The fragrant smell of sugarcane molasses season for Tet in Nghe An

Every year, mid-December is the busiest time of the sugarcane pressing season to make molasses for Tet for people in Tan Ky, Nghia Dan, Do Luong, Thanh Chuong, Yen Thanh districts... On this occasion, when visiting sugarcane growing areas, wherever you go, you can see people hurriedly pressing sugarcane to make molasses. In the photo: A family in Nam Tan hamlet, Giang Son Dong commune, Do Luong district is pressing sugarcane.

In the past, the sugarcane growing area was large, the sugarcane pressing tools were primitive, the sugarcane covering and molasses cooking process started from the 11th lunar month and lasted until Tet. Now, thanks to machines, the sugarcane covering process has become simpler. However, only a few sugarcane growing households have purchased presses, they do it for themselves and also hire out other families to press (VND30,000/pan of sugarcane juice). Some households use tractors and buffalo carts to transport sugarcane to houses with machines, press it and then transport the sugarcane juice back.

After being pressed, the sugarcane is dried to be used in furnaces to make molasses, and some is sold to incense factories. Every time it rains, running through the bagasse is no different than running through the rice straw. In the photo: The joy of working with sugarcane during the molasses-making season.

Usually, families growing sugarcane to make molasses in the districts build a solid molasses cooking system in their house with 2-3 pans, even 4-5 pans with 1 burner with many advantages suitable for making molasses. The experience of the people is not to squeeze too much sugarcane at one time, only squeeze and cook it during the day because if left overnight, the sugarcane juice will ferment, reducing the quality of the molasses. From sugarcane juice to making molasses, it must go through many stages: skimming off dirty foam, transferring to a pan, filtering...

When cooking molasses, the important thing is to skim off the dirty foam. People often use a shallow sieve made of cloth or tulle to skim off the dirty foam on the molasses pan. The dirtier the sugarcane, the more foam there is. Skimming the foam is done regularly, if skimmed carefully, the finished molasses will be bright and beautiful.

When the pan of honey is cleaned of dirt and foam, it is also the time when the honey boils. People often use a bamboo rim to frame the honey on the pan. After boiling for about 3 - 4 hours, the sugarcane juice will gradually dry up, turn to the color of caramel and give off a fragrant smell. At this point, the cooking of the honey is complete. Depending on whether the cook wants thick or thin honey, reduce or add more heat.

As a rural area with a tradition of growing sugarcane to make molasses in Do Luong, Giang Son Dong commune currently has many hamlets that still maintain this profession, of which Nam Tan hamlet has about 100 households. Mr. Nguyen Van Trong (60 years old), a resident of the hamlet, said that his family grows 6 sao of sugarcane, each year cooking more than 2 tons of molasses, earning tens of millions of VND. The season of covering sugarcane to make molasses is bringing joy to sugarcane growers and bringing the sweet taste of Spring - Tet to every home.