Bamboo shoot season lasts about 2 months. Bamboo shoots are currently priced at over 25,000 VND/kg, ethnic minorities in Tan Son district (Phu Tho) are taking advantage of every day to go into the forest to dig bamboo shoots to sell for extra income.
Bamboo is distributed in nature and in planted forests in mountainous areas of Phu Tho province. Bamboo grows well in mountain ravines, is shade tolerant, and prefers moisture in the lower layer with large trees.
Bamboo shoots are harvested by people from the forest. Photo: Hoan Nguyen
These days, farmers in the mountainous district of Tan Son enjoy going to the forest to dig bamboo shoots. According to the locals, during Tet, heavy rains make the mountain soil soft and moist, so the bamboo shoots stir and grow young shoots. From deep underground, the bamboo shoots "drink" the spring rain and push the soil up to rise. People often take knives, hoes, and small shovels to find cracked ground to dig for bamboo shoots.
Bamboo shoots come in two varieties: sweet and bitter. Every year, after the Lunar New Year, especially in the second lunar month, in the highland communes of Xuan Dai, Kim Thuong, My Thuan... (Tan Son district), we see many people looking for bamboo shoots. Every day, some families harvest hundreds of kilograms of bamboo shoots, selling them to traders for millions of dong. Thanks to the "forest gift" - bamboo shoots, people have a significant additional source of income, improving their lives.
Mr. Ha Van Toan (a Muong ethnic in Muoi Bong area, Xuan Dai commune, Tan Son) is over 30 years old this year and is a skilled and famous forest mulberry picker in Xuan Dai commune.
According to Mr. Toan, these days, not only young people like him but also everyone in the countryside is busy going into the old forests from early morning to search for and dig bamboo shoots.
On days with favorable weather, a trip to the forest to search for and dig bamboo shoots helps Muong ethnic people in Xuan Dai commune earn 200,000 - 500,000 VND. Photo: Hoan Nguyen
Some people take a little to eat, others go looking for bamboo shoots to sell for economic reasons. After people find and dig up the bamboo shoots, they will be transported to where traders buy them.
From here, fresh bamboo shoots will be transported to all markets in Phu Tho province and down to the lowland provinces, with the early season bamboo shoots selling price of 15,000-20,000 VND/kg.
Also according to Mr. Toan, in recent days, bamboo shoots have been updated and shared with many social media accounts, so unexpectedly many traders have bought more.
From a rustic dish, this type of bamboo shoot quickly became sought after, leading to an explosion in demand and skyrocketing prices, selling for 25,000-30,000 VND/kg.
"The price has increased but the amount of bamboo shoots is scarce, still not enough to sell. People who dig bamboo shoots in the forest can easily sell them all, getting cash in the same day," said Toan, pointing to the bag of bamboo shoots lying neatly on his motorbike, smiling brightly.
The Muong man also said that in one day he went into the forest to collect bamboo shoots, he could get less than bird's nest, and at most he could get more than 30kg.
"If the price is the same as yesterday, this full bag of bamboo shoots must be worth 500,000 VND," Mr. Toan calculated.
Every year, during the first two months of the year, many households in the mountainous district of Phu Tho go to the forest to pick bamboo shoots to sell. This has become a livelihood for many people here. Photo: Hoan Nguyen
However, Mr. Toan emphasized that picking bamboo shoots is not simple. To get good bamboo shoots, you have to go deep into the forest, especially in forests where few people go, even walking dozens of kilometers a day. In particular, this type of forest is only easy to find and sell at a good price in the first and second lunar months.
Bamboo shoot collectors usually go in groups of 2 to 5 people. When entering the forest, each person follows their own path, and when the bamboo shoots are full, they return to the original location to go down the mountain. Previously, people mainly dug up the bamboo shoots for their own use, but now the bamboo shoots are purchased, bringing high income to many households.
"In the past, wild bamboo shoots were often boiled, stir-fried, and eaten during the day, or dried and eaten all year round. Now people buy more, so wherever they go to pick wild bamboo shoots, they sell out. Each year, there are only about 2 months of spring, when it rains a lot at the beginning of the year, when bamboo shoots are delicious, so everyone has to take advantage of this season to find bamboo shoots," Toan added.
According to Toan’s experience, to dig up delicious bamboo shoots, you need to find cracked soil with newly sprouted bamboo shoots to dig. At this time, the bamboo shoots are still underground and will be tastier and sweeter. Bamboo shoots that have grown tall are easy to find but bitter.
Bamboo shoots are a rustic, cheap, easy to find, easy to prepare dish. This dish is mainly eaten in mountainous areas and has now become a specialty of city dwellers and on the menus of luxury restaurants and hotels.
Popular dishes made from bamboo shoots include: stir-fried bamboo shoots with garlic, boiled bamboo shoots with fermented rice sauce, stuffed bamboo shoots, braised bamboo shoots with fish, bamboo shoots cooked with bone soup, fish, duck...
Bamboo shoots are a type of bamboo plant that grows in many areas near rivers and streams. Currently, wild bamboo shoots are a rustic dish, and Phu Tho is building them into a "brand" specialty as a gift for local economic development.
According to the forestry sector, this is a permitted secondary forest product, so people are allowed to harvest it. To protect forest resources, in recent years, the forestry sector has coordinated with local authorities to increase propaganda for people not to cut down old trees and leave some young buds for the trees to grow and develop, creating long-term benefits.
Source: https://danviet.vn/vo-rung-mot-huyen-o-phu-tho-d-dao-thu-cay-than-non-troi-len-goi-la-cu-ngon-dan-co-dong-ra-dong-vao-20250311150506656.htm
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