The land of Seven Mountains in the territory of two districts of Tri Ton and Tinh Bien of An Giang province is considered the land of Sugar Palm Fruit (Thot Not). For many generations, the palm tree has been associated with the material and spiritual life of the residents of Seven mountains, especially the Khmer people.

By Thomas Vietnam at vemekong.com | All Best Foods & Restaurants in Chau Doc

1. Better to Know as a Food Lover

Find them: Chau Doc City

Best time: Dusk-Dawn

Don’t miss: Thot Not honeycomb cake

Local’s pick: Chau Doc Market

Tourist’s pick: Chau Doc Night Market, Cam Mountain…

Blog: https://vemekong.com/sugar-palm-fruit-chau-doc-food/

Facts: The sugar palm tree has brought a lot of economic value to the local people and has become a specialty of this land.

2. Better to Know Sugar Palm Fruit

What is a sugar palm fruit?

It belongs to a straight tree, at first glance looks like a palm tree in the Northern Midlands of our country or is similar to a coconut tree, up to 30m tall and has an average lifespan of 20-30 years, even 100 years… 1 sugar palm tree for 50-60 fruits/crop.

The sugar palm fruit is grouped in clusters, large and round, about the size of a Siamese coconut, with a dark purple shell. The intestines have compartments (about 3-5 packs), covered with a thin layer of silk, inside, there is thick white rice, soft and flexible like water coconut rice but more delicious, with a fleshy and fatty taste. young. The ripe old sugar palm fruit is harder to eat, the flesh is yellow and the aroma is like a ripe jackfruit.

The origin of the sugar palm tree

Palm trees are native to South Asia and Southeast Asia, so you can see sugar palm fruit in many neighboring countries such as Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, etc.

3. Sugar Palm Fruit in Chau Doc

What is the effect of sugar palm fruit?

According to traditional medicine, sugar palm fruit has a sweet, average taste. It has diuretic, anti-inflammatory, anti-inflammatory, and heat-relieving effects, and fermented sugar palm fruit juice has a nutritious effect. In modern Western medicine, sugar palm fruit has been studied and discovered with some important effects as follows:

Strengthen the body’s immune system

The content of zinc and selenium in sugar palm fruit plays a role in preventing and fighting the damage of cells due to the influence of free radicals, preventing infections, and strengthening the body’s immune system. Regularly eating sugar palm fruit also has the effect of preventing diseases such as cough, flu, cold…

Prevention of anemia

The content of iron and vitamin B in sugar palm fruit is relatively large, so it is very good for people with anemia, pregnant women, and women in their menstrual period.

Reducing migraine pain

The active ingredients in sugar palm fruit are studied and evaluated to help relieve migraines quickly. If you don’t have sugar palm fruit available to eat, you can buy sugar palm fruit to use, which also has a very good pain-relieving effect.

Helps strengthen bones and joints

The sugar palm fruit contains relatively high levels of calcium, minerals, and phosphorus – these are all substances that strengthen bones and joints and strengthen teeth.

Good for the digestive system

Sugar palm fruit contains a type of fiber called inulin. This type of fiber can help control gut bacteria, promote good digestion and improve the rate at which minerals are absorbed by the body.

Eating sugar palm fruit has the ability to effectively cleanse the intestines by activating digestive enzymes, so it is also used to prevent constipation. Moreover, the effect of sugar palm fruit is also to eliminate toxins from the body and clean the liver.

4. How to Make Food from Sugar Palm Fruit

The way to eat sugar palm fruit is very simple and easy. You peel the sugar palm fruit shell, remove the hard shell, then the thin silk skin, and separate each piece of sugar palm fruit. Cut sugar palm fruit into bite-sized pieces, add sugar palm fruit juice, add ice if you like. Thoroughly chewy and crunchy notes, mixed with sweet and fragrant sugar palm fruit juice, helps to cool off on hot summer days. If you can’t buy sugar palm fruit, just add a little sugar to the prepared fruit, add ice and mix well. Palm juice can only be stored for a day, if left for a long time, it will have a sour smell, so when you buy it, you need to eat it immediately.

Ingredients for making Thot Not honeycomb cake

Palm sugar 200 gr

Rice flour 200 gr

Tapioca starch 60 gr

Yeast 8 gr

Fresh coconut water 350 ml

Filtered water 40 ml

Material figure

Implementation tools

Sift flour, large bowl, steamer, whisk, mixer, cup…

How to make Thot Not honeycomb cake

Step 1. Fermented yeast

Put 40ml of filtered water in a small bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of white sugar and 8 grams of yeast, mix well to make a smooth mixture. Incubate for 10 minutes.

Step 2. Make cake dough

Put 200g of rice flour and 60g of tapioca flour in a bowl, add a teaspoon of salt, and use a whisk to mix this mixture together. Then, you sift the flour until smooth, no lumps.

Add in the sifted flour mixture prepared in step 1, then add 250 ml of fresh coconut water to the flour mixture. Use a spatula to mix well, until the consistency is as shown. Finally, let the dough rest for 1 hour.

Step 3. Cook sugar palm juice

Put 100ml of fresh coconut water into the pot, add 200g of sugar palm fruit. Stir well until the sugar is completely dissolved to form a colored sugar water solution as shown.

Step 4. Finish the dough

After 1 hour of incubation, the dough has been fermented, use the drying rack to mix again, then add the cooked sugar palm fruit juice to the bowl, add a tablespoon of cooking oil. Mix well then continue to incubate for another 2 hours.

Step 5. Steamed cake

Brush the sides of the pan with cooking oil to prevent sticking, and line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper to make it easier to remove the cake. Pour the above tempered dough mixture into the mold.

Prepare a pot of steaming water, put the cake in the pot, cover the top with a cloth so that the water does not drip onto the cake, the surface of the cake will be even and more delicious. Cover and steam for about 20 minutes.

Tip: Only pour the cake batter about halfway into the mold, because the cake will expand even higher. If you put too much cake flour, the cake will overflow into the pot. The cake will not be beautiful and delicious.

Step 6. Finished product

After making sugar palm fruit, the cake will have a beautiful golden color, light sponge cake, not too dry or broken.

You can use cake with cooked coconut milk, add a little roasted sesame. Each cake is small, sweet and fragrant with the taste of sugar palm fruit and a little fat of coconut rice, adding a little bit of flavor of roasted sesame to create a wonderful feeling that no other cake has.

Tips for successful cake making

You can prepare more coconut milk to add to the beef cake to increase the greasy and attractive flavor. This part of coconut milk you can make at home or buy canned coconut milk.

Uneaten sugar palm fruit cake can be put in an airtight bag and stored in the refrigerator for about 4-5 days. When you eat it, put it in a steamer or bake in the microwave to soften.

How to choose delicious sugar palm fruit: Choose sugar without brightness or iridescence because this is sugar that has been mixed with granulated sugar. Real sugar palm fruit will have a characteristic taste of sugar palm fruit or a bit burnt when manually sweet, the taste of the sugar is slightly sour and sweet, not as harsh as mixed sugars.

Thot Not Sweet soup

Ingredients for making sugar palm fruit sweet soup for 9 people

Palm fruit 800 gr

Shell green beans 200 gr

Potato flour 60 gr

Tapioca flour 50 gr

Coconut water 500 ml

Coconut milk 500 ml

Tapioca water 1 tbsp (mix tapioca flour and water in a ratio of 2-1)

Palm sugar 200 gr

1 pinch salt/sugar

Material figure

How to make sugar palm fruit sweet soup

Step 1. Preliminary processing of sugar palm fruit

When you buy it, you peel off the thin outer layer, wash it with water and cut it into thin slices to eat. Palm sugar you use a knife to cut into small pieces so that when cooking the sugar will melt faster.

Step 2. Boiled potato flour and tapioca

Put the tapioca flour and tapioca starch in cold water for about 2 hours until the tapioca and tapioca is soft, then put the tapioca starch in a pot of boiling water first and cook until the water boils again, then add the tapioca starch.

Boil with medium heat for about 4 minutes so that the tapioca and tapioca are soft and transparent, then take them out and drain.

Step 3. Cook green beans

Soak the green beans in cold water for about 3 hours to soften the green beans, then wash them and put them in a large pot with 1300ml of filtered water and 500ml of coconut water.

Close the lid, cook for about 8 minutes until the water boils, then use a patch to remove the foam on the surface and cook for about 15 minutes until the green beans are soft and intact.

Step 4. Cook coconut milk

Put 500ml of coconut milk, 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of salt into the pot, cook while stirring over medium heat for about 3 minutes for the coconut milk to boil.

Then you add 1 tablespoon of tapioca starch, stir well, season to taste for sweetness, cook for another minute, then turn off the heat, let it cool.

Step 5. Cooking sweet soup

After the green beans are cooked, add the sliced ​​sugar palm fruit with potato starch and Bang powder.

Cook and stir for about 10 minutes on medium heat until the water boils, then add chopped sugar palm fruit and 1/2 teaspoon salt, mix well and cook for about 3 minutes until the sugar dissolves, seasoning again. Just eat and then turn off the stove.

Step 6. Finished product

After cooking, sugar palm fruit sweet soup will have a sweet, special aroma of sugar palm fruit. The tea is fat, sweet and fragrant with coconut water, the sugar palm fruit is sweet, the green beans are fleshy and easy to eat.

This is a delicious tea to cook for the whole family to enjoy and enjoy at the weekend! Get in the kitchen and do it now!

5. Pro tips:

Here are our tips for easing your mind (and stomach) around food-handling environments that you may not be used to.

Make sure the food is freshly cooked. If you’re eating hot street food, it’s always safest (not to mention more delicious) to eat food you can see being cooked to order.

Look for lines and busy stalls. Busy street food stalls are an indicator of popularity, and their high turnover rate means the food is never sitting out for hours and developing dreaded bacteria. Yes, long lines can be discouraging when you’re hungry after a full day of exploring, but it’s not worth the risk of grabbing precooked food from the empty spot next door.

Eat when the locals are eating. The last and most important element here is when to eat. You’re likely already on a weird eating schedule while you’re traveling, but it’s important to try and adjust to the eating times of where you are. A bowl of pho might be lunch for Americans, but it’s breakfast for the Vietnamese. This ensures that you’re eating freshly cooked food and that you can find the best and most popular places to eat.

If you can’t drink the water, then you can’t eat the salad. Most people get so hung up on not drinking the water or skipping ice in drinks that they don’t think about all of the other ways in which water is used in food service. Fruits and vegetables tend to be washed with tap water in most places, rather than the filtered water that locals drink—or sometimes it’s not washed at all. If you’re really craving some produce, try fruits you can peel or cooked veggies.

Trust your gut. If you’re unsure about the food or the way that it’s being prepared, then keep moving. Eating street food all over the world doesn’t make you an expert. Every stall and every country are different, and sometimes the rules can be harder to follow. When something doesn’t look, smell, or feel right, don’t eat it! Trust your judgment. Chances are that there’s another spot close by that’s making something more delicious.

Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Can Tho: Co Ut’s Cong cake, Ut Dzach Fine Rice Vermicelli, Thanh Van Grilled Pork Sausage, Crab Noodle Soup At Floating Market, Scorched Rice with Caramelized Fish Sauce, 7-Toi’s Duck Meat Pancake, Banh Mi Thuy, Banana Blossom Salad, Fried Spring Rolls, Fresh Spring Rolls, Fetal duck egg (balut), Honeycomb Cake, Mini Sticky Rice Cake, Cassava Silkworm Cake, Grilled Banana Wrapped in Sticky Rice, Khmer-style Bun Goi Da Soup, Egg Coffee, Con Son Grilled Snakehead Fish, Bun Mam – Fermented Fish Noodle Soup, Lau Mam – Fermented Fish Hotpot, Grilled Snails with Pepper, Magenta Sticky Rice Cake, Duck cooked with Fermented Tofu, Rice Noodle Pizza, Vegetarian Noodle Soup, Snails Stuffed With Pork…

Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Chau Doc: Chau Doc Fish Noodle Soup, Sugar Palm Fruit, Basa Fish Hot Pot, Mam (Fermented fish), Phu Huong Beef Noodle Soup, Broken Rice with Pork Chop, Long Xuyen Broken Rice, Nui Cam Pancake, O Thum’s Chicken Grilled with Lime Leaves, Stir-fried Shrimp with Sesbania Flower, Sweet & Sour Soup with Siamese Mud Carp Soup & Sesbania Flower, Caramelized & Braised Catfish, Grilled Rice-field Rat with Salt and Chili…

Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Soc Trang: Pia Cake, Cong Cake (Banh Cong), Bun Nuoc Leo Soc Trang’s Noodle Soup, Soc Trang’s Bun Goi Da Soup, Duck Noodle Soup with black Pepper, Curry Noodle Soup, Grilled Beef on Tile, Khmer-style Tube Cake, Khmer-style Mung Bean Cake (Banh In), Dried Radish (Xa Bau), Stir-Fried Noodles with Seafood (Mi Sua), Soc Trang’s Green Rice Flakes…

Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Ben Tre: Phu Le Rice Wine, Ben Tre’s Coconut Candy, Flat Banana, Coconut Rice, Snail Pancake, Sea Snail with Coconut Milk, Coconut Worm, Young Coconut Salad with Shrimp & Pork, Son Doc Puff Rice Paper…

Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Cai Be: Puffed Rice Cake…

Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Vinh Long: Elephant Ear Fish (fried giant gourami)…

Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in My Tho: Fried Sticky Rice, Snakehead Fish Rice Porridge, Hu Tieu My Tho (Noodle Soup), Coconut Banana Cake…

Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Tra Vinh: Macapuno Coconut, Bun Nuoc Leo Tra Vinh’s Noodle Soup, Tra Cuon’s Sticky Rice Cake…

Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Sadec: Sa Dec Noodle Soup, Sadec Crab Hotpot, Lai Vung Spring Rolls, Sa Giang Shrimp Puff Pastry, Lai Vung Tangerine…

Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Bac Lieu: Spicy Beef Noodle Soup, Bac Lieu’s Three-striped Crab, White Radish Pies, Bac Lieu Thick Noodles & Creamy Coconut Milk, Bon Bon Pickles…

Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Ca Mau: Banh tam ga cay (Silkworm rice cake with curried chicken), Grilled Vop clams with salt and pepper, Grilled Mudskipper Fish, Stone Crab Roast With Salt, Young Bee Salad, Nam Can’s Crab, U Minh Forest’s Honey, U Minh’s Fermented Fish Hotpot…

Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Hau Giang: Cau Duc Pineapple, Cai Tac’s Pork Organs Porridge, Hau Giang’s Bronze Featherback Fish Cake…

Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Ha Tien: Herring Fish Salad, Spider crab cake soup, Ken Noodle soup, Xoi Xiem (Siamese sticky rice), Steamed Noodle soup, Ha Tien Oyster porridge…

Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Rach Gia: Stir Noodle Soup, Kien Giang Fish Noodle Soup…

Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Con Dao: Bang nut jam, Vu Nang Snail, Roasted Pork Bread (Banh Mi), Coconut Ice Cream…

Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Phu Quoc: Phu Quoc Sim Wine, Phu Quoc Pepper, Phu Quoc fish sauce…

Hopefully, the above tips will help you to come up with a great plan for your adventure in Mekong River Delta, Vietnam. Have a safe trip!

“Sleep less, travel more, respect more” – Thomas Vietnam – Local travel expert.

Thank you