Dragon fruit buds - from abandoned to branded specialty

Hoa Le Dragon Fruit Cooperative won the B prize in the " Binh Thuan Delicious Dishes" Contest.

More income for gardeners

At this time, dragon fruit purchased at gardens in the Southeast of the province has many prices, because the season has not ended, and electric-heated products are available. But in general, the price is low, even electric-heated dragon fruit is only 7,000 - 8,000 VND/kg, not enough to cover costs. Meanwhile, dragon fruit flower buds are purchased at 1,000 - 2,500 VND/kg for seasonal products, 3,000 - 4,000 VND/kg for electric products. Usually at this time, gardeners with electric-heated dragon fruit often regret: if only they had sold flower buds when they were 20 days old, to avoid having to grow the fruit for more than a month along with other costs, it would have been better to nurture the tree. In fact, gardeners prefer to grow fruit to sell, because sometimes the price of dragon fruit suddenly goes up to 30,000 VND/kg.

This is a long story in the area known as the “dragon fruit capital” of the country. But to have the opportunity to be selected as above has only happened in the past 10 years. Because before that, during the cultivation process, in order for the tree to have enough strength to produce quality fruit, the gardener had to remove the young flower buds on each vine. Therefore, with a large area of thousands of hectares, that means tens of thousands of tons of young flower buds had to be removed in each crop. And for many years like that, this source of young flower buds is painful evidence of the situation of wasting agricultural resources.

Dried dragon fruit buds products of Hoa Ba Vuong Company Limited achieved 3-star OCOP certification

From the idea of utilizing the above waste, a businessman in Ho Chi Minh City who saw dried dragon fruit flowers in foreign supermarkets, established Hoa Ba Vuong Company Limited in Tan Thuan Commune, Ham Thuan Nam District - a concentrated area for dragon fruit cultivation (now Tan Thanh Commune, Lam Dong Province). In 2016, this enterprise brought modern drying technology to the locality, bought dragon fruit buds about 20 days old, then split and dried them at 65 degrees Celsius, producing a product that retains eye-catching colors and also retains 100% of the nutrients of fresh flowers.

The product can be boiled and eaten as a vegetable or cooked into hot pot dishes and soups. According to oriental medicine, dragon fruit flowers, also known as king flowers, have the effect of strengthening the lungs, relieving coughs, treating bronchitis, tuberculous lymphadenitis, and detoxifying alcohol. This has been recognized by foreign markets, so Lam Dong's dried dragon fruit flower buds are exported through intermediaries, primarily to the Chinese market. Moreover, they are also sold in foreign supermarkets under the name King Flowers. During the Covid-19 pandemic, consumers around the world are more interested in this product than ever, when they discovered that it is good for the lungs.

That is the reason why the production of dried dragon fruit buds has developed, from one initial facility, now it has increased to 5 facilities of 5 enterprises and cooperatives (HTX), despite the fact that there are times when there is not enough raw material for production. In practice, this production activity helps to increase the income of farmers significantly. During the main season, these facilities purchase a large amount of flower buds, bringing a stable additional source of income for farmers. During the power outage season, when buds are scarce, the purchase price is sometimes equal to the price of the fruit, creating additional economic advantages for farmers.

Connect with culinary tourism

In 2023, the dried dragon fruit flower buds product of Hoa Ba Vuong Company Limited achieved 3-star OCOP certification. Accompanied by 2 dishes: dragon fruit flower soup and dragon fruit flower hotpot with chicken stewed with the main ingredient of the broth being dried dragon fruit flowers, successfully processed after 2 years of research and creation.

According to the assessment of the authorities at that time, the dried dragon fruit flower product was distinctive, unique and creative, meeting all the factors to become a typical product of Vietnam, if it continued to improve criteria such as: HACCP, traceability and intellectual property protection. After that, the company's dried dragon fruit flower product was certified for trademark registration by the Intellectual Property Office.

It is worth mentioning that from here, new dishes have been opened and some restaurants and tourist areas in the Southeast of the province have used dried dragon fruit buds to prepare both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. Just reading the name on the menu makes tourists want to try it once.

More importantly, the processed dried dragon fruit flower buds, especially the dragon fruit flower hotpot with chicken and dragon fruit flower soup, have put the local brand on the Vietnamese culinary map. Because in 2024, the Vietnam Record Organization ranked Hoa Ba Vuong restaurant in Phan Thiet as one of the "63 delicious restaurants in Vietnam", in which the two new dishes above have affirmed the attraction of a new and unique product.

Not only that, at the "Binh Thuan Delicious Dishes" Contest, part of a series of activities celebrating the 29th anniversary of Binh Thuan Tourism Day last year, members of the Hoa Le Dragon Fruit Cooperative won the B prize with three unique dishes, including fried dragon fruit buds, dragon fruit buds soup, and dragon fruit buds salad.

All of this shows that this is a new product, not only opening up new dishes but also being processed into tea… From here, it helps diversify products from dragon fruit trees, reducing dependence on the risky fresh fruit market.

If there is a comparison, the dragon fruit flower in the blue sea Lam Dong region has similarities with the artichoke plant in the thousand flower Lam Dong region, when both are exploited to the maximum to serve pharmaceutical and culinary purposes, bringing high economic value.

The emergence of dragon fruit bud production not only contributes to solving output problems and increasing the value of key crops, but also opens up prospects for linking agriculture with the processing industry and culinary tourism. This is a clear demonstration of the direction of sustainable agriculture, innovation and creativity, in line with the strategy of increasing the added value of Vietnamese agricultural products.

Source: https://baolamdong.vn/bup-hoa-thanh-long-tu-bo-di-den-dac-san-thuong-hieu-393769.html