfly pea flowers and their flowers fell all over the path, but no one picked them up because they didn’t know its use was so great. That day, only occasionally at home with her mother’s five-color sticky rice, she sent her children out to get butterfly pea flowers to create a beautiful purple-blue sticky rice. Or sometimes mom cooks jelly on summer days with butterfly pea flowers to feed “. It was not until 2 years ago, when many people discovered the wonderful health benefits of butterfly pea flowers, that Ms. Minh’s family began to collect wild purple-blue flowers that were not mixed with branches and stalks and were recruited. These are carefully selected to dry in the sun and then dry. Many people use fresh flowers to dry in the sun and then dry them to make butterfly pea flower tea. Illustration. Because of selling natural, safe and reasonable flowers, this woman gradually gained the trust of women: “ Usually my house has a lot of regular guests. They also know that this flower does not keep fresh for long, so they often have to dry it and then dry it. In fact, every 7-8kg of fresh flowers is 1kg of dried flowers. Due to being so sophisticated, the price of this flower tea is quite expensive “. It is known that 100g of butterfly pea flower tea is being sold by Ms. Minh for 106,000 VND. Customers who buy 200gr cost 177 thousand VND. Buying 500gr costs 360 thousand VND. And customers who buy 1 kg will get a discount of 680 thousand VND: “ Last year, there was a time when I also sold dried butterfly pea flower tea for 800-900 thousand VND/kg. But this year the epidemic is like this, so the price of butterfly pea flowers is also very affordable so that any customer who needs it can buy it. “, said Ms. Minh. Customers buying butterfly pea flower tea are mainly office women. Illustration. This small trader also shared, the buyers are mainly office ladies. They usually buy 1-3 ounces to dye sticky rice, jelly, cakes, jams or brew tea to drink. A few customers often order a kilogram to brew tea to drink daily to nourish and support health. As an office woman with 2 children, Ms. Nga, 40 years old (Thuong Dinh, Hanoi) loves to make cakes and drinks. Therefore, every year she buys half a kilo of dried butterfly pea flowers to color the cakes and drinks. “ I buy half a kilo and it’s enough for a whole year to make cakes and drinks because there are quite a few. The rest, I also bought 1 kg separately for my grandmother to drink every day. 1kg is a lot, use it for a whole year. Because mixing water, just 1 flower is enough for 1 cup of water to drink. As for making cakes or sticky rice, I just bring 3-5 flowers to create color.” , Ms. Nga shared. This person also shared, the market currently sells 2 types of fresh flowers and dried butterfly pea flowers. But buyers should buy dried flowers because they are easy to store and use. The price per kilogram of dried butterfly pea flowers is quite expensive. Illustration. In addition, these topics for sale of flowers that used to be fences attract a lot of attention from online users and online markets. Many people think that, with 1 kg of dried flowers that cost from half a million to nearly a million, it is also reasonable because to earn 1 kg of dry is not easy, must go to many places to collect and be dried according to the standards. However, many people do not believe their eyes when the flower that grows in full fence is sold at such a high price.