Pingle Hawthorn

Pingle Hawthorn

　　Hawthorn, commonly known as "mountain pear" or "stone pear," grows in all 13 townships of the county except Pingle Town itself. It is most abundant in seven townships: Ertang, Qiaoting, Fucheng, Changtan, Zhangjia, Daba, and Yuantou. The county has over 80,000 hawthorn trees, with 60,000 bearing fruit.

Before liberation, most hawthorn trees in the county grew wild, with only a few being cultivated. The county produced around 300 tons of fresh hawthorn fruit and about 100 tons of dried hawthorn slices annually. According to measurements by institutions such as the Chinese Academy of Plant Sciences and the Guangxi Tea Research Institute, Pingle hawthorn contains 22% carbohydrates, along with high levels of iron and calcium—its calcium content ranks the highest among all fruits. It can be eaten fresh or processed into products such as hawthorn slices, hawthorn cakes, hawthorn jam, and hawthorn preserves. It can also be used to make juice and fruit wine. Since liberation, with the development of the food industry, hawthorn production has gained increasing attention. By the 1980s, many farmers in the mountainous areas of the county began planting hawthorn as a means to achieve prosperity. In 1983, the county’s commercial department started purchasing dried hawthorn fruit. In 1984, a total of 2.57 tons of hawthorn slices were purchased, with the products being sold to Babu, Wuzhou, Liuzhou, and other places. Later, due to the gradual opening of the market, the commercial department ceased its purchases.