"March is back, so exciting
Grapefruit blossoms white, the whole sky is filled with memories
The fragrance is gentle and passionate like breath.
Of a person… from a very long time ago”
Hanoi this season is wet with spring rain, the sky is always sad because of gloomy and gray clouds. Yet everything is saved by the pure white color and pure fragrance ofgrapefruit flowersLike a young girl in spring, grapefruit flowers are charming with their gentle, pure white and clear beauty.
March is here, the grapefruit flower season returns to the capital.
Dreamy, gentle grapefruit flowers add to the peaceful beauty of Hanoi.
Every time after Tet, when the changing seasons become clearer, Hanoi begins to welcome the grapefruit flower season with clusters of flowers that are intoxicatingly fragrant. Walking along the streets this season, we unconsciously walk a little slower, to admire the pleasant white color of the flowers, to enjoy the poetic days of Hanoi, but also enough to make the mood more relaxed.
These days, street vendors and old bicycles are filled with clusters of pure white grapefruit flowers. From the crowded streets to the small corners deep in the heart of the old town, people can still find a familiar, rustic, and pleasant scent. Just accidentally encountering a grapefruit flower branch gently spreading its scent on the street is enough to make us smile.
These days, street vendors and old bicycles are filled with clusters of pure white grapefruit flowers.
During the season of blooming grapefruit flowers, many people buy this flower to put in a vase or display on a plate in the living room. The gentle scent of grapefruit flowers spreads throughout the house, erasing the musty feeling of the "humid season" specialty of Hanoi. Gradually, the hobby of growing grapefruit flowers has become a habit that attracts many people every March.
In recent years, more and more people in Hanoi have become fascinated with the scent of grapefruit flowers. This rustic, rural flower appears on street vendors selling by the bunch or by the weight. Compared to other fresh flowers on the market, grapefruit flowers are also among the most expensive. Because Dien grapefruit flowers with small flowers but branches full of flowers, characteristic fragrant scent, have the most expensive price from 500,000 VND/kg. At this time, grapefruit flowers are in full season, prices range from 250,000 - 300,000 VND/kg. Some small traders sell grapefruit flowers in small bunches for 50,000 - 80,000 VND/bunch.
Grapefruit flowers appear on street vendors selling by the bunch or by the pound.
Grapefruit flowers cost from 300,000 VND/kg, and fallen flowers cost 150,000 VND/kg.
According to a pomelo flower vendor at the gate of Thong Nhat Park (Hanoi), every late February and early March, she imports pomelo flowers to sell until the season ends. The price of pomelo flowers is from 300,000 VND/kg, and the price of fallen flowers is from 150,000 VND/kg. Most customers who buy pomelo flowers love the scent, so each time they only buy a few ounces, and not many customers buy 1 kg or more.
Appearing only once a year, and never lasting more than 20 days, everyone is in a hurry to keep a little grapefruit scent for themselves. Not a luxurious or ostentatious flower, grapefruit flowers have their own rustic, simple, gentle and attractive beauty. There is no need to be too complicated or sophisticated, grapefruit flowers naturally enter into life, into habits, into songs, poems and even familiar daily dishes.
Not only for display in the house, people also retain the scent of grapefruit flowers in elegant culinary dishes.
Not only for display in the house, people also retain the scent of grapefruit flowers in elegant culinary dishes.Dishes with the scent of grapefruit flowersincluding arrowroot soaked in grapefruit flowers, lotus seed longan sweet soup soaked in grapefruit flowers, and sugarcane soaked in grapefruit flowers… As you can see, there are thousands of ways to preserve the scent of this gentle and attractive flower.
Every year, when March comes, people wait for grapefruit flowers as if they are something very familiar and if they are not there, they feel a lack and restlessness. And just like that, without knowing when, grapefruit flowers suddenly become an indispensable flower season in the 12 months of Hanoians. A simple flower whose scent, even just passing by, makes people smile and recognize: "The smell of Hanoi".
Every March, people wait for grapefruit flowers as if waiting for something very familiar.
