A Walnut Honored from Every Side
The walnuts of Dali are not only of fine quality, abundant yield, and many varieties, but also famous across the world for their large nuts, thin shells, white kernels, fragrant taste, and high kernel yield. Above all, the Yangbi walnut is the speciality of the Yangbi Yi Autonomous County of Dali and is a product with Chinese National Geographic Indication protection.
A Long History of Cultivation
Some 3,500 years ago walnut trees already grew in the Lancang River basin of the region; a thousand years ago, in the Song-dynasty Dali Kingdom, commercial walnuts had already appeared in Dali Prefecture. Volume 10 of the Kangxi-era Yunnan Tongzhi ("General Gazetteer of Yunnan") records: "Of walnuts, those of Dali's Yangbi are best," and the Dian Hai Yu Heng Zhi ("Record of Yunnan's Produce") states: "Walnuts are finest along the Yangbi River; their shells are so thin you can crush them between your fingers." Thus, well before the Qing dynasty, the great hollow-shell Yangbi walnut so famed today had already been developed along the Yangbi River.
A Tree That Enriches the Mountains
The Yangbi walnut is a traditional plantation crop of the people of Dali. Over the years, on this hot and productive land, growing walnuts has become the ordinary habit of the people - a variety cherished by households without number in the mountain districts of Dali Prefecture, and an important source of added income and prosperity for mountain communities.
