The rocky beach located along the coast of Tam Hai island commune (Nui Thanh district, Quang Nam province) is about 10 hectares wide, submerged during high tide and exposed during low tide.
Rau xoa (a type of seaweed that grows on rocky cliffs, used to make xu xoa - a dish similar to jelly, which has the effect of cooling down in the summer) covers the rocky beach.
When the tide is low, people flock to the rocky coastal area of Tam Hai to scrape rau xoa.
Every day, dozens of locals come here to harvest this type of sea vegetable, sell it to households that cook xu xoa or sell it to traders who take it to many places for consumption.
In June and July, the tide usually recedes in the late afternoon. At exactly 3 p.m., Ms. Nguyen Thi Hai (67 years old, Tam Hai commune) puts on her hat, holds a chisel and a knife with one end bent, and goes to each rock with rau xoa attached to it to scrape it.
Most of the people who shave the rau xoa are women.
The rocky beach has many shells, oysters and sharp rocks, so women who make a living here have to wear gloves, socks and protective shoes.
According to Ms. Hai, rau xoa grows all year round but its exploitation depends on the tide. Every month, from the 9th to the 15th and the 29th to the 3rd of the lunar calendar, when the tide is low, the rocky beach is exposed. On the remaining days, the water in this area is nearly 2 meters deep, making it impossible to exploit.
The profession of "scraping money" on rocks in Tam Hai island commune (Video: Ngo Linh).
To pick rau xoa under the sea water, each person must drag a large plastic basin and slowly walk to find the rau xoa bushes clinging to the rocks. The seaweed that people call rau xoa is dark yellow, so it is very difficult to see under the sea water.
"You have to walk slowly and crouch down to find the vegetables. If the vegetables are just growing loosely, you can pluck them with your hands. If they are clinging to rocks, you have to use a chisel or knife to scrape them off the rocks," Ms. Hai shared.
To pick rau xoa that sticks tightly to rocks, people use a chisel or a knife with one end curved to scrape.
After harvesting, rau xoa is cleaned, removing trash and coral stones still attached to the roots. Then, the vegetable is dried before selling.
On average, every day, from 3pm to 6pm, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong (57 years old, Tam Hai commune) collects about one kilogram of dried vegetables, earning 350,000 VND.
Ms. Hong said that the peak season for harvesting rau xoa is around the beginning of the second lunar month, but now the vegetable season is almost over.
In addition to exploiting rau xoa, people in Tam Hai island commune can also exploit marine products all year round such as picking seaweed, seaweed jam, digging for clams, catching crabs... each season has its own products, working all year round without worrying about unemployment.
Diligently scrape the herbs from each rock.
"If you talk about getting rich, it's not possible, but we can make enough food, clothes, and education for our children. The islanders depend on the sea all year round to make a living, the strong and healthy men fish far from shore, the women and the elderly depend on sea vegetables to make a living," Ms. Hong smiled heartily.
The job of picking rau xoa leaves the women’s hands rough with cuts from oyster shells, their feet pale and ulcerated by seawater. However, every day, the women of the island commune go home with laughter and joy. Because the little money they earn after each hard day of work will help them cover their living expenses, while waiting for their husbands and children’s fishing boats to dock.
After being picked, the rau xoa will be washed with sea water, the trash will be removed and then dried.
It is known that rau xoa will be bought by local xu xoa cooks, processed, cooked until soft, filtered with cloth to get the water and then put into molds to make the finished product. When eating, each piece of xu xoa is cut into small pieces, added with sugar water, ginger, ice... This is a familiar dish of many Quang Nam people to help cool down in the summer.
Rau xoa is processed into xu xoa, used to cool down in the summer.
Source link
Comment (0)