Water lilies can be processed, stir-fried or cooked in sour soup, or cooked fish and shrimp. The lily is washed, stripped of its thin outer shell, cut flowers, retains the stem, accompanied by a fish, Anabas, bacon, and aubergine to have a pot of delicious fish sauce.
Around July – October of the lunar calendar every year, the water from the upper reaches of the Mekong River flows to form a sea of water overflowing. An Giang and Long An are among the first to receive water, then to other downstream provinces in the Mekong Delta region.
Depending on the year, the flood comes sooner or later. The flood is also the time when people make a living, harvest fish and shrimp, spread nets, drop fishing lines, plant crops, and pick lilies.
Water lilies are grown mostly in rivers in the southwestern region. Lilies are grown in the pond often have fat stems. Wild lilies (or ghost lilies), which only grow in perennial fields and swamps, often have stemmed from 2 to 5 m long and have purple and white flowers.
The local people said that the reason is called ghost lilies because they often bloom at night, when the sun just rises, the lilies wilt and sink into the water. So lilies must be picked at night and at dawn.
After the lily goes through the process of washing, cleaning the mud and tied into bundles, it is loaded onto a boat to be sold to the market or sold to restaurants.
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