While wandering around the popular Amphawa Floating market in Samut Songkhram, you are sure to come across a variety of delicious Thai desserts. And if your curiosity goes beyond satisfying your sweet tooth, you need look no further than the Thai Dessert Museum adjacent to the evening weekend market. Museum manager Vichitar Sae-tiaw explained that it was built by the Thai Confection Industry Company (TCIC) in September 2008 with an initial investment of 2.2 million baht from the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion. Ms Vichitar said the purpose of the museum is to exhibit and chronicle the history of traditional Thai desserts.
Replicas of more than 100 types of traditional sweets are on display, and they look so real you can be excused for drooling.
"The replicas are made of resin, created by skilled followers of National Artist Chakrabhand Posayakrit," said Ms Vichitar, noting the great attention to detail in the shapes, colours and textures.
The Thai word for dessert is khanom, believed to have been derived from the words khao (rice) and nom (sweet). Many Thai desserts are still made from rice flour and sugar.
The museum's sweet history lesson goes back to the Sukhothai period, about 700 years ago.
One of the oldest desserts on display, khanom tom, which we still see today, is made by frying shredded coconut with sugar, wrapping it in a starchy batter and then steaming it. After cooking it is sprinkled with salted, shredded coconut.
It is said that the golden era of Thai sweets began during the reign of King Narai the Great of Ayutthaya in the 17th century, when the country began courting relations with European countries. During that time a new way of cooking Thai desserts was initiated by Maria Guyomar de Pinha, a woman of Portuguese ancestry who is better known here by her Thai name of Thao Thong Kib Ma.
She was married to Constantine Phaulkon (his Thai name was Chao Phraya Wichayen) a Greek adventurer who became first counsellor to King Narai.
Maria Guyomar became the chief palace cook for desserts. She mixed egg yolks and granulated sugar into local sweets and created various treats with yellowish colours which resembled gold (thong), such as thong yib, thong yod and foi thong.
For the most part the museum displays desserts according to the way they have been served historically. For example, khanom mo kaeng, a pudding made of palm sugar, eggs, coconut cream and flour, is in the clay pot section, although today it is much more likely to be cooked in a stainless steel tray.
There are khanom in big glass jars, as might have been seen 30 or so years past, such as khanom dok jok, khao tu and thua guan.
One of the highlights of the museum are the samples of desserts which were mentioned in a classic poem composed by King Rama II, who was also born in Amphawa.
"Some of the desserts are hard to find today, such as maskod and latiang," said Ms Vichitar. To round up the tour, the museum has a section where visitors can relax by sitting on a wooden boat, to give them a feeling of the life of a vendor in a floating market.
The Thai Desserts Museum very recently celebrated two years of operation and moved the facility from the first floor to the second floor of the Anake Prasong Building, in Amphawa Municipality Office.
The new space is 280 square metres, and has some new features, such as a boat where noodles are sold and another one offering coffee.
The expansion was supported by the Government Housing Bank.
The museum organises activities such as instruction in the cooking of desserts for group tours if requests are made in advance, and is grateful to accept old items related to traditional Thai desserts such as recipes or cooking tools.
At present the Thai Dessert Museum is open on Fridays from 1pm to 7pm and on weekends and holidays from 10am to 7pm and there is no entrance fee.
In the future, said Ms Vichitar, there are plans to open the museum every day of the week and sell tickets, so that it can stand on its own without the need for donations.
HOW TO GET THERE
From Bangkok, take Rama II Road (also called Thon Buri-Pak Tho or Highway No35) to Samut Songkhram and turn left onto Highway No325 in Amphawa district. The distance is about 70 kilometres. Parking is available near the entrance of the market or in Wat Amphawa. The Thai Dessert museum is in the office building of Amphawa Municipality, next to the ferry pier. For more details, call 03-475-1359
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