Hanoians had chance to taste authentic Cốm

Thứ Ba, 04/10/2016, 16:29
Hanoi — The 2016 Me Tri Sticky Rice Flake Culture Day was on Sunday at 1 Do Duc Duc Street, Nam Tu Liem District, Hanoi.

“The event aims to honour and promote cốm Me Tri (sticky rice flakes), one of specialties of the district, said Deputy Chairman of Nam Tu Liem District’s People’s Committee, Nguyen Thanh Long.

It features several cốm booths where visitors can buy cốm and its various products including chả cốm (Vietnamese cốm sausage), xôi cốm (sticky rice with cốm), chè cốm (sweet tapioca soup with cốm); a cốm making competition and a small talk which is hosted by Me Tri commune leader and two locals who are experienced in making cốm.

Source: Internet

“Despite long history of cốm making, locals are facing many difficulties. Among them is the supply of suitable rice to make cốm, limited markets available to consume cốm and the fact that cốm Me Tri is yet known widely like other specialties,” said Chairwoman of Me Tri commune’s People’s Council, Do Thi Xoan.

As urbanisation led to lack of suitable rice to make rice, locals who used to use locally grown rice now have to import sticky rice from other regions including northern Phu Tho Province, Bac Ninh, Soc Son District of Hanoi, said Xoan.

“We hope that the authority pay more attention to the village and make it a better known brand,” said Do Huu Hung, a local who has made cốm for years.

There are currently 155 households with more than 600 people making cốm today in Me Tri Commune, which accounts for nearly four per cent of village population, according to People’s Committee of Me Tri Commune.

Cốm is one of the delicate specialties of Hanoian. From late September every year, locals of Mễ Trì commune start making cốm from young sticky rice. –VNS Hồng Vân

Locals produce an average of nearly 600,000 kilograms of cốm with revenue of more than VNĐ75 billion (US$3.4 million). Annual income of a cốm maker is more than VNĐ111million, about 2.5 times higher than average income of Me Tri Commune, according to the committee.

Local people first made cốm in early 19th century. In the old days, the village was well-known for its high quality rice, which was praised by a king in Ly dynasty. The king then renamed its original name of Anh Son into Me Tri Commune, which means Pool of Rice.


VNS