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Young leaves of this tree sell for 200,000 VND/kg, gardeners cannot collect enough to sell
The leaves of this spice plant are ordered by many people, but growers say there are not enough to sell.
Having known about the wasabi (mustard) plant since 2013, Mr. Nguyen Van Tuyen in Da Lat (Lam Dong) officially imported and planted wasabi varieties on his farm in 2020.
This is a vegetable that is processed into powder form to make dipping sauce in sushi restaurants across Japan. Many people still find this plant strange in our country, but in Japan it is considered a high-end food, notoriously difficult to grow and expensive.
According to Mr. Tuyen, growing this type of tree is quite difficult, not simple at all. Plants are very susceptible to disease and death. If you want to grow them, you need to understand and know about planting techniques. Due to having a little experience and learning more knowledge online, the initial number of seedlings he planted all grew and developed well.
“The plant likes humidity, clean water and not direct light, so I had to build a greenhouse and use a black net to block 70% of the direct light shining on the garden. In addition, I also use an automatic drip irrigation system to create moisture to help plants grow well,” he said.
Young and small leaves of the wasabi plant are being sold to restaurants at a price of 200,000 VND/kg.
These wasabi plants will be harvested after about 1 year, with about 20-25 tubers yielding one pound. He sold it for about 6 million VND to a Japanese restaurant. Young leaves of the tree are also purchased by Japanese restaurants at a price of 200,000 VND/kg.
“I currently plant about 500 square meters, so I don’t get many leaves. Small, young leaves are purchased by Japanese restaurants to decorate dishes. Because there are few young and small leaves, the revenue is not enough to sell to restaurants.
I only dared to take on one restaurant, but there wasn’t enough to sell. Every month, I only dare to prune young leaves to sell once, on average about a few thousand leaves, less than a kilo. Because a kilo is about tens of thousands of leaves,” he said.
He said the leaves are only sold to earn extra money, while he grows wasabi plants mainly to harvest the tubers to sell.
The planting area is only about 500m2, he does not collect enough leaves to sell to customers.
The conditions for young wasabi leaves to be sold are that the leaves are about 10cm in diameter, not torn, green and fresh. As for old leaves, he has not yet approached customers because this plant is quite new in our country, many people do not know how to use it, so it is difficult.
Because the tree branches, he collects the young leaves regularly. He has to prune them so as not to affect the growth and development of the tree.
Talking about wasabi plants, he said that currently the supply is not enough to meet demand. He really wants to propagate and expand the area but has not yet been able to do so. “This tree produces seedlings and currently I propagate mainly by separating seedlings. The seedlings are planted in pots to be sold to customers who want to grow them for decoration. There are very few seedlings, not enough to serve customer needs. It is difficult to import seeds into the country, so I have not been able to expand the area,” he said.
Not only the leaves, the tubers of this tree are not enough to supply Japanese restaurants. Therefore, he is researching tissue culture propagation to expand the planting area and sell seeds to many customers who are in need of planting.
($1=24,000 VND)
Photo,Video: Internet (Vinlove.net)
Young leaves of this tree sell for 200,000 VND/kg, gardeners cannot collect enough to sell
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