Candy making movement for Tet holiday in Thanh Chuong

On the last nights of December, Mrs. Ngo Thi Mai and her husband in Minh Duc hamlet, Kim Bang commune (Thanh Chuong) continue to cook pots of Tet candy for guests. In the kitchen behind the house, Mrs. Mai is sitting stirring molasses on a wood stove. The pot of brown molasses boils and spreads a fragrant aroma throughout the house.

Mrs. Mai shared: Her family has a long history of making Tet candy to sell at the market. Every year, in the middle of December, she and her husband start making this candy. The working time lasts from December to January. During the year, candy is made to serve every family during Tet. At the end of the year, customers buy it mainly as gifts for relatives living far away.

According to Mrs. Mai, Tet candy in her hometown is made from familiar ingredients, such as molasses, roasted peanuts, green rice flour, fresh ginger... The roasted peanuts are cleaned of their silk shells, put into a mortar and broken into three or four pieces. Green rice flour is ground from sticky rice or a tube made from sticky rice. As soon as the pot of molasses is put on the stove, ginger must be crushed and added to prevent the molasses from overflowing.

The candy maker must sit and watch the pot of molasses, stirring the fire and stirring constantly. After the molasses has been cooked for 10-15 minutes, when it is slightly thick and dark in color, add roasted peanuts, use 2 large chopsticks to stir the peanuts and mix well with the molasses. Then add the green rice powder, continue stirring until the candy mixture is soft and smooth. "When stirring the candy, just keep the heat low and simmer, do not use high heat, it will easily burn the candy," said Ms. Mai.

While his wife was stirring the molasses, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Lam – Mrs. Mai’s husband took the opportunity to prepare the candy cutting mold, spreading layers of fine white rice flour on the bottom of the mold. This is a mold made of steel and plastic that Mr. Lam made himself during his career.

The mold is about 1 meter long and 0.6 meter wide. When the candy pot is lifted out and poured into the mold, the couple quickly uses chopsticks to spread the candy mixture evenly, then sprinkles a layer of green rice powder on it and uses a rolling bottle to roll it over the mold.

When the candy mold was flat, Mr. Lam used a wooden stick as a base, used a knife to cut the candy into finger-sized strips, and sprinkled flour on each cut. According to Mr. Lam, this was done so that the candy strips would not stick together. Mrs. Mai used scissors to cut each strip into short candies. After cutting, the candy was sprinkled with a layer of green rice flour and packed into plastic bags, each bag weighing 0.5 - 1kg.

Ms. Mai said that to make a batch of delicious, crispy, bright-colored Tet candy, the maker must master the technique and cook according to the ratio (1 molasses: 1 peanut: 0.4 green rice flour). Timing the pouring of peanuts and green rice flour into the molasses pan is quite important. If mixed too early, the candy will be soft and runny, but if mixed too late and cooked for too long, the candy will be hard, dark in color, and not tasty.

Also made from molasses, sticky rice flour, roasted peanuts... but Tet candy is not like soft, chewy honey cake, but crispy, with a unique flavor that is "loveable once you eat it".

Ms. Mai said that she used to make candy to sell at markets, but now that there are many customers ordering, she sells out every batch. Each batch of candy usually makes 5-6 kg, and she can only cook 2 batches at most in one night. The price of candy is 100,000 VND/kg, and during this Tet holiday, many families in the area often buy it to eat and entertain guests.

In addition to households that make candy, many families in my hometown also make candy for Tet. They prepare a month in advance, and only when Tet is just around the corner or when the banh chung pot is on the stove do they start stirring the molasses into the Tet candy pot. Making this candy is both delicious and safe, and creates a warm and cozy atmosphere for family reunion, so every time Tet comes, people in my hometown are excited to make traditional "hometown candy".

To make Tet candy, every family has to stay up all night pounding and grinding rice, stirring molasses, squeezing candy... When pouring the sticky candy mixture onto a tray, everyone in the family will sit around the hot candy tray, squeezing and rolling the candy into round or flat pieces as desired.

Squeezing candy for Tet is the most difficult step because it must be done when the candy mixture is still hot, the longer it cools, the harder it is to squeeze. Many families have to cooperate in the candy squeezing process. Over time, many people have invented ways to cut candy according to molds, so making candy for Tet is less difficult.

Mr. Hoang Phi Hung (67 years old) - an experienced person in making Tet candy in Minh Duc hamlet, Kim Bang commune shared: In the past, during Tet, every family in the village cooked candy. Families that made little would cook a few bottles of honey, families that made a lot would cook a whole can of honey. Nowadays, compared to the candies and cakes on the market, Tet candy from the countryside is not eye-catching, but it is of good quality, delicious, clean, and safe.

In recent years, when rural life has changed a lot, every Tet holiday, the scene of every family making candy is no longer as bustling as before, but some families still preserve the old custom of "making candy to celebrate Tet". Many families no longer make candy themselves but only buy candy from other families to cook and use.

Grasping the demand for Tet candy - a specialty of the homeland, some people have made Tet candy to sell at the market, imported to shops and sold online. From a rustic dish, Tet candy has become a unique and strange item on the market.

Hometown candy is displayed on the altar of ancestors and used by people in my hometown to entertain guests on New Year's Day. Enjoying hometown candy with green tea is a beautiful feature in the culinary space of my hometown during Tet.

In the chilly weather, with the faint scent of incense, people sit and sip tea, nibble on candy, feel the sweetness of honey, the richness of peanuts, the strong aroma of sticky rice, fresh ginger, and hear the "hometown flavor" spreading in the air of the coming spring.

For people in my hometown, although the candy on the market is abundant and diverse, Tet candy still has its own place in the hearts of the people of the countryside, the village where it was born.

When the image of Tet candy was posted on social networks, people felt that Tet was getting closer, and those who were far from home were eagerly waiting to return home to reunite with their families around the pot of Tet candy, enjoying the "hometown candy" that holds many childhood memories.

Tet candy from my hometown is also an attractive gift from the countryside that follows villagers to the South and the North, warming the hearts of those who cannot return home for Tet.

In the last days of the year, in the joyful atmosphere of reunion, the pot of Tet candy is filled with the sweet smell, creating a joyful atmosphere for each family to welcome Tet. Tet candy together with green Chung cake and red parallel sentences have contributed to making the traditional Tet holiday more complete and imbued with the identity of the homeland.