Ca Mau crabs, a delicacy from the southern land

The land of Ca Mau, the southernmost province of Vietnam, is not only rich in alluvial soil, but also the fields on land and sea. Its rice paddies reach as far as the eye can see, its aquaproducts are both bountiful, plump and of great quality.

One of Ca Mau's most notable marshland delicacies is the crabs. The season lasts from the end of sixth lunar month until the end of the seventh lunar month, which crabs are sold at very low prices in Ca Mau. You can see Ca Mau people having crabs as if they are eating rice, it is so common.

A striking image to anyone with an 'eating soul' is when Ca Mau residents share on social media, a bowl of instant noodles with a big fat red crab on top as a topping!

Starting in the eight lunar month until Tet, or Lunar New Year, the crab prices will rise, so if you love the taste of crab meat, now it the best time to travel to Ca Mau and feast while producing mouth-watering video clips or reels.

Male crabs have big claws and they are bigger, too, weighing up to one kilo each. Having big claws dipped in sour salt and pepper can please even the most picky palate, but be sure you're not sensitive to crab or allergic to seafood.

True crab fans are said to be those who love the crab roes. In Ca Mau, sometimes when you have the roes, you can barely see the white meat. Red roes are more popular, but if you have stumbled upon a golden roe crab, you're very lucky as they are usually pricier.

Average crabs with roes weigh about half a kilo each and just two crabs can be a meal for four as the roes are so nutritious.

The best dishes to cook Ca Mau crabs with?

With arguably the tastiest crabs in the whole country, Ca Mau aunties suggest at least 14 ways to cook crabs.

The easiest and fastest way is to steam them for ten minutes, half the time with strong heat and the rest on medium heat.

Next you can stir fry the crabs with either salt, tamarind or onions and pork fat. If you cook them this way, the crab juice won't get lost during the cooking and the meat and roe will taste very good.

Other dishes include making a crab noodle soup with shelled crab meat and roe, bánh canh cua. Or crab paste by making dumplings with crab meat and roes with minced pork, seasoning with pepper and salt, chopped shallots, then rolled into small cakes for deep frying or putting back into the crab shell to steam. These dumplings go well with daily meal with rice, or as a special dish for Tet.

Other dishes include a salad from shelled crab meat, crab curry and pork stuffed crabs, deep fried, then sauteed with tomato sauce.

You can also make crab meat soup, Vietnamese style, as starter in big banquet or a crab hotpot with a gourd can be the reunion hot dish for all family to enjoy. As the crab roes can be quite nutritious and one needs to consume them with moderation, a full pot to share is both healthy for the party yet not too painful for one's wallet.

Last, but not least, crab meat can be major ingredient in the signature spring rolls of Vietnam that everyone loves. With the Ca Mau crab meat and roe, wrapped in rice paper from Ha Tinh province, make square dumplings in the Hai Phong city style and you will have a beautiful spring rolls with all the best from three regions of Vietnam.

While the crabs are in season and prices are not too high, treat yourself. As people of Ca Mau have a saying: "Come to Ca Mau, our shrimps and crabs shall never let you down!"

If you cannot come to Ca Mau for the seafood, they can come to you via crab dealers, just look them up with key words of course being: Cua Ca Mau.