Buzz
On the spring journey from the Red River Delta to the Northwest mountains, you'll find regional specialties perfect for gifting to loved ones and friends.
Here are some exquisite items you can buy as gifts for loved ones on the upcoming Tet occasion:
Hanoi's Preserved Fruits and Green Rice Flakes
With flavors ranging from sour, spicy, salty, to sweet, encapsulating the essence of Hanoi's cuisine, preserved fruits are a popular choice for gifts when leaving the capital. You'll find a variety of preserved fruits such as apricot, plum, ginger, tamarind, persimmon, lime, peach, cherry, and plum... concentrated mainly on Hang Duong Street.
As a specialty of Hanoi, steamed green rice flakes allure with their chewy outer layer and a creamy coconut-infused green bean filling, delicately scented with natural pomelo essence. Available for purchase on Hang Than Street.
Hai Duong's Green Bean Cake
For generations, this cake has been a source of pride for every resident of Hai Duong. Made from pure green bean flour, mixed with a bit of fat and sugar, it offers a delightful balance of sweetness and richness on the palate. Packaged conveniently in paper boxes for gifting purposes.
Ninh Binh's Burnt Rice
As one of the specialties of the ancient capital, burnt rice is meticulously prepared from carefully selected ingredients. To ensure deliciousness, sticky rice is used, cooked in an iron pot over wood charcoal, ensuring even heat distribution to create a crispy layer throughout the pot. After being taken out, the burnt rice is sun-dried naturally in a ventilated area, then fried until golden and crunchy. Delicious burnt rice boasts a light yellow color, uniform grains, crispy yet chewy texture.
Nam Dinh's Thorny Cake
In Nam Dinh, there are many households growing thorny leaves, which are the main ingredient that contributes to the distinctive flavor of thorny cake. Along with the cake filling are a combination of various ingredients such as peeled green beans, fatty meat, peanuts, lotus seeds, coconut... to blend together and enhance a unique aroma, rich fragrance, and sweetness. The most famous is Mrs. Thi's thorny cake, which many people buy as gifts whenever they visit this place.
Thai Binh's Fish Cake
Making fish cakes involves many complex steps, from soaking glutinous rice, cooking red sticky rice, extracting ginger juice, roasting rice into 'nẻ' grains (rice husks removed), preparing lard, grating coconut, soaking sugar for 15 days. Additionally, ingredients like sesame seeds, pomelo flower scent, pumpkin jam... must be prepared. First, the roasted glutinous rice is fried until crispy and golden. Then, all remaining ingredients are mixed together until they stick together like a dough and pressed into a pre-made mold to form the finished fish-shaped cakes.
Thai Nguyen's Tea Sweet Soup
For a long time, Thai Nguyen's sweet soup has become a special gift for many tourists when visiting the land of tea. After a strict harvesting and processing process, the sweet soup has a distinctive gentle aroma, clear green color, slightly bitter taste when freshly consumed, followed by a deep lingering sweetness. There are various flavors and quantities of sweet soup for you to choose from as gifts.
Hạ Long Squid Sausage
The distinctive flavor of Hạ Long squid sausage comes from the hand-grinding technique, unlike many other places that use machine grinding. After seasoning, the round pieces of sausage are fried in boiling oil until they turn a captivating golden color and release a tantalizing aroma. This results in a natural crispiness and rich flavor, perfect to pair with sticky rice or steamed rice cakes.
Dried Bamboo Shoots from Hòa Bình
Dried bamboo shoots are processed from fresh bamboo shoots by sun-drying and completely air-drying. If exposed to sunlight, the shoots will naturally turn yellow. If the weather is not favorable, those who make bamboo shoots will hang them in the kitchen attic, where they will turn yellow when dried. At this point, the shoots are torn into smaller pieces and dried again until completely dry. Dried bamboo shoots can be used to prepare various dishes such as bone broth, duck vermicelli soup... suitable as gifts for family.
Thai Nguyen's Rice Tube Cake
This cake is made from glutinous rice, wrapped in banana leaves or dong leaves, without filling. The glutinous rice must be soaked in water multiple times until the water becomes clear. Continue soaking the rice for a few hours until it becomes soft. Tear the banana leaves into square pieces, roll them into a funnel shape, pour the rice inside, gently press the outside to compact the rice, fold the edges of the leaves, and tie the cake with soft strings. Rice tube cakes are strung into pairs or small clusters, boiled for about 2 hours until cooked, and sold in bunches at markets across Thai Nguyen.
Diện Biên's Smoked Sausage
Smoked sausage is usually made a few months before Tet to prevent spoilage and ensure it tastes delicious throughout the year. The main ingredient for smoked sausage is young pig intestines. The filling consists of pork loin, shoulder, or butt, the delicious parts of pork. The sausages are tightly stuffed, sun-dried for about 3 days, then hung in the kitchen attic. They are a staple food for many festivals and Tet occasions in Dien Bien.
