Ly Son Island Is in Company

On that tiny island, everything lacks but sand. A year can bear only one garlic season but annual crops must depend on uncontrollable climates so farmers decided to intercrop some more shallots. Unexpectedly, after a couple years, shallots have almost overpassed garlic and become another specialty and main income of farmers on that island.

Quite different from other types, shallots on Ly Son bear smaller bulbs but they are all bright purple, smooth and aromatic.

From the soil…

Ly Son island (Quang Ngai province) was formed during volcanic activities and the deposition of sea sand and coral reefs million years ago. Today, the island is the remnant of a five-crater volcano, created the 5 main reservoirs of fresh water for the islanders. The eruption and erosion of volcanoes spread over the surface of Ly Son Island with fertile basaltic and mineral rich red soil.

However, neither the climate nor the soil of that island seems to support food plants. Islanders only grew short-term crops until the garlic has planted all over the place. Garlic became a specialty of Ly Son but the tropical and coastal weather during 6 months of garlic crop does not often treat them well. Therefore, the farmers started to intercrop shallots and garlic.

More experiences, they’ve laid shallot fields along the south of the island, from the regenerated pieces on hills to used-up pieces of land next by the coast. They spread a thick layer of smooth basalt soil on the ground then another layer of organic fertilizer from available materials as leaves or seaweed, and finally they cover by a layer of coral sand.

Shallot fields.

Having enough nutrition and needed minerals, just about 45 – 60 days after planted farmer can harvest the new crop. They easily take a whole bunch of chubby yet firm and shinny shallots from the ground. The coral sand layer plays double roles, polishing shallot bulbs as well as draining all excessed water. Therefore, shallots of Ly Son are not only beautiful but also long lasting.

… to the quality of shallots

It’s absolutely nonsense when comparing Ly Son shallot to any other types in Vietnam, even the one from “the capital of shallots” – Soc Trang province, because its quality is totally different. Ly Son shallot bulbs are small and even while other places’ – where people have planted shallots in mixture of ash and husk - are much bigger; Ly Son shallots’ husk is smooth, glossy, and very thin; and their scales are purplish and firm.

Purple shallots in Ly Son island.

Besides its amazingly delicious flavor, shallots from this volcanic island have another valuable characteristic, which is not pungent at all. Indeed, their flavor is mildly spicy yet aromatic and sweet so they can be eaten raw or made salad as western style.

The remote Ly Son island has not only garlic or shallot but also delicious seafood. Depending on the thickness of wallets, visitors can have spanner crabs (Ranina ranina), red slipper lobsters, and groupers or more affordable seafood as moon snails or also call necklace shells (Naticidae), limpets, and seasonal seaweed. All local fresh seafood is much better with shallots. Simply just oil shallots and a couple cloves of garlic before roasting the whole spanner crab and condiments; complicatedly we can thinly slice raw shallots, mix them with lime juice, herbs and cooked limpets’ flesh to make a nutritious and delicious salad; or we can pickle the shallots and have them with steamed groupers. They all are great and flavorful dishes.

Roasted spanner crabs with shallots.

Not only an irreplaceable spic in any kitchen but shallots themselves are the best natural antibiotics since they don’t cause any side effects.

Russian pharmacists claimed that substances of shallot were not inferior to any antibiotics after comparing them to hundreds of antibiotic medicines. The pharmacists believe that purple shallots can pasteurize the respiratory tube, especially when they are eaten raw or pickled. Many people have found that raw shallots might be unable to eat because of their spicy taste and pungent smell but indeed raw shallots can really help to disinfect the respiratory area due to the mechanism of tears and rheum. This mechanism allows the body to remove impurities from the mucous membranes along respiratory tubes before bacteria turn them to infection.

From the top of Thoi Loi mountain, one of the 5 shut down volcanoes, taking a look beneath, there are continuously spreading shallot fields as an uneven giant chessboard. The area of Ly Son island is about 10 km2 but 1/3 of it is for garlic and shallot fields. It was supposed to be fall already but the sun heat had still burn sedimentary rocks on the island. Everywhere farmers were harvesting shallots on their fields. Some were picking, some were choosing while others were bunching shallots; even children were helping their families after school. Just a couple more days, the fields would stay sandy white and a couple weeks after, islanders would prepare for another new shallot crop to make their garlic always in company.

Single garlic cloves in Ly Son island are not similar to the purple type of single garlic in Phu Yen district (Son La province). It is a regular type, which has 6 or more cloves gather on a disk, but during harsh conditions, there are only some to dozens garlic units left on a field and they all are single clove.

By Thu Pham