Sapa corner

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

Do you know that autumn has arrived in Sapa? 

The autumn here also marks the beginning of the persimmon season. From mid-August to late October is the time to harvest many varieties of persimmons. Among them, crunchy persimmons are always the earliest type to ripen. 

During this time, I often visit Mrs. Vân’s orchard, where there are plenty of 20-year-old crunchy persimmon trees. Mrs. Vân, the garden owner, shared with me that her trees are native to Japan. They belong to the Fuyu persimmon species. An interesting thing is that the trees only grow their deep roots and thick trunks through time. Therefore, each tree is fruitful and just 1 or 2-meter high. This makes the harvesting work quite easy. 

In the orchard, it isn’t difficult to recognize crunchy persimmons. They look round and stumpy, with shiny peel. Each persimmon has a green stalk on the top and a flat bottom.

Perhaps the perfect time to gather crunchy persimmons is when they are still firm and their skin turns bright orange. At this time, they are crispy and taste mildly sweet, with a pleasant aroma, witout any astringent feel. 

Crunchy persimmons would be softer and sweeter when they are fully ripe. 

Picking up crunchy persimmons at Mrs. Vân’s orchard always brings me so much fun. For me, this kind of fruit is such an alluring treat in autumn. If you come to Sapa this season, don’t forget to try the taste of this special and delicious fruit.

Sharing with you all. 

Wishing you a beautiful autumn. 

Cheers,

An An

P.S. If you would like to visit Mrs. Vân’s persimmon orchard, you can head to “Sapa Jungle Homestay” at Alley 536 Dien Bien Phu Street, Sapa. From this homestay, you can ask the people around where to get to the persimmon garden.