Going Upstream to visit Vinh Duc village

(Baonghean) - Unlike other craft villages that often have a rustic, rustic look, Vinh Duc Rice Paper and Peanut Candy Craft Village, located in Block 10, Do Luong Town, has a bustling, bustling look of the streets. Coming to Vinh Duc, next to the high-rise buildings, it is easy to see empty, airy plots of land, which are used by people to dry rice paper with the fragrant smell of new rice, the strong flavor of ginger, pepper and garlic...

Coming to the Vinh Duc rice paper and peanut candy making village, the first image that catches the eye is a flood of rice paper drying under the pale yellow sunlight. The sound of the rice mill running all day long. The name of the founder of the profession that sustains and creates prosperity for the village, no one is sure when it was born, only according to distant legends, no one knows clearly, the land is sparsely populated, along the fertile Lam River, the trees are lush, a group of people from the North stayed to live in a cluster. Therefore, in the current craft village, the Vu, Pham, Nguyen people originating from Nam Dinh, Thai Binh, have the largest number of people doing the job. Following the endless flow of the Lam River, from the cluster, it developed into a hamlet, a village, a block of houses. That growth was thanks to the rice paper and peanut candy profession. In the past, rice paper was made to change the taste to eat more, or to reserve when floods failed crops... The profession became more and more prosperous.

People of Vinh Duc village dry rice paper.

According to the locals, Vinh Duc craft village used to belong to Lien Son commune, located next to National Highway 7, with Lam River flowing behind. In 1989, Lien Son commune merged with Do Luong town, since then, people have been familiar with Vinh Duc village, in fact it is block 10 - Do Luong town, and the craft village has only 68 households working in the profession, out of a total of 268 households in the whole block. Through many generations, Vinh Duc villagers have not only kept the profession but also developed it more and more strongly. In 2005, the Provincial People's Committee recognized Vinh Duc as a craft village producing rice paper and peanut candy.

Wandering on a large plot of land, with unfinished construction works, that is the village's concentrated craft area, nearly 3,500 m2 wide.², which has just been funded by the State. It was 9am, the pale yellow sunlight had just dispelled the fog, the villagers began to move each hand-pulled cart full of rice paper to dry. Taking a deep breath, the alluring aroma of rice paper mixed with the slight spiciness of ginger and garlic. Mr. Vo Quang Minh, a security officer, deputy block - block 10, came along and boasted: The rice paper here is round and moderately thick, when grilled, Vinh Duc rice paper is extremely fragrant. The aroma of rice mixed with black sesame is rich. Then he told me the steps to make this typical rice paper. In the past, our ancestors made it with rice flour and water, mixed with black sesame. But due to the increasingly "picky" demands of consumers, Vinh Duc people later added ginger, pepper, and crushed garlic, mixed in the right proportions into the rice flour to make it. That is the village's "secret" to making products that stand firm in the market from Cambodia, Laos, Singapore and major cities in the country.

Soak the rice in water, clean the black sesame, pound the garlic and ginger, mix with the rice flour. Place each one on the tray. When the sun comes up, just take it out to dry. On a sunny day like today, it only takes 4 hours to dry. Every 20-30 cakes are tied into a column, using stones or pieces of wood to flatten the cake. The purpose is to make the cake beautiful and easy to transport in large quantities. It's easy to say, but not just having rice means you can make satisfactory cakes. People in Vinh Duc village often use Khang Dan rice to make cakes, because this rice flour does not stick to the mold, but using other types of rice, which are highly sticky, is very difficult to make, because the cake will tear when making cakes and during the drying process. Vinh Duc rice paper is sold raw like this, consumers can buy it and fan it with charcoal, fry it in oil, or grill it. After grilling, use your hands to break it and hear the crunchy sound, it's delicious to eat. There is no season for making rice paper, people do it all year round. But the best time is still in the summer when there is a lot of sunshine. If it rains for many days in a row, people still do it, but it is hard work, because they have to smoke the rice paper with charcoal, the productivity is low, the quality of the rice paper is not as good as drying it in the sun.

Leading us through the rows of high-rise buildings growing close together in the inner town, Mr. Minh took us to the family of Mr. Pham Cong Thin. Mr. Thin is 75 years old this year, still healthy, with rosy red skin. Talking about the village's rice paper profession, Mr. Thin happily continued to talk: "My wife and I are old but still make rice paper. Counting in time, I am the 4th generation in the family to make rice paper, so the villagers call it a family profession. When he was 10 years old, Mr. Thin already knew how to help his parents with the rice flour milling. When he grew up, he joined the army, retired in 1984, returned home and continued to make the profession with his wife and children until now...". Mr. Thin recalled that in the past, when there was no electricity grid and domestic water was difficult, every day Vinh Duc people brought pots and pans to the Lam River wharf to clean, then carried water home for daily use. At night, every household was busy soaking rice, preparing pots, stoves, and firewood. They got up at 3 a.m. the next morning, some milled rice, others made rice cakes, and dried them in the morning sun. At that time, rice flour was mainly milled by the grinding force of two stone mortars. The craftsmen sat and turned each round. If the mortar was large, they used a grinding broom like a rice mill. Sometimes both husband and wife milled together, or brothers milled together. In the past, some people in Vinh Duc village became husband and wife thanks to this flour mill.

Mr. Nguyen Cong Thin, despite his old age, still participates in rice paper production.

Whether it is because of the demands of the job or not, it creates a harmonious coordination and solidarity, the inherent solidarity and love of the craft village. The job is like a destiny of heaven and earth, no one tells anyone, they just look at each other and make it, they find rice together, choose rice, make trays to dry the cakes together. The same goes for making and drying the cakes, the wife makes the cakes, the husband and children take care of collecting firewood and drying the cakes. Mrs. Nguyen Thi Van, Mr. Thin's wife, said that she is from Trang Son, did not know how to make cakes, but after getting married and moving here for a short time, she became proficient in the job. Making cakes is not hard, but requires quick hands, quick eyes, the whole body must work. To be productive, 2-3 pots are made at a time, only rotating around a small area, the spine is considered a pillar, turning this way and that, scooping and then making cakes, scooping and then making cakes, both hands working continuously and rhythmically next to the hot stove.

Talking to people who are busy drying the cakes, we know that drying the cakes is quite hard work. We have to choose a sunny area to place the tray, but we have to avoid dust, we have to turn the cakes evenly, not leaving any tray behind. When the cakes have enough sunlight, we have to press each cake into a flat stack. Therefore, Vinh Duc people value clear, sunny days, which are favorable for drying the cakes. In this craft village, every space is reserved for drying the cakes. In the past, most of the houses were level 4, with tiled roofs, people put the tray on the roof, the cakes were dried in front of the yard at the beginning of the alley, wherever they could be dried, people would put a few sticks and place the tray on top.

It is difficult to count how many rice cakes Vinh Duc village produces each day. According to Mr. Minh, on average, each family grinds 10 kg of rice per day. 1 kg of rice can make about 30 cakes, each cake is sold wholesale for 2,000 VND, earning 60,000 VND. After deducting all expenses, rice, firewood, spices, labor... for each kg of rice, the craftsman still has a net profit of 10,000 VND. There are families that make over 100 kg of rice per day, hiring nearly 10 workers at a time. Like Mr. Nguyen Van Cong's family, each day grinds 150 kg of rice, hiring 6-10 workers, earning millions of VND in profit.

The rice paper making profession is like that, the peanut candy products of Vinh Duc craft village are also constantly developing. To ensure the quality of peanut candy products, the craftsmen must first choose peanuts with even kernels, not moldy, the peanuts can be roasted, or left raw. You can use brown sugar, granulated sugar, or molasses. Put sugar in water and boil it, when the water sticks to the tip of chopsticks, pour in the peanuts, simmer over low heat, stir until even, pour into molds, or pour onto each rice paper, spread evenly, then use a pestle to roll evenly, compact. When the candy has cooled, use a sharp knife to cut each piece, package, and send it to consumers. Every day, customers from all over the village call to order the products, the villagers do not need to bother to transport, but send them by long-distance passenger bus. Because the village has National Highway 7 running through it, there are passenger buses going North and South every day, very convenient to send goods to consumers everywhere.

In Vinh Duc, thanks to the rice paper and peanut candy business, children can be raised to study and pass exams. Many families, at one time the whole family had 5-6 people, husband and wife, and children working together, now only the husband and wife stay home to continue their work, the children study far away. Mr. Minh and his wife, with 5 children, each studying a different field, have all left, now the couple makes 5 kg of rice every day, enough money to cover their living expenses. Or Ms. Ho Thi Minh, whose husband died early, she alone raised 2 children to study. When both children went to university in Nha Trang, Ms. Minh brought her profession with her to rent a kiosk to make rice paper, serving daily meals to customers. With just such a simple job, she has saved up to raise 2 children to study at university for many years.

In the town area, in addition to making rice paper and peanut candy, Vinh Duc people also have other service businesses, but the production of rice paper and peanut candy still dominates. Rice paper and peanut candy here have followed the children of the village, followed visitors from all over, followed traders to go far away, so the flavor of Vinh Duc rice paper and peanut candy is spreading further and further...

Xuan Hoang