Where the whole village makes rice wine

(Baonghean.vn) - It takes at least 3 months to produce a jar of wine, from the stage of making yeast from Chinese clematis, sugarcane, jackfruit leaves..., then adding rice husks and fermenting, so Mau Duc wine has a very unique aromatic flavor.

Ms. Ngan Thi Thom, who has nearly 30 years of experience in making rice wine in Chom Muong village, said: Every family here knows how to make rice wine, and also brews rice wine so that when the family has an event or ceremony, they have a jar of wine to offer to guests. Now that many people know and come to buy it, the women have formed a group to make rice wine to earn extra income.

According to Mrs. Thom, making a jar of wine is very elaborate, first of all it is the yeast making step. To have good yeast depends on each person's secret of finding leaves, accordingly, it is indispensable to have wormwood, monkey sugar cane, jackfruit leaves, sweet sugar cane, cinnamon...

Chom Muong village women make rice wine. Photo: Tuong Vi

When the leaves are brought home, they are cut, pounded, and dried to get the juice, then mixed with fragrant sticky rice and rice husks, rolled into balls as big as plates, placed under the bed to mold, then moved to the kitchen loft to dry, both to preserve the yeast and to make the yeast delicious. The fermentation process takes about 1 month.

Good sticky rice soaked overnight and clean rice husks are mixed together to ferment (pounded rice husks will taste better than ground rice husks because the fiber in the rice husks will penetrate and ferment faster and the wine will be sweeter), poured out to cool then mixed with crushed yeast, incubated in a plastic bag for about 3-4 days then poured into a fermentation jar. Drinkable wine must be aged for over 3 months and after 2-3 years or more, the wine will be more delicious.

Good sticky rice soaked overnight and clean rice husks are mixed together to rise, poured out to cool, then mixed with crushed yeast, incubated in a plastic bag for about 3-4 days, then poured into a fermentation jar. Photo: Tuong Vi

Currently, not only the women's association in Ke Me, Ke Trang, Chom Muong villages, Mau Duc commune have established a group to make rice wine, but the Association of the Elderly has also established a group since 2011, they are considered the ones who pass on the secret of making rice wine. Ms. Ngan Thi Vien shared that each household has at least 5-6 jars of rice wine and they must be earthenware jars. When customers come to buy, the wine will be transferred from the old jar to a new jar for the customer to take home. The people then continue to make a new batch from jars that are decades old.

During the incubation period, the jar must be opened to taste the wine to see if it is ripe and sweet. Photo: Tuong Vi

Mr. Vi Van Vuong - Vice Chairman of Mau Duc Commune People's Committee said: Previously, Mau Duc people made rice wine to serve their families during holidays, Tet, housewarming, weddings, etc., but now it has become a commodity product to sell on the market.

The joy of Mau Duc people is that on May 19, 2017, Chom Muong village was recognized by the People's Committee of Con Cuong district as a village with a profession. Currently, the village has 45/91 households making rice wine, with revenue reaching 1.9 billion VND, accounting for 20.17% of the total revenue of the village.

Tuong Vi - Thu Trang