Although simple, that village girl's name embellishes her mother's homeland with a fragrant, pure but also very feminine scent.
In January, the day of Tet is still "Mung", along the mountain road to the Northwest Spring, right from the starting point of National Highway 32 running through ancient villages like Phu Dien, the fragrant scent of grapefruit flowers is rustic but strong and extremely deep.
Even without running into the village, just letting go of the eyes from the main road, you can see in the gardens filled with the green color of spring plants, white clouds rising, made up of round pomelo flower buds like wine jars and flowers that have opened 5 petals, showing off their yellow pistils.
The wind blows through the garden, those layers of white clouds arbitrarily send fragrance into the wind, so that the wind takes that pleasant fragrance to seduce people. That fragrance chases the beast on every journey. From Phu Dien, Son Tay, Phu Tho, Tuyen Quang to Ha Giang, every road smells of grapefruit flowers.
The ivory white color of pomelo flowers simultaneously blooming has transformed different lands into a unified whole: the land of pomelo flowers. White pomelo clouds in the ancient citadel of Son Tay, on the banks of the Lo River, then weaving through hills and mountains in Ham Yen to reach the border of the rocky plateau.
The sky is in the Lunar New Year, the ground is dry and smooth, the sky is light, the spring wind is howling, it is truly a perfect place to travel. On the long road, the eyes can see overlapping mountains, the ears can hear the great forest symphony in the wind, the nose is warmly treated with a grapefruit scent, making the body and mind extremely happy.
We love the scent of grapefruit flowers in January because it is the fragrance of heaven and earth used to purify the space in a very fresh beginning. We love the scent of grapefruit flowers also because it symbolizes the gentle, pure but strong femininity in expressing love.
In some gardens along the Nhue River, Thao River, Lo River, Chay River of the journey, we suddenly see a village girl standing at the pomelo tree root, pulling the branch down low to the level of her face, her face is mesmerized by the pomelo scent pouring into her soul. She breaks a small bouquet of flowers to attach to her spring hair full of satisfaction.
Now she changes the wind to spread the scent. Wherever the footsteps reach, the scent of grapefruit flowers rises there. We will think that those fragrant footsteps will stop at a neighbor's house, a room of a neighbor's young man as in the poem "Silent Fragrance".
Also because in January grapefruit flowers bloom, also because in January she arranged pens and research papers at the age of registration, she had to ignore it. She gave the boy "going far tomorrow" a handkerchief that was soaked in the scent of grapefruit flowers as if giving a willow branch marking the farewell and the desire for reunion.
A feminine and sophisticated soul knows how to wrap the strength of love emotions in the "hesitant" fabric full of shyness. She uses the scent of grapefruit flowers to confess love in a non-verbal way, only with fragrance and affection. How wonderful it is when grapefruit flowers bloom in March to "talk to people".
Perhaps it is a coincidence, because the January grapefruit flower season blooms overlapping many important holidays at the beginning of the year. So, what is more sincere than offering plates of fragrant and pure grapefruit flowers to the altar of heaven, Buddha, saints, gods and ancestors.
This is also the best time to distill grapefruit flower water - an important additive in making banh khao, banh deo sold all year round or summer sweet soup. Grapefruit flower essential oil is a precious gift from the garden for humans, whether to make it fragrant or to beautify the mortal world.
Many people like to keep grapefruit flower incense themselves to store for family needs. Grapefruit flowers are bought for worship, for arranging to make the house fragrant, and most will be used for... incense. Grapefruit flowers choose large blooming flowers, do not choose green buds, drop them into the heart of the rice bowl, skillfully turn the bowl over to the rice tray to lock incense.
Not only that, it is also necessary to take that tray out to the outside to dry in the mist overnight, the temperature difference makes the grapefruit flower emit a fragrance to the end, that pure fragrance condenses in the heart of the bowl.
The next day, cook areca flower sweet soup or bean sweet soup, when eating, tilt the flower-marinated bowl up, pick up all the flowers and scoop in the sweet soup. The scent of grapefruit flowers is hidden in each piece of sweet soup but does not change the taste of the sweet soup like the way of pouring grapefruit flower essential oil directly into the sweet soup bowl.
Or, buying sugarcane to marinate grapefruit flowers is also a popular grapefruit flower flavored dish of Hanoi people. Choose purple sugarcane grown on Hoa Binh hill soil, peel it, split it and put it in a wide-mouth liễn. Then peel each petal of the grapefruit and put it in the liễn, do not put the whole flower because the grapefruit flower powder has a bitter taste that will spoil the sugarcane piece, and make it dirty and no longer clean.
Cover tightly to allow sugarcane to absorb the aroma of grapefruit flower petals for about 1 hour, then chill or steam hot depending on the weather or preference. After meals, bring sugarcane for dessert, the piece of sugarcane is soft, even a light bite will release sweet nectar, that nectar also has a faint smell of grapefruit flower, what could be more interesting than that.
After eating, the sugarcane, teeth, and fingers are all clean and fragrant, truly delicious. Taking another sip of tea brewed with dry tea that has been marinated with a handful of grapefruit petals since morning is even more satisfactory. Eating a fragrant piece, enjoying a fragrant dish is like that.
Then, when the aftertaste of grapefruit flower scent is still there, I dreamily think of the third day of Tet with banh troi, banh chay. Oh my, the jar of rock sugar water soaked in grapefruit flower petals now has land to use. Tao pho or fruit tea, all are in harmony with this flower scent. There are too many ways to be mesmerized by the grapefruit flower scent, a scent that doesn't know who it is that is fragrant throughout January, making the "heart confused" on a drizzly rainy day.
