Ngự banana is one of the Musaceae varieties. Banana is the name of the plant, “Ngự” is popularly called for the banana tasted by the King, Đại Hoàng is the name of a commune widely known for a tasty banana variety which emerged in the literature of Nguyễn Tuân and Trần Văn Đô. After the success of August Revolution in 1945, Đại Hoàng village was renamed into Nhân Hậu commune, now known as Lý Nhân district of Hà Nam province. However, the name “Đại Hoàng” is still kept for this kind of special fruit as the Uncle Ho once said “The banana is a valuable fruit of Đại Hoàng and it should be conserved”.

Đại Hoàng Ngự Banana has its own reputation thanks to its distinctive quality which is totally different from other kinds of banana.

Đại Hoàng Ngự Banana’s special quality is made by the local climate conditions which are very suitable for the development of Ngự banana trees. The trees are planted in alluvial soil, mixed sandy soil, non-clay, non-acid and soft soil. Content of substances in the soil ranges from average to rich levels, colours of soil layers are slightly changed, soil endosmosis is good in rain, water regulation is good in drought. Besides, planting areas are bounded by Red river and Châu Giang river forming a sunken terrain with plentiful under water resources in a bow-shaped range of water lines.

Apart from the natural geographical conditions, the quality of Đại Hoàng Ngự banana is defined by planting techniques of the local people. To be specific, the variety must be Đại Hoàng Ngự banana variety, planting gardens should be in East-West direction, density of planting area is from 60 to 65 trees per 360 square meters (each tree is separated 2,0 x 2,0 m in a row; each row is separated 3,0 x 3,0 m; only 2.5 trees – a mother tree, a child tree and a sprout shoot – grow in a cluster per year. The trees are fertilized with mud in a fish-scaled style or mudded around the roots in dry season. The flowers are trimmed to keep from 5 to 8 hands per bunch and then bunches must be covered. Exploitation period for a cluster of banana trees is 5 years from planting time to cutting time. The bananas are ripened by heated steam of burned rice husks in a close oven.

Geographical areas include group 1 to group 17 of Hòa Hậu commune; groups 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 of Tiến Thắng commune in Nhân Tiến, Lý Nhân district, Hà Nam province.

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