Xu Cua is the affectionate name that locals often use to refer to the two communes of Cam Chinh and Cam Nghia, Cam Lo district. Many people love this land not only because of the peaceful scenery, the lush gardens full of sweet fruits but also because of the specialties that are unique to this red land.
Cua specialties with medicinal herbs - Photo: TP
Taking us on a tour of his pepper garden, Mr. Tran Ha, Director of Cua Pepper Agricultural Service Cooperative, said: “From ancient times until now, Cua has been famous for its pepper. Thanks to its high essential oil content, firm grains, and unique spicy and delicious flavor, Cua pepper is especially favored by local and foreign people, gradually becoming a specialty that anyone coming to Quang Tri must buy.”
After the liberation of the homeland, the red soil of Cua was planned and built into a key pepper growing area of Cam Lo district. Before 2005, pepper was considered “black gold” bringing a prosperous life to many people and families in the area.
Born and raised in the fertile valley of Cua, and having spent most of his life with pepper plants, Mr. Ha is always proud whenever someone asks about Cua pepper.
“When I go on business trips out of town, I often bring pepper from my hometown as a gift and to promote the product to my friends out of town. After that, people ask to buy it back many times. At those times, I feel very happy and proud when the product of my hometown Cua is happily received by customers. Through Cua pepper, many people have learned about Cua and Quang Tri land,” Mr. Ha said simply.
Cua Market, where specialties are sold - Photo: TP
However, there was a time when the price of pepper in the market dropped, the weather was unfavorable, most of the pepper growing area was seriously damaged by pests and diseases, causing people to lose interest in this long-term industrial crop. However, because of his love for Cua pepper, Mr. Ha always struggled and looked for ways to revive the Cua pepper brand.
Accompanying the people to renovate and restore pepper trees, find market outlets, build brands, packaging designs, labels... for Cua pepper products, Mr. Ha, together with the local government and Cua people, strive to preserve this perennial industrial crop, bringing the Cua pepper brand, a red soil specialty, further.
It would be a mistake not to list Cua chicken among the specialties of this rich red basalt land. Cua chicken meat is famous for its delicious, firm taste due to its characteristic of "eating termites during the day and sleeping in trees at night". Perhaps due to the natural farming method; the climate and soil conditions and the main food being insects, the quality of Cua chicken meat is always delicious.
Each Cua chicken weighs only about 1.2-1.3 kg, still retaining its natural habit of sleeping on trees. Boiled Cua chicken meat with salt and pepper is the most standard. When boiled, the chicken skin is golden brown and crispy, the meat is sweet, has just the right amount of toughness, is fatty but not greasy. Legend has it that when King Ham Nghi's group arrived at Tan So, the villagers offered the king and the mandarins in the entourage local dishes of steamed Cua chicken and chicken stewed with lotus seed porridge. Everyone who ate it praised it as delicious.
During those arduous days of resistance, King Ham Nghi always reminded his ministers that when the country was at peace, they should remember to raise Cua chickens as local products. Currently, the Cua chicken brand has really spread far and wide, not only supplying the consumer demand in Quang Tri but also being sold in many supermarkets in Hue, Da Nang, and Saigon. Cua chickens have also been certified as VietGAP broiler chicken products, vacuum-packed chickens are 3-star OCOP products and are in the process of being proposed to be upgraded to 4-star products.
Medicinal herbs are beautifully packaged, convenient to bring as gifts - Photo: TP
Not only pepper and chicken, Cua also has other specialties such as green tea, sweet jackfruit, bananas... Although these plants are available everywhere, because they are grown on red basalt soil, enjoying the harsh weather of the sunny and windy Central region here, they become even more delicious and rich. In Cua, there are ancient tea trees with a lifespan of over 100 years, reaching a height of four or five meters, which have become the pride of the people here.
The ancient tea tree not only has economic value but also carries the character and bravery of a countryside since the beginning of the world. The ancient tea tree has small leaves, when cooked, it will have many flavors in it. When first drunk, it has a bitter, astringent taste, but when swallowed, it has a sweet, fragrant taste. The tea leaves when boiled in the second or third water still have a full aroma. Cua tea has become a luxury gift but is indispensable every time someone comes to Cua land.
Besides the famous "specialties" associated with the land and people of Cua for generations, in recent years, medicinal herbs are considered a new specialty of the red soil land. Minh Nhi Medicinal Herbs Production and Trading Facility, established by Mr. Truong Cong Minh and his wife, currently living in Dinh Son village, Cam Nghia commune, is currently producing and trading over 10 different types of medicinal herbs such as: galangal leaf extract, ca gai leo extract, and ginseng extract...
Talking to us, Mr. Minh said that to produce a finished medicinal herb extract, the cook needs to perform many steps from preliminary processing to condensing into extract. Compared to fresh leaves, extract is more convenient because it does not take as much time and steps as the traditional brewing method. Especially by using a variety of ingredients to cook the extract, the medicinal herb extract product reaches more customers.
With the development of medicinal herbs, local people also have more jobs, are guided to change crops, and develop the economy. In the past, there was pepper and tea, now there is medicinal herbs, everyone who goes far away buys them as gifts. As a son of Cua land, Mr. Minh feels happy when local specialties are popular everywhere.
Although these products are simple, they are crystallized by the soil, water, typical climate and the sweat and effort of the people of the red land, so they carry very unique values of Cua land.
Truc Phuong
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