Visit Tan Phu to discover the ancient pomelo garden full of ripe, golden fruits that are 'pleasing to the eye'

Ms. Tran Thi Nga, owner of a pomelo garden in Tra Co commune, Tan Phu district, introduces ripe pomelos in her garden. Photo: B.Nguyen

The tree flowers in the 10th lunar month, usually around the Lunar New Year, and bears its first fruit. The pomelo harvest usually lasts for nearly 2 months. This year, unseasonal rains caused the first batch of flowers to fall off, and the tree has to wait for the next batch of flowers to bear fruit. The harvest time is longer than usual, so at this time, the garden is still bustling with customers.

Harvesting pomelos. Photo: B.Nguyen

Thanh Tra, also known as Son Tra or Lemon Tea, is a wild tree that was brought back by people to plant and domesticate. This tree rarely has pests or diseases, and is mainly fertilized to keep it healthy.

Pomelo is grown a lot in the West, so it has become a specialty fruit with the flavor of the Southwest region. Compared to other crops, pomelo takes longer to harvest.

Pomelo specialty is sold at retail at the garden for 50,000 VND/kg during the harvest season. Photo: B.Nguyen

Mr. Hiep and his wife's perennial pomelo garden is a unique garden in Dong Nai. According to Mrs. Nga, it takes 5 years for the tree to bear fruit, and 7 years for a large harvest.

In the first years of harvest, the tree produces smaller fruits with a more sour taste. The older the tree, the wider the canopy, the larger the base, the larger the fruit, the sweeter the taste and the stronger the aroma. In addition, partly due to the gardener's care to keep the tree healthy and strong, the fruit will be of increasingly larger, plumper, and sweeter quality.

The special thing about the pomelo garden in Tra Co commune, Tan Phu district is that retail customers come to the garden to buy fruit and take pictures and videos because the garden is full of impressive golden fruit in the ripe fruit season. Photo: B.Nguyen

Thanh Tra is a tree species, similar to mango, but the fruit is the size and shape of a lemon. When young, the fruit is green, when ripe, the fruit turns a smooth orange-yellow color. When peeled, the segments are juicy orange-yellow with a very characteristic aroma, rich and attractive sweet and sour taste.

To have a sweet and delicious quality, pomelos must be left to ripen on the tree before being harvested. Therefore, the transportation and distribution of this specialty has a high rate of damage, short preservation time, especially not everyone knows about this specialty fruit. Therefore, Mr. Hiep's family does not increase the pomelo acreage, and the surrounding people only plant a few trees for fun and do not develop massively.

Root of an ancient pomelo tree. Photo: B.Nguyen

The pomelo tree has a high yield, an average tree yields 200-300kg/crop, with a wide canopy tree it can yield 500-600kg/crop. Seeing that visitors to the garden are fascinated by the bright yellow pomelo trees with ripe fruit, nearly 20 years ago, every pomelo season, Mr. Hiep opened the garden to welcome visitors to take pictures, enjoy the ripe fruit just picked from the tree and buy it as gifts. The garden gradually became more crowded, so he no longer depended on traders but switched to retail at 50,000 VND/kg.

During the season, on average, Mr. Hiep's family garden retails about 100-200kg per day. Visitors to the garden are also served pomelo juice, with a little sugar and ice added, making it a very refreshing drink on a summer afternoon. The price is also quite affordable at 15,000 VND/cup.

Ms. Nga shared that many customers who come to buy and eat it once are addicted and become regular customers. Thanh Tra fruit from her home garden is clean fruit because it is mainly fertilized with organic fertilizer, and the plants are almost free of pests and diseases. Depending on the weather, some years can yield 5-6 tons/crop, while some years can yield 3-4 tons.

Binh Nguyen

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/xa-hoi/202504/ve-tan-phu-kham-pha-vuon-thanh-tra-co-thu-triu-qua-chin-mong-ong-vang-da-mat-d7d360d/