TRUNG KHANH CHESTNUT

Trung Khanh chestnut is a famous specialty in Cao Bang. Chestnut (local name is “Mac lich” which means seed of nut). In the chestnut season (around end of august every year – in the Lunar Calender), the chestnut rustles throughout the forest, falling down, like a rain coloured in brown, on the ground covered by green moss, soft like velvet. Trung Khanh chestnuts are like a big toe, when roasting them, the flavour is delicate, sweet and nutty, making people who have tasted it cannot forget the heaven like flavour, even just one bite. The fruit is covered by sharp spines like rambutan, each of them contains three or four dark brown seeds.

When it is peeled and not be boiled, the meat is hard, crunchy and sweet with the colour is like canary bird. The fruit can be boiled, steamed or roasted then peel the skin to eat. If it is the first time tasting Trung Khanh chestnut, people will be surprised at its sweet and nutty flavour. After eating it, people can get a good sleep, forgeting the stressful life and the next moring waking up in full state, readying for a working day.

In The American Journal Of Clinical Nutrition, it is said that chestnut can reduce LDL (bad cholestrol) for people with high LDL. The LDL falls down by 9% in the first month then by 12% in the second month after people with LDL add chestnut in their menu. The research also confirms that the fruit will not affect HDL, a good cholestrol. Certainly, the chestnut can be used as a kind of medicinal herb for health improvement.At the moment, the brand of Trung Khanh chestnut has been known all over the North of Vietnam and even China.