The bartender’s iced cocoa is one of the favorite drinks at Trong Duc Cocoa. Photo: T.Moc Each product has its own unique recipe. The interesting thing is that at the places selling these products, diners can also experience the actual experience when visiting and introducing the plants and product properties that they have used before. * Enjoy specialties at the garden The stop of Trong Duc Cocoa Co., Ltd (Dinh Quan) on the way to Suoi Mo Tourist Area (KDL) Suoi Mo (Tan Phu District) is about 7km from National Highway 20, where most of the restaurants stop. Tourist bus route at Suoi Mo KDL. The attraction of the stop is not only the purchase of cocoa products at the production site, but also the experience and discovery of the on-site cocoa garden with its characteristics, growth process, and production. cocoa fruit production. Efficiency from connecting products through travel From the fact of consuming nutritious and specialty drinks, it can be seen that, at present, tourism is one of the most effective channels to promote products for farmers. Therefore, in order to ensure the output of the product, in addition to the quality, the subjects and manufacturers must pay attention to the images, designs, and specific information on each product. Mr. Nguyen Ba Oanh, manager of Trong Duc Cocoa Co., Ltd. said that at present, the stopover has about 20 drinks made from cocoa. Recently, some new dishes have been researched and released to the market by the company, which are highly appreciated by diners after using such as tropical cocoa, iced cocoa, cocoa smoothie… These are water dishes. shop’s premium drink. In particular, many diners are quite impressed with the cocoa smoothie made from the flesh of the cocoa fruit, this smoothie has a sour taste and a lot of nutrition. Currently, Trong Duc Cocoa is continuing to research a number of new dishes made from cocoa fruit waste during cocoa processing at the factory of Trong Duc Cocoa Co., Ltd. In order to have these intensively processed products, the company must invite scientific researchers specializing in food to learn and process according to the recipe, ensuring the preservation of nutrients while still being safe for health. consumer health. Not only enjoying the drinks made from cocoa, if you have the opportunity to visit Tan Trieu pomelo village (Tan Binh commune, Vinh Cuu district), diners can also enjoy other interesting drinks. , is made from the main ingredient is grapefruit. As a famous restaurant and often very crowded on weekends, Tan Trieu pomelo village tourist attraction attracts visitors with pomelo village specialties such as pomelo salad, deep-fried pomelo peel… In addition to food and drinks at Tan pomelo village. The current dynasty is quite rich by dishes made from pomelos grown right on Tan Trieu land such as: pomelo smoothies, grapefruit juice, pomelo tea and especially recently, pomelo village also has more dishes that are very popular. Children’s favorite is grapefruit milk tea. Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoang Lan (District 12, Ho Chi Minh City), a regular customer of grapefruit village, said that every time her family comes here, her family often orders dishes made from grapefruit, in which a drink is indispensable. like grapefruit juice or smoothies. However, the last time she visited, her daughter discovered that the menu had grapefruit milk tea, so she tried it and was quite interested in this strange but familiar taste. Ms. Lan said that the dishes of pomelo village are made from fresh ingredients. In which, there are drinks with their own flavor, different from smoothie shops in other places. Ms. Lan shared: “The pomelo village has never disappointed my family for many years. Whenever I have guests from afar, I often choose the pomelo village to bring people to because it is both delicious and comfortable to visit the garden and take souvenir photos.” * Drinking water from dragon fruit Dong Nai currently has over 1.1 thousand hectares of red flesh dragon fruit. Red flesh dragon fruit used to be the top specialty fruit in terms of income because there were 15-20 harvests a year. At the time of price, dragon fruit sold at the garden can be up to 50-60 thousand VND/kg. According to many documents, red flesh dragon fruit has high quality and economic value, the amount of water in dragon fruit accounts for 90% with vitamins and minerals beneficial to health. Dragon fruit mainly exports fresh fruit, so those that do not meet export standards are often sold in the domestic market at a cheap price. There are times, when dragon fruit hits the market, farmers are struggling when the fruit is ripe but cannot be sold. Product introduction booth of Anna Dragon Fruit Wine Facility (Unification District) Understanding the consumption demand as well as the nutritional value of dragon fruit, a number of businesses and individuals in the province have researched and processed drinks from dragon fruit. Up to now, Dong Nai province has begun to produce products from dragon fruit such as wine, syrup, dried dragon fruit… creating a stable output of fresh fruit. In which, the enterprise that is currently developing a product line of red dragon fruit syrup and smoothie – Long Kim Co., Ltd (Long Tan commune, Nhon Trach district). In order to have enough raw materials to process products to supply the market, in addition to the area of ​​dragon fruit in the province, the company has to buy raw materials for processing from many other provinces and cities for production. In order to have a stable source of raw materials, over the past time, this enterprise has built fruit consumption chains for farmers. Also from the fact of market supply, in 2018 Anna Dragon Fruit Wine Facility (Thong Nhat District) cooperated to purchase a number of non-exported dragon fruits to produce fermented red flesh dragon fruit juice. . When the product has been tested, ensuring safety criteria, Anna Dragon Fruit Wine Factory has successfully registered the exclusive Anna brand of fermented dragon fruit juice in Dong Nai. By 2019, Anna’s dragon fruit wine products participated in the One Commune One Product (OCOP) program and was recognized as having a 3-star standard. Ms. Le Kim Luan, owner of the Anna Dragon Fruit Wine Facility, said that to get the dragon fruit wine like today, it took her a lot of time to experiment with batches of wine. Every time she has a new batch, she invites customers to taste it to record their opinions and gradually perfect the recipe, ensuring both the taste and quality of the product. With the traditional manual production method, completely natural fermentation, the Anna dragon fruit wine has kept the taste and quality of this nutritious fruit. Sharing production experience, Ms. Kim Luan said that brewing this wine requires a lot of work. In particular, the stage of choosing raw materials will decide the product after making the right taste and quality. If the dragon fruit has a sour taste, the sweetness is not uniform, the processing process requires more meticulousness. Dragon fruit is fermented in large earthenware jars and usually takes 6 months to produce a good batch of wine.

In many supermarkets, convenience stores, wholesale and retail markets, pork, beef and chicken of all kinds are defrosted for retail, in which, there are products that are discolored and metamorphosed right on the counters and stalls. See defrosted meat as cool, fresh meat In previous years, imported frozen meat was often preferred by collective kitchens (schools, factories, restaurants) because the price is much cheaper than fresh meat (hot meat) in the country and the price advantage when buying the whole box (per barrel) cartons are usually from 18-25kg). But now, imported meat is defrosted and retailed by stall owners in markets, shops and supermarkets. Bach Hoa Xanh convenience store on Vo Thanh Trang street, Tan Binh district, Ho Chi Minh City sells a lot of lean pork chips, pork ribs, and imported beef thighs. All meats here have been defrosted, chopped, and sold as cool or fresh meats. According to some customers, they buy this type of product because it is cheap and easy to process. Some customers don’t even know it’s defrosted meat. “All meat imported here is frozen meat that has been defrosted and has the same quality as chilled meats,” the store employee said. Many types of defrosted meat sold on the side of the wholesale market for agricultural products and food in Hoc Mon began to change color, but consumers still flocked to buy it due to the low price. At the Tops Market supermarket on Au Co Street, Tan Phu District, Ho Chi Minh City, the amount of beef imported from the US and Australia is quite large, overwhelming domestic beef. Meat is divided into many types such as ribs, pork belly, shoulder loin, corn, neck core meat, lean thigh, lean shoulder, flower corn… All are cut into all sizes (1-2cm thick slices, thin slices, slices). square, wrap enoki mushrooms…) and then put in a plastic tray with a weight of 300-400g, which is very suitable for the retail needs of most customers. It is not easy to recognize that this is defrosted meat because the small stamps on the surface of the tray only show the words “American beef shoulder”, “Australian beef shoulder”… With thick cuts of meat, still fine. Ice crystals between the fibers are easier to see, but with thin slices, the ice crystals disappear, they look like cool meat. Meanwhile, at the counter, there is no information that this is defrosted meat. Some meats have a promotional label, which has a three-day shelf life. According to staff, this supermarket often has promotions and discounts directly on products; all promotional meat is fresh meat, not old meat like in other supermarkets (?). At Big C supermarket on Truong Chinh Street, Tan Phu District, in addition to imported beef and pork, there are also whole chickens, garlic thighs, and imported chicken thighs. All kinds of pork and beef are also chopped, blistered, and sold in the freezer. Particularly, the types of chicken are defrosted and sold as fresh chicken in the country. At this area, there is a sign warning consumers: “Product has been defrosted, please do not re-freeze”. At Lotte Mart supermarket, imported beef has been sliced, packed, and defrosted, but the packaging says “fresh beef”. Not selling all, re-freezing again If supermarkets and shops bring thawed meat to sell as cool meat, in markets, thawed meat is sold as fresh meat. Even at the end of the day, if not sold out, the stall owner will re-freeze the meat to sell the next day. At a beef stall in Ba Hoa market, Tan Binh district, at 6am, all beef tendons in the tray were still a bit cold, some pieces of meat were still mixed with ice crystals. According to our observations, during the lunch break, this unsold meat continued to be re-frozen and then displayed on a tray for further sale at 15:00. “In the morning, this beef tendon costs 150,000 VND / kg, but in the afternoon, the price is about 120,000-130,000 VND / kg. Meat that is not sold out must be re-frozen for preservation. It’s the same everywhere, not just here,” said the stall owner. In markets, it is not difficult to recognize frozen beef and buffalo meat that is thawed and sold as fresh meat. Imported goods are mainly packed in boxes according to categories such as thigh, loin, and neck meat, while most stalls also sell these types. These defrosted meats often darken very quickly when sold at room temperature, especially on hot days. Previously, the Veterinary Department of Ho Chi Minh City had exposed cases of defrosting meat and then dipping it into fresh beef blood to deceive consumers. Route 4 on the side of Hoc Mon wholesale market for agricultural products and food is the gathering place for dozens of frozen pork trucks. This is also a place to sell defrosted and re-frozen pork on a fairly large scale. Here, there are more than a dozen stainless steel tables set up next to refrigerated trucks for small traders to display meat for sale. Meat is exposed, uncovered, under the table only temporarily lined with cardboard or plastic bags. Meat juice from the table dripped to the ground, pooled in puddles, and smelled foul. These “stalls” sell all kinds of pork such as tenderloin, cutlet, young ribs, bacon, lean shoulder, thigh, ham, hoof, and offal. Because everything is frozen, when it’s on the table, it’s a bit cold. The prices of these meats are half as cheap as hot meat in the wholesale market of agricultural products and food in Hoc Mon: pork leg and pork belly at 55,000 VND/kg; Young ribs, pork heart cost 65,000 VND/kg. According to our observations, most customers come here to buy wholesale, at least 5kg or more, in and out continuously. Vendors also use their bare hands to pick up meat for customers, with only a few wearing gloves. A seller here said that the customers who come to buy are mainly people from restaurants and collective kitchens, they take a lot of money due to the cheap price, but the delicious meat is not inferior to fresh meat because it is preserved by refrigerated trucks. specialized. However, it was only around 7am, the sun was still not shining, the meat in some stalls had stopped freezing, started to turn a little pale, not pink, and lost its elasticity when pressed. This amount of meat is put in plastic bags by the owners of the stalls and brought to the refrigerated truck to be re-frozen, wait a few hours or the next day for sale. This happens from early morning to late evening. According to regulations, to sell frozen meat, small traders in the wholesale market of agricultural products and food in Hoc Mon must register; If you do not register, you will be severely fined. Meanwhile, the “field stalls” on the side of this market sell defrosted meat without knowing if it has an expiration date or is marinated with any preservatives. (According to Women in HCMC)