Top 10 renowned delicious specialties in Moc Chau

When it comes to Moc Chau, people often think of a certain fruit. That's the Moc Chau plum. Plum has become one of the most famous delicious specialties in Moc Chau that you cannot miss. May is the time when plums in Moc Chau enter the harvesting season.

As the last cold spells of winter set in the Northwestern region of our country, it is also the time for the annual plum harvest. Although it is grown in many areas such as Son La, Lao Cai, Moc Chau plum seems to be even more famous. Perhaps, Moc Chau with its cool climate all year round, along with the fresh air covered by majestic mountains, is where nurtured many famous products such as green tea, dairy products, and Moc Chau plum.

Son La plums are large, crispy, with a shiny skin. The outside of the plum is covered with a characteristic white powder. When gently squeezed, there is a slight hardness but not crushed. The skin of the plum is green when young and turns purple-red like cherry when ripe. The refreshing sour taste mixed with a bit of sweetness, slight bitterness, and the abundant juice of Son La plums awaken the taste buds of everyone who has tasted them.

Besides admiring the vast and sprawling plum orchards, laden with fruit on the branches, visitors will also enjoy the crisp and flavorful taste of plums. When enjoying ripe and fresh plums, don't forget to buy some clean plums as gifts for your loved ones!

Suối Bàng Moc Chau snails are a specialty of Son La province. Suối Bàng snails are abundant from April to August, so if you happen to visit Moc Chau during this time, you'll have the chance to enjoy the specialty snails. Suối Bàng snails are among the most famous delicious specialties in Moc Chau.

These snails are usually found in dense forests, with plenty of trees and high humidity. They often come out after rain to feed on leaves. Just one heavy rain can provide ample opportunities to catch them, with up to 10 snails per rock. The snails here resemble the ones found on the Black Lady Mountain in Tay Ninh. They do not grow vertically like other snails; instead, they grow horizontally, with a flat body about the size of two fingers, and their mouths open wide with a milky white color.

Besides boiling, Suối Bàng snails can be prepared in various other dishes. People usually don't stir-fry snails because it can become too slimy, so they often make soup instead. Boil water, add the snails, and a little salt for crispiness and to remove any fishy smell. Once cooked, pour them into a bowl, and the snail meat is cooked with sour leaves, sour leaves, or sour bamboo shoots... all delicious. For a more elaborate dish, people can mix sour mangoes with snails and spices: tofu, ginger leaves, basil, lime, chili to make a salad. Snails are a dish we can enjoy anywhere. However, when visiting the mountainous region of Son La province, don't miss out on this simple Suối Bàng Moc Chau snails dish.

Moc Chau (Son La) has always been a favorite destination for adventurers, where it captivates visitors not only with its stunning natural landscapes and fresh climate but also with its famous specialties like tea, stove beef, plums... Dairy products from Moc Chau's cows also contribute to the unique brand of this place. The cows in Moc Chau provide the locals and tourists with exceptionally special milk products.

The weather in Moc Chau is always around 15-20 degrees Celsius, with humidity below 60%, creating conditions for dairy herds and grass fields on the plateau to thrive. Moc Chau's dairy products include fresh milk, yogurt, and other milk products.

Most tourists visiting Moc Chau are very interested in visiting Moc Chau's dairy farm, taking memorable photos with the playful dairy cows to capture the unforgettable moments here, as well as buying Moc Chau milk to give to friends and family. When traveling to Moc Chau, don't forget to visit and experience the interesting things in this beautiful land.

Salmon, seemingly unrelated to this Northwestern plateau, is actually one of the most famous delicious specialties in Moc Chau. In fact, salmon is a specialty that has only appeared in Moc Chau in recent years. However, thanks to its delicious taste, rich nutrients, and countless unique cooking methods such as making salads, smoking, making sausage, frying, or making hot pot... salmon has truly become a dish that you must enjoy when visiting Moc Chau.

Moc Chau is blessed with a suitable water source for nurturing salmon, and salmon here has become a popular dish. What's special is that the price of this specialty dish is not high, ranging from 200,000 VND to 250,000 VND per serving depending on the cooking method.

Moc Chau salmon is considered fresh and delicious by many people, with firm flesh and completely different from chilled salmon bought at supermarkets. Going to Moc Chau to enjoy the plateau specialties while admiring the beautiful and majestic natural scenery is incomparable. Especially in the chilly weather at the end of winter in Moc Chau, enjoying a pot of fragrant salmon hot pot is pure happiness.

When it comes to Moc Chau, one immediately thinks of the lush strawberry fields that paint the Northwest sky red. Strolling around the green strawberry gardens laden with ripe fruit, indulging in its characteristic sweet and tangy taste will leave you with a truly delightful experience. Moc Chau strawberries are a relatively new fruit, only being experimented with for about a decade. However, this fruit has quickly become a renowned brand due to its delicious and unique flavor.

The strawberry planting season in Moc Chau starts around September, and after more than 2 months of care and nurturing, the first strawberries will emerge. The harvesting season lasts until June of the following year. However, to explore and enjoy the best strawberries, you can visit from around October to April.

Strawberries have become one of the most famous delicacies in Moc Chau. After visiting the strawberry gardens, learning about the cultivation process, taking photos, and enjoying the fruit right in the garden, don't forget to choose a few kilograms of ripe strawberries to take home as gifts for your loved ones!

Moc Chau, in particular, and the Northwest sky, in general, buffalo meat/ pork/ smoked sausage hanging by the kitchen are dishes that cannot be missed, and surely everyone has heard of them. The carefully selected pieces of meat dried on small kitchen racks will surely bring the peaceful Moc Chau back to your friends at home.

Buffalo meat, beef, pork, hanging by the kitchen is a famous specialty of the Thai ethnic group. Marinated with spices such as: ginger, garlic, lemongrass, spicy chili, black pepper, and mac khen (a type of pepper from the high mountains of the Northwest ethnic minority people) then smoked on the kitchen rack. When tasting, travelers will feel the characteristic flavor of the mountain forest, each piece of dry meat is not tough, every strand put in the mouth still feels the sweetness and fragrance blending, rich, once enjoyed, it will be unforgettable. The smoked sausage is also a unique kitchen-hanging meat dish, similar to European sausages, but the spices are typical of the mountainous region.

When it comes to Moc Chau cuisine, you can't miss the beef hotpot. This is a dish you must try when visiting the Moc Chau Plateau. Beef hotpot is made from tender beef, which must have enough fat and tendon. The young beef is sliced ​​thinly, blanched in boiling water, then marinated with various spices such as ginger, pepper, lemongrass, chili, and satay... Finally, the slices of beef are quickly cooked in hot oil until they are done.

The beef hotpot impresses any visitor to Moc Chau with its unique and delicious taste. The slices of young beef are soft, sweet, and fragrant, with the aroma of the ingredients blending together. The key to the deliciousness of this dish lies in the fact that the slices of beef must be hot. Enjoying a piece of sweet-smelling beef, dipping it in the rich soy sauce, along with the chewy skin, and taking a sip of cat apple wine, enhances the rich taste of the specialty.

Beef hotpot is best eaten when it is hot off the stove, completely different from when it is cold: softer, sweeter, more fragrant, and more satisfying. Adding a few pieces of aged ginger with sweet soy sauce is enough to make anyone ecstatic.

When the white mustard flowers bloom in the highlands of Moc Chau, tourists flock to this land even more. Tasting local dishes is one of the activities that visitors should not miss. In the early days of winter, when mist covers the paths, trying out the grilled stream fish dish will leave you with many beautiful impressions of this land.

Grilled stream fish is one of the most famous delicious specialties in Moc Chau. The grilled stream fish dish in Moc Chau is famous because the fish used for grilling is often freshly caught, marinated with rich ethnic spices such as mac khen, forest herbs, lemongrass, and chili. After being caught and marinated, the stream fish is skewered tightly with bamboo sticks and evenly grilled over charcoal until it turns golden brown and ready to eat.

Grilled stream fish in Moc Chau is a favorite dish of many tourists because only small fish are used, creating a fragrant aroma, not fishy, and both meat and bones can be eaten.

Exploring Moc Chau, there are dishes that just hearing about, you might not dare to try, but they are truly specialties of this place, and once tasted, you'll remember the flavor forever, one of which is the nậm pịa dish. Nậm pịa is quite a unique dish of the Thai people and is also one of the most famous delicious specialties in Moc Chau. In the local language, 'nậm' means soup and 'pịa' is the slippery substance found in the intestines of young cattle. The main ingredients to create nậm pịa include frozen blood, cartilage, tail pieces, meat, and the offal like heart, stomach, liver, and even the part containing the young animal's dung.

The nậm pịa dish is served with an unattractive brown color on the outside, and the taste might seem unpleasant. Many people are put off just by looking at it, but when they try the first piece, they sense a bitter taste. Eating the second or third piece, they start to taste the sweetness of the meat, the bitterness of the pịa. Those who can eat this dish will enjoy it because the bitterness quickly turns into sweetness on the tongue. Nậm pịa is eaten with boiled meat, mint leaves, banana flowers, and a bit of ethnic corn wine, which is nothing short of wonderful.

Although nậm pịa is a beloved dish of people in the highlands, not every tourist who comes to Moc Chau is brave enough to taste this dish.

The traditional culinary culture of the Dao ethnic people living in Moc Chau is best expressed through the flavor of five-color sticky rice. The ingredients for making five-color sticky rice are not complicated but require skillful processing. The glutinous rice in Moc Chau is famous throughout the country, and this type of rice is a smart choice for making five-color sticky rice.

After being cooked, the rice grains have a clear white color, with a faint aroma of sticky rice that makes people's hearts flutter, especially for those who are far from their homeland, the smell of the countryside, the smell of mountains and forests,... suddenly rushes back unexpectedly. After being cooked to fragrant perfection, the sticky rice will be dyed with co khau leaves, black co khau leaves create eye-catching and enticing colors for the dish. Five-color sticky rice is usually made on festivals, Tet, and ancestral worship days of the people of Moc Chau, Son La. If lucky enough to visit their family on these special occasions, tourists will have the chance to taste it once in a lifetime!