Ripe Doi Season

Every year, around September and October, two brothers, Bui Van Tho from Xuan Dai Commune and Ha Van Toan from Kim Thuong Commune, Tan Son District, prepare their tools and equipment and wander around the villages to pick wild Doi. The old Doi trees are 25-40m tall, with lots of fruit, and here and there are clusters with cracked shells, revealing red seeds, signaling that they are ready to be harvested.

A cluster of ripe Doi seeds, blooming right from the tree.

Ripe Doi seeds have a distinctive red color.

Red color in the forest

Doi seeds are a treasure of the mountain people because of their high economic value, sometimes reaching 2-3 million VND/kg. When ripe, Doi seeds have a bright red color, standing out against the green of the mountains and forests.

There are many types of Doi; if you cannot distinguish them, it is easy to buy poor-quality Doi seeds. According to the people in the mountainous areas, there are two types of Doi Nep and Doi Non.

The characteristic of Doi Nep is that the seeds are usually dark and hard; when roasted or pounded, they are bitter and cannot be used as a spice. On the contrary, if it is Doi Nep seeds, when marinated with food, they will have a characteristic aroma and will not be bitter. In particular, the older the Doi tree is, the better the quality of the seeds. Any garden with a Doi tree that is 20-30 years old is considered a treasure in the family.

Following the footsteps of two children, Bui Van Tho and Ha Van Toan, we visited the family of Mrs. Ha Thi Thanh Xuan - Xuan 1 area, Kim Thuong commune. Mrs. Xuan is famous in the area because her family still preserves about 10 Doi Nep trees that are over 20 years old.

Mrs. Xuan shared: My family started growing Doi in 1992. Because they are planted from seeds, it takes exactly 15 years to harvest. Because it is a glutinous variety of doi, with fragrant, plump seeds, every year around October, people come to buy it. A few years ago, doi seeds sold for a very good price, bringing a stable source of income for families. In the past 2 years, due to the widespread appearance of doi seeds of unknown origin and poor quality regular doi seeds on the market, the market has been compared and competed, causing the price of doi seeds to decrease significantly.

Doi trees are not picky about soil or terrain; whether they grow naturally in the forest or are planted in home gardens, the quality of the fruit remains the same. The trees tend to grow straight, and old trees can be 40-50m tall. However, the trees are brittle and break easily, so not everyone has enough experience and skills to climb them.

The joy of people on doi harvest day.

Regular doi climbers like Tho and Toan must prepare their tools very carefully before climbing. Tools include climbing clogs, safety belts, long bamboo poles used to hook clusters of fruit from a distance, and tarps spread under the tree to prevent the seeds from falling out. During the harvesting process, it is necessary to minimize breaking branches because this will affect the quality and productivity of the following years.

Normally, a Doi tree can harvest 20-30kg of fruit at most. Ripe Doi fruits are when the shell is removed, a beautiful red seed appears inside. After being removed, the Doi seeds will be dried in the sun or dried with a machete and then wrapped in plastic bags so that the seeds can be preserved longer without losing their flavor.

Highland culinary flavors

After harvesting, doi seeds can be used as a spice to prepare many traditional dishes. Muong people in Tan Son often use wild Doi seeds as a spice for dipping dishes with grilled pork, boiled pork, duck, grilled chicken, pork intestines, or as a marinade. When processed, doi seeds are usually roasted on charcoal to create a fragrant aroma, then crushed like pepper.

Doi seeds are also an indispensable spice to marinate wild boar meat and grilled dishes such as chicken, pork belly, or grilled ribs. Some people also use doi seeds when cooking with chicken and pickled bamboo shoots to create an attractive, well-rounded dish.

After being dried, doi seeds are wrapped in plastic bags for preservation.

Doi seeds after being peeled.

However, dou seeds have the characteristic that after being roasted or grilled, they usually cannot be stored for as long as pepper, so they are only roasted when needed and only roasted as much as used.

In addition to culinary values, doi seeds also bring many economic values. The tree usually flowers around February or March and is harvested from September to October. Flowers once a year, so harvested doi seeds are very rare.

It takes 5 years for the Doi tree to grow. However, it must be over 10 years old for the tree to produce a certain amount of seeds, from 3 kg or more. Newly grown Doi trees can only harvest from 0.5 to 1 kg per crop. If dried, 3 kg of fresh Doi seeds will yield 1 kg of dry seeds. Due to the small quantity, wild Doi seeds are quite rare, often out of stock, not enough to sell to customers. Currently, Doi seeds on the market cost from 1.5 to 2 million VND/kg of dry seeds.

Ms. Ha Thi Thanh Xuan - Xuan 1 area, Kim Thuong commune, currently has 10 Doi trees that are ready for harvest.

People separate Doi seeds after harvesting.

Chairman of Kim Thuong Commune People’s Committee Phung Trong Luan said: The commune is mainly inhabited by ethnic minorities, of which 90% work in forestry and agriculture; the economy mainly depends on fields, hills, and forests; a few work as workers in industrial parks and clusters in the province. Due to the long distances and difficult travel, the products are mainly used to meet the needs of buying and selling in the area, so the income of the people is not high. Families with long-standing Doi trees and fragrant and firm seeds are known by many people and exported to many places. We also hope that people will continue to preserve traditional crops with high economic value, such as Doi trees, to contribute to improving the household economy.

A ripe Doi season has come; the typical spice of the mountains and forests makes many people passionate and fond of it. And the decades-old Do trees in Tan Son Mountain have been and are a specialty, so that everyone remembers this land every time October comes, the month of Do harvest season.

Vinh Ha