Tet in Vietnam is the season of endless parties and sweet snacks. Every family stocks various kinds of sweets. One of the all-time favorites is mut gung
, candied ginger.
The thin sugar coating compliments the zing of the ginger so well you just can’t stop eating. And your stomach will thank you because many say it’s very good for digestion.
Everything of the holiday now tastes more industrialized. Families have stopped making their own sweets.
But natives of the Kim Long Village in the outskirts of Hue still believe this is a tradition worth preserving.
The villagers say they only buy ginger from an area of gravel mountainous soil to the northwest of Hue, where the two tributaries of the Perfume River meets.
They say it is the ideal place for ginger roots. The roots here are tough, spicy and fragrant.
With ginger that fresh, there is no need to use any artificial colors or preservatives, they say.
Fresh ginger is collected in December, washed and peeled.
Then they are sliced and soaked in lime juice. The slices are dried and then boiled for around five minutes to make sure they don’t break.
They are poached in sugar syrup on low heat and then let to air dry. Yellow slices are believed to be the best ones.
Kim Long villagers have been making ginger sweets for decades, with customers coming from all across Vietnam and even overseas.
Đăng ký: VietNam News
