Top 10 Renowned Specialties of Bac Giang Province

When visiting Bac Giang, you must buy Kế rice crackers as gifts because they have a unique flavor that cannot be found anywhere else. Kế Rice Cracker is unlike any other rice cracker elsewhere due to its large size and distinctive color. Kế or Dinh Kế is a small village in Bac Giang City, where a unique method of making rice crackers is preserved, which even other villages in the region do not have.

Kế Rice Cracker is a special and delicious cake with a fragrant taste due to the nutty, crispy flavor of peanuts, sesame, sweet potatoes blended with the delicious rice of the mountainous midland region and the skillful hands of the people here, making it a brand of the people of Bac Giang. This is also an affordable gift, with the price of a bag of rice crackers (locals usually pack 5 cakes in a bag) ranging from 60,000 VND for the average type to 75,000 VND to 100,000 VND for the delicious type.

For food enthusiasts, the Chũ Noodle brand is probably not unfamiliar. This famous type of noodle is made by the people of Thủ Dương village, Nam Dương commune, Lục Ngạn district, and has now become a famous specialty across the country.

The noodles here stand out for their chewiness, the sweet taste of high-quality rice, and a unique aroma that cannot be found elsewhere. The white, elastic rice grains are carefully selected, soaked for 6 - 8 hours, then ground into a dough for elasticity and smoothness. The dough is filtered multiple times and left to ferment overnight. From dawn, locals have to start preparing the noodles for drying. The noodles are sun-dried, and if the weather is unfavorable, production will be halted to ensure the quality of the noodles. Produced using traditional methods and high-quality rice, Chũ Noodle completely avoids the use of additives, preservatives, or bleaching agents. Locals aim to preserve the distinctive aroma, delicious taste, and protect the health of consumers.

As a popular dish, Chũ Noodle can be used to make stir-fried noodles, served with hotpot or pho,... Nowadays, Chũ Noodle is available everywhere in the country and is loved by many, with an average price ranging from 20,000 to 30,000 dong per kilogram.

Litchi is a distinctive fruit of the Northern region of Vietnam, it is grown in many provinces and cities, but the best must be mentioned Luc Ngan lychee in Bac Giang province. Being cultivated in Luc Ngan nearly a century ago by farmers from Hai Duong province (Hai Duong is famous for Thanh Ha lychee), until now, lychee has become a familiar crop of the people in Luc Ngan.

With favorable climate conditions, mild, red soil mixed with gravel is very suitable for long-term fruit trees and the caring hands of the local people, Luc Ngan lychee quickly surpassed even Hai Duong lychee in terms of sweetness and aroma. Luc Ngan lychee is large, with tight, thin skin, few thorns, when ripe, it has a bright red color, thick juicy flesh, small seeds, deep sweet taste yet refreshing, along with its distinctive aroma that has made it irresistible to eat. That's why lychee is not only loved by Vietnamese people but also satisfies even the most demanding markets such as the USA, Europe, etc.

Luc Ngan lychee is not only a specialty of the province but also a pride of Vietnamese agriculture. However, the price of lychee each year is unstable due to price pressure from traders, the price fluctuates every year in the district from 15,000 to 30,000 dong per kilogram.

Khau Nuc is a slow-cooked pork belly dish with a distinctive Chinese flavor, a specialty of some northern mountainous provinces including Bac Giang. It is made from pork belly with complex cooking steps, and nowadays, khau nuc is usually served at banquets and feasts.

A piece of khau nuc has a uniform golden color, enticing aroma, created by the harmonious blend of delicious pork and spices such as coriander, Chinese five-spice powder, ginger, garlic, chili, wine, vinegar, MSG, peppercorns... Anyone who has ever tasted khau nuc cannot forget its unique flavor, the tender and fatty pieces of meat melting in your mouth will awaken all your senses.

Ant eggs, a rustic dish of the people in districts around the area of Tay Yen Tu. Ant eggs are considered a treasure trove for their nutritional value and addictive taste they bring. Locals harvest ant eggs and prepare many dishes, among which ant egg sticky rice in Bac Giang is the most popular and enticing.

Visiting the regions of Luc Nam, Luc Ngan, Son Dong, ... you will not only be impressed by the delicious, cool fruits but also have the opportunity to enjoy the unique flavor of the rustic ant egg sticky rice. Ant egg sticky rice is a delicious, nutritious food, a unique combination of the sweet, fatty taste of ant eggs with the fragrant sticky rice grains.

Enjoying it hot, you will feel the rich, seductive aroma of the rice fields, the sweet, nutty and creamy taste of ant eggs. When eaten, hearing the ant eggs popping softly in your mouth will reveal all the excitement of this dish. Anyone who has tasted ant egg sticky rice even once will remember it forever.

Hiệp Hòa, a province near Bac Giang city, is famous for its traditional gio cake made with molasses. Gio cake is present on the Tet holiday in many places throughout the province, but it becomes a specialty and gift for visitors only in Hiệp Hòa.

Made from the distinctive gio water along with sticky rice and sweet, refreshing sugar cane juice, Hiệp Hòa's gio cake leaves guests with unforgettable impressions. The cake, ripe with its shiny yellow color and surprisingly chewy texture, is a welcome relief from the many heavy dishes consumed during festivals, weddings, and other celebrations. A cool gio cake not only tastes delicious but also aids digestion, making it a favorite culinary and medicinal specialty of the region.

Lychee is the precious produce of the land of Lục Ngạn. In addition to harvesting delicious lychee fruits, people also bring beehives into the lychee orchards on days when the lychee trees are in full bloom to obtain a cool, sweet honey with a distinctive aroma.

The small, white lychee flowers contain abundant nectar. Every time the lychee trees bloom, people are intoxicated by a gentle fragrance that captivates the heart and soul. The honey from these flowers carries a unique golden color and sweetness.

Lychee honey is a precious gift bestowed upon humanity by nature. Nowadays, lychee honey is available for sale in many places, typically priced at just over 100,000 VND per liter.

When it comes to the cultural heritage of craft villages and culinary culture in Bac Giang province, one cannot forget a quite famous product - 'Mai's Da Noodle Soup,' a specialty of Da Mai commune in Bac Giang city. Mai's Da Noodle Soup has elastic noodles, refreshing to eat, and remains white and smooth like tapioca starch.

Mai's Da Noodle Soup consists of 4 types: knotted vermicelli, shell-shaped vermicelli, three-legged vermicelli, and leaf-shaped vermicelli, each type having its own distinctive way of processing. While shell-shaped vermicelli and three-legged vermicelli are only used on special occasions, knotted vermicelli and leaf-shaped vermicelli are consumed by people as familiar daily food.

People can use Mai's Da Noodle Soup to prepare dishes such as crab noodle soup, snail noodle soup, fish noodle soup, duck noodle soup, bamboo shoot noodle soup, pork leg noodle soup, dog meat noodle soup, fish cake noodle soup, noodle with fermented shrimp paste, noodle with spring rolls… Until now, Mai's Da Noodle Soup is not only consumed locally but also available in many other regions, becoming a pride of the province. The price of this noodle dish is quite reasonable, just over 10,000 VND for 1 kilogram of noodles.

Known as the elixir of literature and as beautiful as summer sunshine bottled up, Vân Village Wine bubbles lightly with just a gentle shake. Thousands of bubbles swirl around like a shining column. It's said that connoisseurs of wine can tell the alcohol content and smoothness just by looking at the bubbles. In the 24th year of Chinh Hoa (around 1703), King Le Hy Tong bestowed upon this renowned product four characters: Vân - Hương - Mỹ - Tửu. Vân Village Wine is brewed from fragrant, high-quality glutinous rice grown in the fields of Van Xa Village, Van Ha Commune, Viet Yen District, Bac Giang Province, combined with ancestral yeast made from rare Chinese medicinal herbs. After more than 72 hours of fermentation and the skilled art of brewing by the people of Van Village, Van Village Wine emerges as the most exquisite essence bestowed upon humanity by the heavens and earth. Passed down from generation to generation, Van Village Wine is a well-known ancestral brand, famous throughout the country and even abroad. For a long time, the unique flavor of Van Village Wine has always been the preferred choice of travelers to buy as gifts when passing through the Kinh Bac region.

While not unfamiliar in Vietnamese cuisine, Mỹ Độ candied tea from Xuong Giang, Bac Giang still impresses diners with its distinctive flavor. Mỹ Độ Candied Tea has a slightly dark yellow color – the color of mung beans with white roasted sesame seeds sprinkled on the tea plate. It is a harmonious combination of rich, fragrant flavor of green beans, sesame aroma, the sweetness of sugar cane, and the subtle richness of fat.

When visiting Mỹ Độ, one can enjoy candied tea along with lotus tea - another specialty of this region, a perfect combination of two unique gifts found only in the Xuong Giang region.