Taste the authentic Tai-Yuan fish egg dessert, fragrant with ripe toddy palm, soft and chewy, in Ratchaburi province.
With its distinctive bright orange-yellow color and curved shape resembling fish eggs, when mixed with grated coconut, it offers a chewy texture, fragrant toddy palm aroma, and a perfectly balanced sweet and rich flavor. This is the hallmark of fish egg dessert. This traditional sweet is a local Tai-Yuan specialty. Sunanta Chanruam, a resident of Bo Chek Village, Moo 6, Nong Pla Mo Subdistrict, Ban Pong District, Ratchaburi Province, makes and sells this dessert at her home on weekends as a side business. Besides supplementing her family’s income, this also helps preserve and continue the heritage of local sweets so they do not fade away over time.
Sunanta revealed the origin of this ancient dessert, saying that historically, the Tai-Yuan people had a close relationship with the toddy palm tree, a versatile plant commonly found throughout their fields. Every part of the palm was useful—from the trunk for house posts, leaves woven into utensils, to the fruit used in various dishes, both savory and sweet, such as toddy palm curry, toddy palm in syrup, and many traditional desserts.
During the ripe toddy palm season from June to September annually, fully ripe fruits naturally fall to the ground, emitting a sweet fragrance with beautiful yellow flesh inside. Locals prefer to scrape out the flesh to use as the main ingredient in making fish egg dessert, which provides natural color and aroma.
The preparation of fish egg dessert is meticulous. It starts with scraping ripe toddy palm flesh until fine and yellow, then mixing it with glutinous rice flour, salt, and boiled water. The mixture is kneaded until smooth and soft, then rolled into long round strands with pointed ends and folded in half to resemble fish eggs, which is where the name comes from.
Once shaped, the pieces are boiled in syrup until cooked, indicated by them floating to the surface. They are then scooped out and coated with steamed, fragrant grated mature coconut before being packed into banana leaf containers or boxes for sale, starting at 20 baht per box.
Thanks to its soft and chewy texture combined with the sweet, rich taste and unique aroma of ripe toddy palm, this fish egg dessert remains popular, especially among elderly customers who long for traditional flavors and fans of ancient sweets. It has received positive feedback from customers both locally and from other provinces.
Those interested in tasting this delicacy or seeking more information can contact via Facebook at Auau Sununta or by phone at 06-3998-1624.