Like grapefruit at the beginning of shrimp, sweet at the end of shrimp

Among the dozens of pomelo varieties in Hanoi is the Sài Sơn sour-headed shrimp pomelo with a sour taste at the head of the shrimp and sweet at the tail, the tree grows robustly, and the fruit is very beautiful.

I arrived at Mr. Tạ Đức Nhuận's approximately 700 m2 grapefruit orchard (Phúc Đức hamlet, former Sài Sơn commune, now Quốc Oai commune, Hanoi City) in the late afternoon when a heavy rain had just ended, leaving the ground sparkling with water. In one corner, there were two old grapefruit tree stumps, covered with moss and lichen, with sparse fruits interspersed among the Diễn grapefruit trees that were in their prime. These were the Sài Sơn shrimp head sour grapefruits with a very peculiar biological characteristic, sour at the shrimp head end and sweet at the shrimp tail end. One of the two original grapefruit tree stumps of Mr. Tạ Đức Nhuận. Photo: Dương Đình Tường. In 2012, scientists from the Plant Resources Center of the Vietnam Agricultural Science Institute conducted a survey, collected, and preserved several grapefruit varieties in the Đáy River basin, Hanoi. This area is considered the cradle of grapefruits with genetic diversity, including many varieties that need to be ...