Occipital cross is divided into two types: dry occipital cross and wet occipital cross. In this article, MIA will refer to the type of dry occipital cross, also known as occipital cross salt (also called cham diagonal in many places).

If you have the opportunity to visit the Northwest mountains, you will be invited by local people to enjoy Sapa’s specialty spice here – Cham Xom salt, also known as a spice to make drinking more fun. Cham Xom salt is also an “idol” in the Thai community in the Northwest region, so it is prepared in many ways to suit the diverse dishes on the family’s dinner tray.

Sapa has quite a few places that sell cham cham diagonal salt, partly because it is considered a specialty of the mountains and forests, indispensable in daily family meals as well as special occasions for entertaining guests, partly because of the way it is made. This type of salt is quite delicious and special, you can buy it as a gift for friends and family after your trip to Sapa.

Cham Xom salt is often cooked, marinated or dipped to enhance the rich flavor of dishes with boiled meat (chicken, pork), seafood, grilled food, sticky rice or raw vegetables… or you can use it to Dipping with fruits such as mango, plum, peach… can easily become a “viral” in the snacking world among women.

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Cham Xom salt – variation of spices in the Northwest mountains

The main ingredients of Cham Xo salt include more than 10 different spices, some of which are also typical spices of the famous Hoang Lien forest grown at an altitude of 1,600 m, such as: salt, chili, garlic. , MSG, Mak Khén (wild pepper), cardamom… You can also add lemongrass, ginger, herbs… depending on your preference or purpose of use of this salt.

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The main ingredients of occipital salt

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Mak Khén (wild pepper) is an indispensable ingredient in the overall basic recipe for making Cham Xom salt. Photo: mykitchens

Although the way to make Cham Xo salt is not too elaborate, in order to have a bowl of Cham Xo salt that has the right taste of the Northwest, it requires you to find the right main ingredients of the Northwest so that the salt made can have the right taste, however. Searching again is not easy. Currently, there are many establishments that produce and sell Cham Xom salt, so it is not too difficult to buy it for use or as a gift for relatives and friends.

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Cham Xom salt should be purchased at reputable establishments

MIA suggests to you a facility specializing in quality occipital salt in Sapa, which is Tran Manh Quyen production facility. Address in group 7A, road to Lao Chai village, Sapa, reference price is 60,000 / box of 500g. To ensure the quality of salt, you just need to close it tightly after use and avoid exposure to wind and direct sunlight.

In particular, along tourist routes there are also Cham Xom salt sold, but because of high competition, in order to reduce the price of Cham Xo salt, many places use unqualified ingredients, so in addition to not having opportunity to enjoy the right taste of Cham Xom salt, we may also encounter health problems if we use Cham Xom salt of unknown origin for a long time. You should be careful when buying occipital salt.

You can make delicious Cham Xo salt at home with a super simple recipe.

Prepared ingredients:

– Mac Khen powder

– Doi seeds

– Mint (mint), coriander, Chinese coriander

– Ginger, fresh chili, garlic, lemongrass

– Salt

Doing:

First, wash the mint and coriander and drain. Next, peel, wash and thinly slice the ginger. Also wash and cut lemongrass into thin slices. Put all ingredients in a mortar and pound until smooth. So you’ve got a bowl of fragrant, spicy and flavorful salt that you can dip into your food and it’s perfect.

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Dip salt after processing to prepare for family meals. Photo: @thuyen

Below are some dishes that should be eaten with Cham Xo to fully enjoy the flavor:

Barbecue: Typical grilled dishes of the Northwest such as grilled buffalo meat, armpit pork, pa pinh top,… when dipped in cham cham, it increases the richness, deliciousness and a bit of chewiness.

See more: Moc Chau grilled chicken with octopus sauce – Anyone who has eaten it will remember it forever

Boiled food: Boiled dishes such as boiled meat and boiled vegetables, when dipped in Cham Xom, will bring a very special, strange and extremely delicious flavor. You can add a little filtered water to the salt to make dipping easier.

Fruits: Sour fruits such as mango, plum, and kumquat are very suitable to eat with Cham Xo. The sour taste mixed with the aromatic spicy taste makes the fruit much more delicious.

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With salt mixed in, the dish is more rich and delicious

Each type of occipital salt has different uses. This special spice can be considered a medicine, made according to a long-standing folk recipe, so eating it will not cause stomach pain whether eaten cooked or raw. When you first eat it, you may not be used to it, but once you get used to the taste, it is indispensable on the dining table. That’s why Cham Xom salt is always present in the meals of Northwestern Thai families.

Some famous types of delicious salt:

Cross fish (cross pa): Use small stream fish grilled until golden, pounded with the original meat, and dipped in boiled bamboo shoots, bamboo shoots and boiled vegetables.

Chicken liver cross (chicken liver cross): Boil duck liver or chicken liver, grill briefly to make it more fragrant, cut lemon leaves and pound with the original pork liver, add duck or chicken broth then beat until smooth.

Sour sauce cross (squat cross nam nam): Roast white sesame until golden, fragrant, pound into powder, after grilling the fish, pound until smooth, mix it all with a little sour bamboo shoot juice and dip it with young cabbage.

Cross coriander (cross coriander): This type is used to dip boiled pork belly, vegetables of all kinds… made from the original bowl mixed with crushed coriander.

Cross pia: This type is made from water in the intestines of the buffalo, then boiled with buffalo meat for a fragrant aroma. Next, pound the pia and mix it with lemon leaves. The bitter taste is suitable for dipping with boiled/grilled buffalo meat.

Cross galangal (galangal cross): Cut galangal thinly and mix it with lime leaves, grind it with basic bamboo shoots and eat with bitter bamboo shoots, grilled/boiled food, phack con leaves, and uncooked phack.

Cham Xom salt is a spice that plays a role in increasing the taste of family meals by up to 50%. Try once to experience this special, rustic flavor to feel the true taste of the mountains and forests.