By Tran Tan My
Most Vietnamese families have an alter at their home to worship their ancestors. Around Tet holidays, every household offers their ancestors cakes, jam and fruit by putting them on the alter which stands in the central front of the house. The plate of fruit usually contains fruits whose combined names express the family’s wish. Each family wishes to have enough food and clothing and for money for other demands in the new year. For them, it’s a great happiness to gain enough.
“Cau vua du xai” is a phrase that is constituted by the names of four kinds of fruit: mang cau (soursop), dua (coconut), du du (papaya) and xoai (mango). As many farmers in the Mekong Delta mispronounce words, they cannot clearly distinguish between “mang cau” and “man cau”, “dua” and “vua” and “xoai” and “xai”.
“Man cau” means having enough as expected, which is expressed by the soursop. “Vua” means having neither a lack nor a surplus, expressed by the coconut. “Du” means not being deficient, expressed by the papaya. “Xai” is expressed by the mango.
For this reason, it is not surprising to see small green or brown-yellow coconuts, young soursops, and green or yellowish mangoes sold at markets during days before Tet.
Mang cau xiem (Annana muricata)
The Vietnamese add “xiem” to distinguish the soursop with a bigger size from the “mang cau ta” (custard apple or sweetsop). Its skin is green and has many soft thorns; its white flesh has brown-black and smooth seeds. The former has a sour and sweet taste while the latter is sweet. The soursop suits the taste of those who do not like a fruit to be too sweet.
The soursop needs a hot climate, so it is cultivated mainly in the South. This fruit can also be processed into a refreshment: remove seeds from the flesh and squeeze the flesh with sugar, milk and ice cubes. The juice is fragrant and tasty.
Besides being eaten raw, squeezed for juice and made into jam, the soursop can be processed into a boxed juice of good quality and high nutrition. Its flesh is steamed with sugar cubes to make a good medicine for the heart.
Dua uong nuoc (coconut for juice)
Coconuts are common, but not everyone knows how to choose a good coconut for its juice. Refreshment shops usually sell fresh coconuts whose covering has been removed. The following are some tips for getting a good coconut:
- Choose a coconut whose covering has bright fibers. That’s a newly-pared coconut.
- Use one hand to hold the coconut tight. A young coconut has a soft shell, sourish juice and thin transparent flesh.
- Do not choose a coconut whose shell is very hard and black at its top. Its juice is not sweet and its thick flesh does not have a good flavor.
- Choose a coconut with a shell which is not very hard because it has sweet juice and tasty flesh.
Du du (Papaya)
The papaya is very popular in Vietnam. Ripe papaya fruit is rich in vitamin A and other nutritious substances. Papain, a protein-digesting enzyme from the unripe fruit of the papaya, is used as a meat tenderizer and in medicine as a digestive aid.
The unripe fruit of the papaya is very useful in making dishes, especially with Vietnamese salads.
Unripe papaya fruit can be used to make pickles which are served with banh chung (sticky rice cake), a popular dish during Tet.
In Vietnam, there are two kinds of papaya fruit: yellow and red papaya. Vietnamese seem to choose the yellow one.
Papaya can be served in deserts in French way by adding pressed lemon juice.
Xoai (Mango)
Many know that mango, a popular fruit in Vietnam and Asia, is rich in vitamins A and C. when unripe, the vitamin C content in a mango is higher than that of vitamin A, and vice versa.
In Vietnam, ripe mango can be eaten, made into juice or cocktail, or canned. Ripe mangoes have different colors – green, red or yellow.
Hoa Loc mango in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang is a delicious fruit anyone should taste.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Cầu Vừa Đủ Xài (Wishing to earn enough for living)
(from The Saigon Time Weekly, January 24, 2004)
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