In Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, when the protagonist tastes a piece of tea-dipped madeleine, the flavor combination immediately transports him back to the childhood memories he’s buried deep inside. This involuntary experience is often called the “Proust Effect,” referring to shards of memory that reappear randomly thanks to olfactory and gustatory triggers; something that other senses can’t achieve.

At times, I find myself feeling envious of a friend who has an incredibly detailed memory of her formative years, as my recollection of events happening before the age of six is often murky to the point that I’ve wondered if those days were figments of my imagination.

My childhood (left) was defined by my grandfather's backyard and a nước mía cart opposite of it.

Still, one thing that I remember as clearly about my childhood and that I’m very proud to introduce to my friends is the peanut sugarcane juice from my father’s home province of Tiền Giang. I can recall its flavors with vivid details, much more than I can any story from childhood.

Sugarcane has long been a key cash crop in Vietnam’s sugar industry, bringing about many economic benefits as it can be utilized “from root to tip.” Ever since the very first sugar plants were established by the French in the 1870s, local canes were used as input materials. In Tiền Giang, for centuries, sugarcane has been a trusted companion to farmers. Not merely an agricultural product, sugarcane can be a refreshing afternoon snack in the form of peeled and segmented chunks, while the leftover pulp after juicing is repurposed as fuel or an ingredient for paper-making. Sugarcane juice is one of the most iconic thirst quenchers in Vietnamese history

Sugarcane juice is a staple thirst quencher of Vietnamese.

Before graduating from elementary school, a major chunk of my years was tied to Tiền Giang, to summers filled with the cacophony of cicadas in our backyard, to the fish pond toilet that used to terrify me every evening, and to the flock of shy chickens clucking by my grandfather’s mai tree. Of course, that childhood wouldn’t have felt complete without Mỹ Tho sugarcane juice. It’s simply juice with roasted peanuts, yet it never fails to stir up nostalgia whenever I reminisce about Tiền Giang.

To me, an ideal glass of sugarcane juice is sparkling yellow and stored inside a cloudy plastic glass. On top is a layer of froth, something that nước mía connoisseurs prize as a sign of high-quality juice. Last but most prominently, to complete a glass of true-blue Mỹ Tho sugarcane juice, a handful of unshelled roasted peanuts is sprinkled on top to round out the textures.

A good glass of sugarcane juice must be as frothy as possible.

Whenever I introduce this delicacy to my friends, to appease their skepticism about this rather unfamiliar addition, I often make the comparison to bubble tea: “So instead of milk tea with pearls, we Mỹ Tho folks slurp sugarcane juice while crunching roasted peanuts.” There isn’t a lot of information out there about how this quirky topping came about. Sometimes I wonder if that was because once upon a time, someone accidentally dropped a batch of freshly roasted peanuts into their nearby glass of juice; they simply craved a little bit of crunch in their beverage; or it’s just a way to save time by eating and drinking at the same time.

Mỹ Tho sugarcane juice often has roasted peanuts, jackfruit, and jelly as toppings.

No matter how it came to be, this drink has turned into a culinary icon and a crucial part of the life of Mỹ Tho residents, especially on sweltering days taking a break by Giếng Nước.

Giếng Nước is a large manmade reservoir right in the heart of the city, a witness to the land’s founding story. It was originally a moat just over 1km long, dug on order of Emperor Minh Mạng to protect Định Tường (the home province of Mỹ Tho back then). If Hanoi has lakeside ice tea, Đà Lạt has hot soy milk by the Hòa Bình Theater, Mỹ Tho has peanut sugarcane juice to snack on during the stuffy evenings when locals gather by Giếng Nước to shoot the breeze.

The best sugarcane juice in Mỹ Tho can be found near Giếng Nước. Photo by Hồng Lê via Ấp Bắc.

The version of Mỹ Tho sugarcane juice that defined my younger years was comprised only of juice and peanuts, but the variations of today can contain strawberry, orange, or pineapple. A glass of Mỹ Tho sugarcane juice retains the gentle sweetness of the sap, in addition to a whiff of toasty peanut notes, a nuttiness when one bites into the nuts, and a slight tannic aftertaste of the peanut peels.

Of course, things can’t stay that light and simple considering the creativity and prevalent sweet tooth of Mekong Delta inhabitants: be it the main course or side dish, everything must be candy-sweet. Some nước mía cart add coconut flesh and kumquats to the pressing step to enrich the juice, while others invent a smorgasbord of other toppings behind the basic peanuts — jackfruit, chunks of agar jelly, or even candied chùm ruột berries.

The only place in Saigon that I could find that features the closest taste to my hometown’s sugarcane juice.

Here in Saigon, the closest version to Mỹ Tho sugarcane juice I can find belongs to an assorted juice stand at 388 Lê Văn Lương, Tân Hưng Ward, District 7. Perhaps in a bid to satisfy the Saigon drinker’s propensity for excess, they provided a bunch of different toppings, including durian, water chestnut jelly, jackfruit, and of course, roasted peanuts.

The refreshing sweetness and coolness of the sugarcane juice, alongside that distinctive nuttiness of peanuts, brings me back to those summer days in Tiền Giang, just like how the tea-dipped madeleine transports Marcel Proust’s protagonist to his own childhood, a time he once thought to be forgotten.

[Top image via ZNews]