8 Must-Try Thái Nguyên Specialties to Enjoy and Purchase as Gifts

Thái Nguyên Specialties

1. Bờ Đậu Square Glutinous Rice Cake

Bờ Đậu Square Glutinous Rice Cake is meticulously crafted without a mold yet remains sharp-edged and uniform, each piece as tidy as the next. The secret to its renowned flavor lies in the fragrant sticky rice from Định Hóa. In addition to the traditional square cake, locals also wrap cakes with red gấc fruit; purple sticky rice cakes... to meet the increasingly diverse demands of the market.

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2. Tân Cương Sweet Soup

Thái Nguyên, renowned as the 'prime tea kingdom,' stands out as the epitome of tea cultivation, ranking among the nation's foremost tea regions. Its fertile soil and favorable climate foster vigorous growth of tea trees, yielding plump tea buds. Tân Cương tea boasts a distinctive clear infusion, a light golden-green hue, and a smooth texture. Upon savoring, one experiences a harmonious blend of gentle sweetness with minimal bitterness lingering.

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3. Đại Từ Fermented Pork Rolls

Specialty of Thái Nguyên

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4. Cóoc mò Cake

Cóoc mò in Tày language means buffalo horn. This type of cake is made from pounded glutinous rice mixed with peanuts, blended with spring water, and wrapped into the shape of a buffalo horn using dong or banana leaves. The cake lacks savory fillings like many other types of cakes but has a chewy, fatty taste from the peanuts, making it endlessly enjoyable.

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5. Ngải Cake

Ngải Cake is an indispensable dish on the culinary map of Thái Nguyên. The cake is made from fragrant glutinous rice. The cake batter is ground with ngải leaves to create a unique flavor and beautiful color. There are varieties of ngải cakes: plain ngải cake, sesame-filled ngải cake, and the most delicious one is the ant egg-filled ngải cake. This type of cake is mildly sweet, healthy, and can be eaten in large quantities without causing heatiness like other glutinous rice cakes.

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6. Ant Egg Cake

Specialty of Thái Nguyên

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7. Định Hóa Bamboo Rice

Định Hóa Bamboo Rice is cooked from delicious glutinous rice. The rice is put into bamboo tubes, fresh bamboo tubes taken from Định Hóa forested mountains, then evenly roasted over a fire. When cooked, the bamboo rice emits the fragrant aroma of glutinous rice and bamboo. This dish is served with sesame salt and grilled chicken, and no matter how much is prepared, it always runs out. Many tourists passing through Định Hóa always want to buy this rustic dish as a gift.

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8. Úc Kỳ Sticky Rice Paste

This product is skillfully crafted by the hands of the people of Úc Kỳ commune (Phú Bình district). It still uses familiar ingredients like other tofu-making villages such as glutinous rice, soybeans, and white salt. But the secret behind the delicious flavor of Úc Kỳ sticky rice paste lies in the special variety of glutinous rice called 'thầu dầu,' which is only grown in 2 communes: Úc Kỳ and Xuân Phương. The finished paste is soft, smooth, and has a shiny yellow color. From there, this rustic gift has become a specialty that travelers follow everywhere.

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Specialty of Thái Nguyên

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