Compass Travel Vietnam
The “seven fire” cake village of Da Nang specialties made day and night is still not enough to sell Tet
Near the Lunar New Year, the sesame dry cake factories in Quang Chau village (Da Nang City) are busy turning on the fire to make specialty cakes, serving the needs of worshiping ancestors. people.
Arriving at Quang Chau sesame cake village in Hoa Vang district (Da Nang) on the days before Tet, as soon as we arrived at the beginning of the village, we could clearly hear the sweet aroma of sugar and roasted sesame seeds.
The atmosphere of the village is “warming up” because everyone, every family is rushing to prepare batches of specialty dry sesame cakes to serve the people’s Tet shopping needs. Thanks to this traditional profession, local people have more jobs with stable income.
According to the elderly here, Quang Chau sesame dry cake dates from the 19th century, is an indispensable product to worship ancestors on the full moon days, the beginning of the month, festivals and especially the traditional New Year day of Vietnam. ethnic.
The bakers said that in the past, this cake was made from roasted rice grains, pounded glutinous rice, mixed with sugar, then eaten with jackfruit leaves. choke. Today, workers have improved by sifting flour similar to printed cakes.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Nghia (63 years old, with more than 40 years in the profession of making sesame dry cakes) said that in order to get delicious and crispy sesame dry cakes, she has to go through many stages and secrets of the profession.
First, the worker must sift the flour into the mold with squares, underneath the mold lined with coarse cloth. Then shape the cake with a small bamboo stick.
The cake, once shaped, is water-bathed on a boiled oven for about five minutes.
“The special thing is that sesame dry cake is only made from delicious rice made by farmers in the village and made entirely by hand. Each cake contains in it the hard work day and night, the heart of the worker. “, Mrs. Thought confided.
When the cake is steamed, the worker will make use of the charcoal of the oven to bake the cake. During the baking process, the fire is flexibly adjusted to keep the cake crispy. From the stages of cooking, baking must go through 7 times of fire on a charcoal stove, so sesame dry cake is also known as “seven fire” cake.
Reaching out her hand to wipe the sweat on her face, Ms. Tran Thi Thuy (60 years old) confessed that in order to get a batch of cakes, she had to sit all day by the hot fire, making her face darkened.
“At night, my limbs are tired, I don’t have a bit of strength. But for Tet , I have to do a lot to still buy apricot trees and a new shirt for the family,” Ms. Thuy confided.
After being baked, the cake will move to the second stage of the process, which is to beat the sugar water on a hot coal oven, roast the sesame seeds, cover the cake with sugar water, and then spread it around to make the slices of cake have a soft, medium crunch. Right and delicious. This stage is considered to be creating the “soul” for the dry sesame cake because the sugar and sesame will contribute to creating the right taste of Da Thanh.
“Sugar is mixed with water in its own ratio, then won until, when the sugar is golden, add a little ginger to increase the aroma. If the sugar water is cooked well, the cake will be soft, for a long time, otherwise, the cake will be dry and easily broken,” said Ms. Nghia.
On average, Ms. Nghia’s establishment sells nearly 4,000 boxes of dry sesame cakes a year. Particularly near Tet, the output increased 3 times as usual, selling 100,000-150,000 cakes, about more than 3,000 boxes.
Cakes are sold everywhere in Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Da Nang, Hanoi, and Ho Chi Minh City. Cakes also follow the footsteps of children abroad, becoming a meaningful and loving Tet gift.
Currently, small sesame dry cakes cost 40,000 VND/box, large ones cost 70,000 VND/box. For tourists who buy cakes as gifts, they will use the type wrapped in paper with the price of 60,000 VND/pack.
To keep up with the supply of sesame dry cakes during Tet, Ms. Nghia’s establishment has mobilized nearly 10 workers to work around the clock. Each person will be paid 400,000 VND/day. For women in the village, this is a job that helps them have a good income to buy Tet more fully.($1=24,000 VND)
According (Dan Tri)
The “seven fire” cake village of Da Nang specialties made day and night is still not enough to sell Tet
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