Rau choai, a type of wild vegetable with a painful name in Dong Thap Muoi, Tien Giang, is now a specialty vegetable for the rich.

In the Dong Thap Muoi region in Tien Giang, there has long been a folk song that says:

Invite each other to the land of seven villages

Picking blind vegetables, pulling up wild betel leaves

One-eyed monkeys dip in soy sauce

The person I love is lying on the bed.

Since ancient times, there has been a type of vegetable that has been closely associated with the salty, alum-laden Dong Thap Muoi region: the wild vegetable. This vegetable was also the main food source for revolutionary soldiers during the years of resistance against French colonialism and American imperialism.

In every meal of the revolutionary soldiers operating in this land, there seemed to be only choai shoots with soy sauce, sometimes choai shoots cooked in sour soup with tilapia...

Since then, rau choai has become a specialty vegetable of the present and is the nostalgia of those who have come, gone and been attached to this land.

Every time we work in Tan Phuoc district, Tien Giang province, we are often treated by friends and colleagues to the specialties of this land: boiled rau choai with fermented bean curd sauce, rau choai hotpot...

At first glance, this wild vegetable, when processed into dishes, does not look appealing, but when eaten, you can feel the sweetness and crunchiness of this vegetable.

Rau choai - a type of wild vegetable, a specialty of Dong Thap Muoi, Tan Phuoc district, Tien Giang province. If in the past, rau choai and young choai were vegetables that poor people ate to stave off hunger, to get through meals, and to enjoy, now they have become a specialty vegetable, the price of this wild vegetable is not cheap.

Not only that, this delicious specialty vegetable was also given by colleagues as a precious specialty of Tan Phuoc district.

It is known that running vegetables or wild vegetables are wild vegetables, climbing forest vegetables belonging to the fern family, growing wild naturally in forests or abandoned marshes, especially in the slightly acidic land of Tan Phuoc district of Tien Giang province.

The stem of the rau choai plant is long, with many roots that cling tightly to the trunks of other plants (especially cajuput trees) to survive. The young leaves of the rau choai plant are brown mixed with light green and the tips of the young leaves are curved, at first glance we think of the shape of a millipede rolling around.

Rau choai is a clean vegetable, has a characteristic sweet, slightly aromatic flavor, is slimy and is skillfully processed by housewives into delicious dishes such as: Boiled rau choai shoots with fish sauce, soy sauce, fermented bean curd, or rau choai shoots cooked in sour soup, especially rau choai shoots cooked in sour soup with eel and water mimosa flowers.

Rau choai can also be used as hot pot and stir-fried with freshwater shrimp. In addition, rau choai can also be used as pickles, a delicious and attractive dish to eat over time.

Rau choai is present almost everywhere in Dong Thap Muoi region, there are many types: rock choai, garden choai, forest choai...

All of the above types of wild vegetables are edible, however each type has its own flavor. Wild vegetables are green all over, grow in bushes, and have large, tall leaves that look like fern leaves.

The stone vegetable has a bitter taste and is often used to cook sour soup with perch and fermented rice. This is a unique dish that can only be found in this region.

Wild yam is often sold in the market, it is the most popular vegetable among the vegetables of the same family. Wild yam has a light green body and leaves mixed with a little pink, young leaves are dark pink, all parts of the wild yam can be used, except for the old leaves.

As for garden vegetables, they have tall, large stems, often growing among thorny bamboo bushes, coconut groves, in mixed gardens, along river banks, and adapt to freshwater areas with slight acidity.

The garden's wild spinach shoots are plump, sweet, crunchy and fragrant, very rare, so they are rarely seen for sale in the market like wild spinach.

To have fresh baskets of vegetables, people have to wake up early in the morning to pick the freshest vegetables and sell them in time for the morning.

It takes a lot of time and effort to pick 1 kg of wild vegetables, so wild vegetables are quite expensive compared to other vegetables. Strangely, wild vegetables are usually only used during the day, if left overnight, the vegetables will quickly spoil and not look delicious.

Nowadays, wild vegetables in Tan Phuoc district (Tien Giang province) are not only sold in markets in the district, but are also present in the menus of restaurants, hotels, and luxury eateries in the province.

Those who want to enjoy this rustic delicacy of Tan Phuoc land can go to Old Market, Thanh Tri Market (My Tho City, Tien Giang Province) to buy it. Right at the corner of Thanh Tri Market, there is often a woman who sells only one type of wild vegetable.

I think that those who are from Tan Phuoc district, Tien Giang province in particular, and Dong Thap Muoi region in general, when seeing rau choai (choai shoots) - this rustic vegetable, will encounter the soul of the countryside, childhood in the lush green color of this rustic vegetable; and those who are gourmet diners will know the aromatic and delicious value of this vegetable.

Source: https://danviet.vn/rau-choai-loai-rau-dai-doc-ten-dau-mom-o-dong-thap-muoi-cua-tien-giang-nay-la-rau-dac-san-nha-giau-20240927141333929.htm