I’m a sucker for romantic stories. And when Mai and I met Nguyen Thi Van, she provided a doozy. It seems that Van was working on the same road crew as a guy named Vinh (In Vietnam, women do the heavy-lifting, right alongside the men in construction projects etc.) Well, under that hot sun, something besides the tar and gravel heated up. The two fell in love and soon married. Now for some irony: The house they built and live in to this day (where all their children were born) sits on the very road where they first met.

Van was born in Ha Tinh in 1961 (Ha Tinh happens to be the hometown of the famous Cu Do Candy—but we’ll get back to that). It was that aforementioned job that brought Van to Cua Lo in the first place and her nuptials to Vinh that kept her here.

But Van came from a family of confectioners not construction workers. You might even say, she was born into a Cu Do candy dynasty (she’s the fifth generation of her family to produce this sweet, crunchy confection).

“The candy was named after Cu Hai, a man from Ha Tinh who came up with the recipe. Hai means two in Vietnamese and so when the French happened upon his wonderous concoction, they named it after him: Cu Duex,” (Duex being two in French). Of course, the phonetically strident Vietnamese changed it to Do. And that’s the name that stuck.

“My family happened to be from the same village as Cu Hai and they soon learned the recipe and the business. When I moved to Cua Lo I had to work and raise a family and so I had to put my passion for making Cu Do aside. But eight years ago, I decided to start it back up again.”

And pick it back up she did—adding her own twists…

“Some of the ingredients, particularly the peanuts, are of higher quality in Cua Lo. I made some other modifications. For example, I sought out the best molasses and rice paper. As a result, I improved the recipe,” (apparently, that’s the general consensus, as friends and family in Ha Tinh seek out her version of the classic).

When Mai and I tasted a fresh batch (assembled right before our eyes—and therefore still warm), it reminded me of a cross between peanut brittle and chunky peanut butter but with a hint of ginger. Rather than traditional bread, the spread is laid out between two round, sesame seed rice crackers (the circumference of the smaller ones is about 4”, the larger probably closer to 10”). Delicious!

Was Van happy to have returned to her Cu Do roots? Mai asked. Van gave a rueful smile. “Anyone can pave roads,” she said, “But only I can make these!” We couldn’t argue—when you’re right, you’re right.

The indefatigable Ms. Van has converted parts of her home (where she cooks and assembles her product) into a small, retail, roadside-shop. She also sells wholesale to hotels and markets throughout Vietnam. Her computer savvy daughter also helps her to promote virtually, through online stores and Facebook.

For more information (if you’d like to order or drop by) contact: 

Phone number : +84982824961

Website : www.cudovinhvan.com