Top 15 Delectable and Famous Specialties of Thái Nguyên

Bờ Đậu Square Sticky Rice Cake stands out as one of the most renowned delicacies in Thái Nguyên. The Bờ Đậu Square Sticky Rice Cake village, located in Cổ Lũng commune, Phú Lương district, is considered a culinary treasure trove preserving the essence of Vietnamese cuisine. 'Square Sticky Rice Cakes boiled in sacred well water, with a heavenly fragrance,' this folk verse has long been a source of pride for the locals, making it one of the top 5 villages famous for making square sticky rice cakes in the Northern region.

Bờ Đậu Square Sticky Rice Cake must be crafted from fragrant Định Hóa glutinous rice, clean pork from ethnic communities, and forest dong leaves harvested in Na Rỳ, Bắc Kạn. With skilled hands and abundant experience, these craftsmen produce visually stunning cakes. Perhaps that's why the flavor of Bờ Đậu Square Sticky Rice Cake is incomparable to others. It's a specialty available year-round, not just during Tet, attracting countless tourists from all over to savor the unique blend of flavors—nature, sky, and human craftsmanship. It's the renowned specialty of Thái Nguyên - Bờ Đậu Square Sticky Rice Cake.

Exploring Định Hóa, visitors not only delve into significant historical events of the ethnic groups but also immerse themselves in the unique festivals of the ethnic minorities, savoring the alluring local products. Bamboo-tube cooked rice is one of the simple dishes of the ethnic minorities in Định Hóa but is strangely attractive due to the harmonious blend of water, fire, and young bamboo tubes. Bamboo-tube cooked rice is a simple dish of the people of Định Hóa, simple because it is associated with the springs at the source and the terraced fields on the hillside, the green bamboo groves of the ATK land, a timeless charm for those who have the chance to taste it.

To have delicious bamboo-tube cooked rice, first, you need good sticky rice, which is the sticky yellow flower rice grown on the terraced fields, harvested around September or October. The sticky rice, with all ten grains round and firm, is soaked in warm water. The utensils used are bamboo or young bamboo tubes, still fresh to allow the water from the bamboo to permeate into the rice during cooking. Each bamboo or young bamboo tree can only yield three to four tubes, each about 30 cm long... The people of Định Hóa make bamboo-tube cooked rice by putting the soaked sticky rice into the bamboo tubes, about three parts rice to two parts water, leaving about 5 parts near the tube's mouth (to ensure the rice expands and fills the entire tube) then tied with young banana leaves tightly and burned over a fire.

Lighting a big or small fire will make the time it takes to cook the bamboo-tube rice faster or slower, under the skilled hands of women, the bamboo tubes are evenly turned, and the rice grains inside will be more even. When the rice is cooked, the enticing aroma spreads out. In the bamboo-tube cooked rice, there is the flavor of the earth and sky blending, the gentle taste of young bamboo and non, the scent of dewdrops on banana leaves, and the faint shadow of a lively fire in the winter days... When the burned bamboo layer is removed, the bamboo-tube rice is cut into slices, arranged on a plate, the rice is as smooth as a piece of meat, the inviting aroma tempts distant guests to taste. Bamboo-tube cooked rice can be kept for a week without becoming stale or moldy. The bamboo-tube rice is eaten with a mixture of salt and sesame seeds, both rustic and modest, yet unforgettable.

Thái Nguyên is not only a land of many famous landscapes and historical relics but also a place with many renowned specialties. Among the cakes of the Tày people in Thái Nguyên, Cooc Mò cake is a simple yet strangely attractive dish due to its very distinct and unique flavor. To have these Cooc Mò cakes that are both soft, fragrant, and beautiful, besides choosing ingredients and leaves for wrapping, the cake-making process requires delicacy and skill. The cake is made from fragrant sticky rice, each grain is plump and even. The water used for making the cake must be spring water, pure, and sweet.

The cake is usually wrapped in leaves taken from the forest, either long leaves or mai leaves. After bringing the leaves home, cut the stems and ends, the leaves are about 30 - 35 cm long, clean them, then boil them to make them soft and easy to wrap. When wrapping, place two leaves on top of each other, hold both ends of the leaves and squeeze them crosswise to form a funnel shape, use a small cup to scoop rice and pour it in until the leaves are full to the mouth. When wrapping, each cake is about 1.5 cups of rice, like a water-drinking cup. Hold the lower part with one hand to prevent the rice from slipping, hold both ends of the leaves together, fold them down to seal the rice, and then bend the leaves to one side. After that, use rattan string or small twigs to tie it. The cake has 4 corners, three sharp corners and one obtuse corner. After wrapping, put the cake in a pot and steam it for about 4 hours, then take it out to cool.

The Tày people make Cooc Mò cakes all year round and sell them at the markets. For only 20,000 VND, tourists can have a bunch of fragrant and charming Cooc Mò cakes. Cooc Mò cakes may be simple, but behind them is a symbol of the strength of unity, always standing side by side, expressing the wish for a prosperous and abundant new year for the ethnic people in the highlands.

This is a traditional cake that has been passed down through many generations of the Tày ethnic group. Every special occasion, especially during festivals, the Tày people often make this cake to offer to their ancestors. This dish has been handed down through many different generations. Until today, this delicious cake remains an endless source of pride for the Tày people in Thái Nguyên. If you often consume mugwort, you surely know about its miraculous healing properties. Therefore, mugwort is considered a good medicinal herb. That's why the people here have created the famous and fragrant Ngai Cake from Thái Nguyên. Under the skillful hands of the Tày people, these vibrant green Ngai cakes are truly eye-catching and attractive.

Among the delicious specialties of the Tày people, Ngai cake is always one of the most well-known dishes. At first glance, this cake might resemble the Dày cake, but it has a very distinctive green color. In terms of shape, it looks exactly like the Dày cake. Ngai Cakes are usually made on the occasion of the Qingming Festival or the 7th lunar month. Therefore, if you travel to Thái Nguyên during these times, you will definitely have the opportunity to enjoy this unique and delicious Tày specialty. Although it is a rustic cake, on important occasions, the Tày people often make and offer this cake to their ancestors as a sign of respect and gratitude.

The tradition of making soy sauce in Úc Kỳ commune has been around for as long as anyone can remember. Every household knows how to make soy sauce, and they all have at least one jar of soy sauce to eat throughout the year and as a gift for visitors. Over time, the craft of making sticky rice soy sauce has become a traditional profession of the local people and is a unique culinary specialty that is gradually reaching markets inside and outside the province. Anyone who visits Úc Kỳ commune cannot miss the opportunity to taste the rich, fragrant aroma of sticky rice soy sauce. This specialty is made from Thầu dầu glutinous rice, one of the factors that sets it apart from other regions making sticky rice soy sauce.

Sticky rice soy sauce made by farmers has a distinctive flavor, a shiny yellow color like soy sauce, and is soft and smooth. The soy sauce here is made from 3 main ingredients: glutinous rice, soybeans, and white salt. Similar to soy sauce from some other regions made from glutinous rice, soybeans, and salt, Úc Kỳ sticky rice soy sauce has its own unique flavor due to the special glutinous rice used by the local people, known as Thầu dầu glutinous rice, a special type of glutinous rice grown in Úc Kỳ and Xuân Phương communes, Phú Bình district, Thái Nguyên. Making Úc Kỳ sticky rice soy sauce requires meticulous and skilled work, and only experienced people can make delicious soy sauce. Besides preparing standard ingredients and following traditional secrets, each jar of Úc Kỳ soy sauce also carries the emotions and feelings of the soy sauce maker; only in this way can a delicious jar of soy sauce be made.

Thầu dầu glutinous rice is carefully selected, and these rice grains are sun-dried without breakage or damage, exuding the fresh aroma of new rice for sauce processing. The Thầu dầu glutinous rice is cooked evenly and not dry; it is then spread on clean racks for drying and turned over evenly for 3 days. After that, cover it with banana leaves and let it ferment until the rice has a golden pollen color. Whenever you come to Úc Kỳ, any season of the year, every family has a jar of fragrant sticky rice soy sauce.

The black persimmon trees have been cultivated in Hà Châu for hundreds of years. Even now, many ancient persimmon trees still stand, casting a cool and serene shade. Black persimmons are woody plants that bloom in February, and their fruits ripen in July of each lunar year. However, the persimmon season can extend until the end of the ninth month, as the persimmons on a tree don't all ripen simultaneously. The persimmon fruit is diamond-shaped, turning black when ripe, with golden persimmon flesh, and a milky white kernel inside.

Black persimmons can be processed into pickled persimmons and cooked persimmons. Pickled persimmons are dipped in soy sauce and enjoyed with boiled pork belly, creating an exquisite dish. The cooked persimmons are pickled until tender and poured into jars to be enjoyed gradually. If you have the opportunity to visit here, you will undoubtedly be treated to this specialty by the friendly locals. Today, persimmons help lift people out of poverty and make a living on their homeland. Persimmons are not picky about soil, but perhaps the rich alluvial soil along the Cầu River has created a rich, fragrant flavor and a thick, firm flesh for Hà Châu persimmons, making it a specialty sought after by traders from all over the region. It is taken beyond this land to create simple but flavorful meals for countless families.

Shrimp rolls are known as a long-standing, unique dish of the people in Thù Lâm village, Phổ Yên town, Thái Nguyên province. With simple ingredients, yet the allure of this dish is not only recognized by the locals but also voted by the Vietnam Record Organization as one of the 100 typical specialties of the country.

To make the shrimp rolls, fresh shrimp is picked, cleaned, and threaded onto toothpicks to prevent curling during frying. Fried eggs, pork sausage, and boiled fatty pork are sliced into pieces about 5 - 6 cm long. The onion is blanched in boiling water, then clipped together with the fried shrimp, a little sausage, fried eggs, and boiled fatty pork, and rolled with the onion. When eating, you can dip it in a sauce made with fish sauce, lime, garlic, and chili... You will find the delightful crispy aroma from the fried shrimp, the refreshing taste from various herbs, and the richness from the sausage, fried eggs... Particularly, this dish is very suitable for festive days, effectively preventing boredom.

Distinct from other fermented pork rolls that can be eaten immediately, Đại Từ fermented pork roll requires a small step of grilling over charcoal or rolling through a pan to be ready. With ingredients including pork leg meat, garlic, rice wine, pepper, star anise, and guava leaves, each roll is meticulously wrapped in banana leaves and may take a few days. For quality rolls, only the meat from the two pork ham portions is used. The meat is thoroughly washed, finely sliced, and mixed with minced garlic, ground pepper, rice wine, and toasted rice powder.

After the ingredients for wrapping the rolls are completed, the rolls will be carefully wrapped again with banana leaves and guava leaves. The inner layer is usually made with guava leaves, which have a suitable bitter taste, and the outer layer is an outer layer made with fresh banana leaves. The rolls are wrapped moderately, not too tight, to allow fermentation and long shelf life. Using banana leaves to wrap the rolls creates a vibrant, shiny green color, making them visually appealing. The rolls are ready to eat after 3-4 days. When enjoying Đại Từ fermented pork roll, people often serve it with various herbs like sung leaves and jicama. Depending on personal preferences, you can dip it in a sauce made of lemon fish sauce with garlic or chili sauce, adding more delicious flavors to this dish.

Enjoying Đại Từ fermented pork roll, you will experience the bitterness of guava leaves harmonizing with the soft sweetness of the meat, the lingering aroma of grilled banana leaves in the charcoal. If you don't have the means to grill the rolls over charcoal, you can unwrap them and microwave them or roll them through a pan for about a minute until they are cooked. The taste of Đại Từ fermented pork roll is unmatched by any other kind of fermented pork roll. If you have the opportunity to visit Đại Từ during the Núi Văn - Núi Võ Festival at Lưu Nhân Chú Temple, Thái Nguyên Province, remember to buy some rolls as gifts for your family and friends. Once you have tried it, you will find it hard to forget.

Now, every time you hear the name Bình Long, Võ Nhai district, everyone knows the famous craft of making delicious tofu. Making tofu requires clever, meticulous steps and craftsmanship to produce batches of tofu that are appealing to both the taste and sight. However, the Bình Long tofu village has its secrets that outsiders may find hard to discover. The main ingredient for making tofu is soybeans. The soybeans grown in the land of Bình Long are round, shiny, and uniform in size. In the tofu-making process, boiling soybean water that has been filtered and mixed with sour water is a crucial step. The sour water added to the soybean water must be in perfect proportion. If excessive, the tofu will be slightly hard and bitter, and if there is too little sour water, the tofu will be mushy and brittle.

Unlike other regions where tofu is pressed in long molds and cut into small pieces, Bình Long Tofu is pressed in large molds, with each piece weighing about 1 kg. This type of tofu can be prepared in various ways, but to fully appreciate and retain the basic flavor of Bình Long tofu, one only needs to savor the white tofu dipped in shrimp sauce. It is refreshing and easy to enjoy, with each piece of tofu being soft, smooth, fragrant, rich, and melting in the mouth. It is so enticing that you can keep eating without getting tired of it.

The Dao people also consume plain rice as the main staple in their regular meals. However, each family dedicates a specific field to cultivate glutinous rice used for making mixed sticky rice. In Dao households, there is always glutinous rice readily available. It is a natural instinct that every Dao woman knows how to make sticky rice. The white glutinous rice grains are divided into different portions and soaked separately. Some portions are mixed with gấc fruit for red color, some are soaked with liễn leaves for purple color, some are soaked with nếp leaves for green color, and yellow color is achieved by mixing with đành đành fruit. Different families may use various plants and leaves to create different colors. Over time, Dao women become adept at soaking to achieve the right level of freshness and tenderness of the rice grains.

Next, the colored rice grains are placed into different compartments (for large-scale rice cooking) or in a large compartment with dong or banana leaves to create separate sections for each color of sticky rice. Cooking over low heat, with the right amount of water and patience, ensures that the sticky rice is evenly cooked and aromatic. This is a wealth of experience that Dao women acquire through cooking in different rice compartments; if there is too little water, the sticky rice will be undercooked, and if there is too much water, the rice will be mushy and stick to the bottom, resulting in a product that the elders refer to as 'alive on top, destroyed at the bottom.'

Cooking sticky rice on a wood stove gives it an authentic flavor. Each rice compartment is usually cooked for 1 to 2 hours. Afterward, the Dao people will take out the rice and mix different colored sticky rice to create mixed sticky rice. It is worth noting that the first plate of sticky rice is offered to the ancestors, and only after the ancestral worship is completed, the rest of the family can enjoy the sticky rice. The rice grains grown on the mountains and in the forests are skillfully turned into delicious and visually appealing mixed sticky rice by the Dao people. Just by looking at it, everyone wants to savor this delightful dish.

Hùng Sơn Rice Noodles offer a unique crispiness, chewiness, and distinct aroma. The locals here craft these noodles from a special rice variety called Định Hóa pregnant rice. The rice, meticulously picked and thoroughly washed, undergoes an 8-hour soaking before being ground into flour. The pliable, silky flour undergoes multiple filtrations and is left to ferment overnight, then spread and cut into evenly sized noodle strands. What sets this type of noodle apart is the absence of additives or any chemical agents. Hence, the noodles boast a completely natural whiteness and a delightful rice fragrance that lingers on the taste buds, providing an unforgettable experience.

Hùng Sơn Rice Noodles exhibit a naturally pure white color, carrying the aromatic essence of rice. They are remarkably sweet and fragrant when consumed. If you have the opportunity, you can visit the region to purchase these noodles as a warm and meaningful gift for your loved ones. Although it has been around for a while, Hùng Sơn noodles only gained recognition within the province a few years ago, thanks to their appearances at various fairs in Thái Nguyên City. While initially obscure, over time, the outstanding qualities such as the sweetness from pregnant rice flour and the resilient, non-soggy noodle strands have left a lasting impression on consumers both within and beyond the province.

Beefvine, also known by various names like aerial vegetable, crunchy herb, dragon's mane, climbing sweet vegetable... has a resemblance to watercress but with larger, softer, and plumper stems and leaves. People typically use the tender stems and young leaves of beefvine for culinary purposes. The distinctive aroma of beefvine is usually reduced by crushing the leaves to lessen the intensity. However, the delightful sweetness of the vegetable always makes one crave and overlook this peculiar scent.

The flavor of beefvine is truly unique, a harmonious blend of earthy undertones, forest essence, and the pure mountain air. The most noteworthy aspect of this dish is the slightly... unique scent. Consequently, during preparation, the leaves are often crushed to mitigate the distinct aroma. Despite this effort, a subtle lingering fragrance remains after consumption. One can easily liken it to the aftermath of enjoying shrimp paste vermicelli, as the experience of consuming beefvine shares a similar characteristic, differing only in the level of 'fragrant sensitivity.'

With favorable conditions, Thái Nguyên always offers a variety of bamboo shoots to savor throughout the year. However, the most prevalent is undoubtedly Bitter Bamboo Shoots from Thousand Sprouts. When these shoots first emerge from the ground, they bring a unforgettable flavor to those who have had the pleasure of enjoying them. The bitter taste of these bamboo shoots is crispest and most delightful during the spring. They can be boiled and dipped in salt, cooked with stream snails, or soaked in vinegar for a delightful dish. If you're not a fan of the bitter taste, you can soak them in salted water for 1-2 hours or slice them in half and lightly boil them.

Bitter Bamboo Shoots from Thousand Sprouts possess a distinctive bitter, crisp, and fragrant flavor of bamboo shoots. Boiling them and serving with salt and chili or shrimp paste enhances their taste. Alternatively, if you haven't tried the exquisite dish of bitter bamboo shoots cooked with stream snails, the harmonious blend of bamboo shoots and snails creates an indescribably delicious experience. Some people prefer the vinegar-infused bamboo shoots with garlic and chili, where the shoots are cleaned, sliced, and soaked in a mixture of vinegar, garlic, and chili for about ten days to two weeks, resulting in a jar of flavorful vinegar.

According to the experience of Dong Hy locals, bamboo shoots at the beginning of the season are always better than those at the end. Perhaps it's because all the nutrients have been concentrated in the first shoots, and by the end of the season, their energy has been depleted. The bamboo shoot season coincides with spring, the season of flourishing vegetation.

Tro Cake or nẳng cake is the unique cake of the Tày people in Thái Nguyên. It is also a famous cake in many regions, but Thái Nguyên's tro cake has a distinct flavor that stands out. The cake is wrapped in cloth made from glutinous rice, with yellow flower patterns. The outer layer is covered with chit leaves, long enough to wrap and flexible enough not to tear. The soaking water for the cake should be filtered for clarity and not soaked for too long. The glutinous rice grains, after cooking, have a light yellow color, are clear, and have a chewy texture. Tro cake in Thái Nguyên is delicious when served with sugarcane honey.

In the past, tro cake was often made during insect-killing ceremonies. Nowadays, when you visit Thái Nguyên, you can enjoy tro cake at any time of the year. In the peaceful countryside of Phú Bình, Thái Nguyên province, a unique custom is still preserved: Every full moon day, the first day of the month, or whenever there is a worship ceremony, tro cake, a traditional cake of the local people, will be made.

Nham or nham trám is an intricately prepared dish made from betel nuts and is considered a traditional dish of the people of Thái Nguyên. Nham is usually eaten during the ripe betel nut season. A complete nham dish typically includes many ingredients. Among them, betel nuts are indispensable, finely chopped. Nham usually has two types: raw fish nham and grilled fish nham. Raw fish nham only includes fish meat, while grilled fish nham is grilled over charcoal. Mix them together with sesame, peanuts, khế leaves, and nhội leaves, and you have a nham dish with a full, rustic flavor. Nham can be enjoyed with rice paper or rice crackers, both are very enticing.

Around July and August, when the black betel nuts are ripe, 'sun in July makes betel nuts sprout, sun in August makes betel nuts ripe,' and this is when the people of Hà Châu make nham the most. But to make the specialty nham dish without being in the betel nut season, you have to know how to preserve black betel nuts by boiling them until cooked, then adding salt and letting them soak and settle for a few months; they can still be used. According to tradition, Hà Châu black betel nuts are scattered along the banks of the Cầu River. Wide fields, every house's garden is full of betel nuts, especially just one type of black betel nut. The young betel nuts are rhombus-shaped and white, while the mature ones are dark green.

During the betel nut season, traders from distant places come to Hà Châu to place orders, and homeowners just have to pick the betel nuts and get paid. The betel nut has always been a special fruit preserved by the people of the Hà Châu region as a unique specialty of their homeland. Betel nut salad, dried betel nuts, betel nut sticky rice. Especially, the nham trám mentioned earlier is a dish that local people use whenever there are festivals, feasts, or entertaining guests. In the past, black betel nut nham was offered to the king, and people considered it a precious product, crystallizing the ingenuity in the culinary art of the local people.