Traditional Tet flavor in Hung Hoa Chung cake

Every Tet holiday, families making traditional banh chung in Hung Hoa town, Tam Nong district are busy with sticky rice, dong leaves, green beans, pork and fire all night to serve people everywhere to celebrate Tet. With the secret family recipe, the profession of making banh chung and banh giay in Tam Nong district has been honored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to be included in the list of National Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The family of Mrs. Tran Thi Mien - 78 years old has nearly 50 years of experience in making Chung cakes in Hung Hoa town. On normal days, Mrs. Mien's family only makes about 100 Chung cakes, but on days before Tet, the number of cakes increases 4 - 5 times.

"Father to son" generations in the family are all proficient in the profession. Ms. Dao Thi Luan is the second generation to make traditional banh chung. She shared: Normally, my family has about 4-5 people working, all of whom are family members. Starting after the full moon of the twelfth lunar month, when there are more orders, her family hires more workers. On average, every day, about 10 people work hard from early morning to night to deliver to customers.

Hung Hoa Chung Cake has a harmonious flavor of sticky rice, green beans and pork, rich, rustic but not too greasy.

With many years of experience, the craftsman's skillful hands can wrap a square banh chung in less than 30 seconds.

Since the 15th of December, the amount of work in Mrs. Mien's family has increased, peaking around the 26th to 30th of Tet. Mrs. Mien shared: "Near Tet, my children work continuously and then take turns resting. At 5am every day, everyone starts going to the market to buy ingredients, prepare and gather to wrap the cakes, cook the cakes and deliver them the next morning."

The process of wrapping the cake is divided into stages that each person is responsible for: someone washes the leaves, someone makes the filling, someone wraps the cake, someone ties the strings...

During the peak Tet holiday, workers work continuously day and night to deliver goods to customers on time.

People making banh chung and banh giay in Hung Hoa have maintained stable jobs up to now, although the production quantity increases at the end of the year, the quality and flavor of the cakes remain intact and become more delicious over the years.

Hung Hoa Chung Cake has a flavor blend of sticky rice and green beans, with a common price ranging from 30,000 - 50,000 VND/piece, depending on the size, the price will be different.

Ninh Giang

Source: https://baophutho.vn/huong-tet-co-truyen-trong-banh-chung-hung-hoa-227111.htm