Lang Son Ha Long

🍃 Lang Son's cinnamon apple: a fruit, a pride

📍 Origin and terroir

• The cinnamon apple (na in Vietnamese) is cultivated mainly in the Chi Lang and Hữu Lũng districts, south of Lang Son province.
• These mountainous regions offer a cool climate and rich soils, ideal for growing this fruit at the sweet and fragrant flesh, recognizable by its rounded shape and scaly skin.

🧺 The cinnamon apple market: the beating heart of the season

🕒 Harvest period

• The season extends from July to September, with a peak of activity in august, when the fruits reach their optimum ripeness.
• Every morning, producers bring the cinnamon apples down the steep slopes using handcrafted winches, an ingenious method which replaces the back-portages of yesteryear.

🛍️ Market atmosphere

• The main market is held in the capital of Dong Banh, in Chi Lang district.
• From dawn, the 30 kg baskets filled with fruit are taken to the stalls, where the sellers select, sort and negotiate with buyers from all over the country.
• The atmosphere is lively, colorful and fragrant, with cries of merchants, the laughter, and the trucks coming and going ready to export to China, Japan or Korea.

🌱 A fruit with modern standards

• More and more producers are adopting the VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards, guaranteeing a clean and sustainable culture, with less herbicides and a enhanced traceability.
• This approach opens the doors to demanding international markets, while promoting local know-how.

🎉 Cinnamon Apple Festival

• Every year, a agricultural festival is organized to celebrate the harvest, with:

• Giant Fruit Exhibitions,
• Quality competition,
• Folk shows of the Tay and Nung ethnic groups,
• And some meetings between producers and buyers.

✨ Why this market is unforgettable

It is a place where the mountain offers its treasures, where tradition meets innovation, and where Each fruit tells a story of patience, family and local pride. The cinnamon apple market in Lang Son is alive, authentic and deeply rooted in the agricultural identity of northern Vietnam.