Food / From the Rục people
Rượu đoác (đoác wine)
A wine that is never distilled, drawn from the top of a forest palm.
Rượu đoác is a wine that is never distilled, drawn from the top of a forest palm. It is how the Rục people of Yên Hợp made wine when they lived in the caves.
What is the đoác palm?
The đoác is a palm that grows on the limestone around Kim Phú.
How is it made?
The Rục cut into the top of the tree, catch the sap in a hollow in the rock, and drop in a piece of forest bark as a starter. In about two hours it already smells of wine. No pot, no fire, no still. People who go into the forest can still make it on the spot.
Where can you try it?
In the hamlet it is often poured for guests at a meal, with a plate of grilled lèn snails. Because it depends on forest trees and on the few who know how, there is not always some to be had: ask your guide in Yên Hợp. If you are offered a cup, accept it; if you would rather not drink, just say so and no one will mind.
- Đoác
- a palm of the limestone
- h
- from sap to wine
- 0
- distillation
Try this
- Ask your guide in Yên Hợp whether there is any đoác wine
- Drink it with a plate of grilled lèn snails
More Kim Phú dishes
From the hill fieldsPồiThe “rice” of the Nguồn people, made from corn and cassava.
From the limestoneỐc lènA snail that lives on the mountain, not in the water.From the forest · March–MayTrứng kiếnAnt eggs hunted in the forest each spring: rich, and best in a sour soup with lá bún.From the stream banksLá búnA sour wild leaf from the stream banks, pickled before cooking, with an aroma all its own.From the nestNhộng ongThe pupae of the forest’s fiercest wasp, turned into a home-cooked treat.