Black olive flavor

From August to October, when the weather in Tuyen Quang begins to turn cool, the ripe black olives on the mountain slopes bring a vibrant splash of color to the highland markets. Black olives – a rustic fruit – are not only fragrant, rich, and creamy but also an ingredient in many unique dishes.

Black olive sticky rice.

Black olive ( scientific name: Canarium tramdenum) is a tree endemic to the midland and mountainous regions of Northern Vietnam, but in Tuyen Quang, the black olive fruit is most famous for its small seeds, thick flesh, and distinctive nutty and fragrant flavor. Ripe olives are dark purple with a smooth, glossy skin; when boiled or stewed, the flesh turns light pink and emits a unique, subtle aroma. This fruit, combined with other ingredients, becomes a famous delicacy of Tuyen Quang.

Braised pork belly with black olives is a rich and unforgettable dish. The olives are trimmed of their stems, washed, and braised in a pot with sliced ​​pork belly, seasoned with fish sauce, shrimp paste, dried onions, and a little chili. When the meat is tender and the olives have absorbed the flavors, it's an incomparable dish served with white rice on chilly days.

Black olives stewed with carp or grass carp is also a favorite dish among people in the highlands. The olives are halved, the seeds removed, and then stewed with the fish, fish sauce, galangal, and fresh turmeric. This dish has a delicate sweetness from the fish and a rich, nutty aroma from the olives, making the rice pot empty quickly.

Black olives in braised meat.

Salted black olives are a simple yet flavorful way to prepare them. The olives are boiled until soft, then tossed with roasted coarse salt or chili salt. The nutty flavor of the olives blends with the salty and slightly spicy taste, making it a favorite snack, especially during gatherings around a fireplace.

Black olive sticky rice is a renowned specialty of Tuyen Quang province. After boiling, the black olives are pitted, mashed, and mixed thoroughly with glutinous rice before steaming. When cooked, the sticky rice has a beautiful light purple color and a fragrant aroma of olives blended with the scent of fresh glutinous rice. This dish is commonly served during festivals, holidays, and village celebrations in Tuyen Quang.

For those far from home, the flavor of black olives is not just a food item, but also a memory. The Tuyen Quang market is always bustling with buyers and sellers during olive season. Baskets of dark purple olives are carried from the villages to the town, bringing with them the colors and aromas of the mountains and forests. Tourists who visit once, after enjoying black olives stewed with meat, olive sticky rice, or olives braised with fish, often want to buy a few kilograms to take home as gifts.

The black olives of Tuyen Quang – those humble gems – silently contribute to the culinary identity of the northern mountainous region, so that every autumn, their rich, fragrant flavor evokes memories of the land and people of this place.

Hoang Anh

Source: https://baotuyenquang.com.vn/van-hoa/202508/huong-vi-tram-den-25569af/