As the northeast monsoon brings dry cold breezes, many people are afraid of touching the water. However, farmers in our village still work hard on the ponds and ditches plucking the water caltrops - the home gifts only appear at the turning moment between autumn and winter....
Water caltrops are very healthy plants and easygoing, grow fast in the ponds and sinking fields. Water caltrops float on the water, do not require much care or fertilization but extract nutrients from the mud to grow. Water caltrops have a durable life. Once being planted, they will offer multiple harvesting seasons. Water caltrop can be planted by its stem or by tubers. In March on the Lunar calendar, thanks to the warm weather, people often ask for the water caltrops’ bodies from the households having good breeds. A simpler way is that in the previous season, people took the old water caltrops and rolled them into balls of soil and dropped to the ponds, and they would germinate in the following season. In the ponds where many old water caltrops were not harvested in the previous season and fell into deep mud, these tubers were “sleeping” still in the mud. Not until late spring of the following year, would them awake and emerge from the water. They will blossom in the summer and generate tubers. And so the life cycle rotates, farmers do not worry about preserving and breeding.
Water caltrops with the hard black covers contains tasty starch inside. Fresh boiled water caltrops has exclusive sweetness. Apart from boiled water caltrops, they are stewed with bones or stir fried with meat. To the buffalo boys, boiled water caltrop is not only a delicious dish but also a fascinating toy. The children often choose nice big ones, use the bamboo sticks to remove all the core to make the water caltrop flutes. Flute echoes in the village dispelling the chill in the early winter days.
When it turns summer, the large green leaves wide open on the water surface. The leaves grow in dark green, shiny and smooth clusters. When the water caltrops fully grow, white flower sprouts from the stems. Flowers only last until the following day and die. They pollinate themselves to create fruit (our villagers often call them tubers because they submerge under the water). The water caltrops hide below the leaves, sink in water and obtain nutrients from mud and water to grow. Normally, each root has five to seven tubers. Young water caltrops are coated a pink layer<. Gradually, delicate pink layer hardens and changes to black, creating a firm protection shelter for the sweet white filter inside.<0}
Water caltrop season does not last as long as other fruit or tubers. In late autumn, when the cold has started and farmers finished harvesting season, it’s time to collect the water caltrops. In late September on the Lunar calendar, the water caltrops leaves emerge from the water surface and the stems shrink. According to the experience of famers, in order to examine whether or not water caltrops are old, just drop ones into the water. If they submerge, those are qualified for harvesting. People use boats to pluck water caltrops in ponds or deep water fields. The boat disperses the thick layer of green leaves on the water surface carrying full of water caltrops.
Today, industrialization and polluted water has negatively affected the life cycle of the water caltrops. However, residents in some areas such as Phuong Chieu, Thuy Loi, Tan Hung (Tien Lu), Hong Nam, Quang Chau still take advantages of numerous ponds and ditches to plant this special rural species.
