Sweating standing in the kitchen to cook this sweet, fragrant liquid that "calls" Tet

(Dan Tri) – During the boiling process, sugarcane juice condenses into molasses, giving off a fragrant aroma. This special juice is only produced once a year to “welcome Tet”.

From around mid-November of the lunar calendar, when the sugarcane has accumulated enough sugar, people in Nghia Hung commune, Nghia Dan district, Nghe An province begin harvesting. The sugarcane is cut down, the tops removed, and bundled into bundles for easy transportation. Sugarcane cutters can earn 200,000 VND/day thanks to this seasonal job.

Mr. Tran Van Dong, Vice Chairman of Nghia Hung Commune People's Committee, said that the whole commune has 500 hectares of sugarcane. Only a small part is imported by the people for the sugar factory, the majority will be sold to Gang village molasses processing facilities.

The molasses making profession in Gang village, Nghia Hung commune has existed since 1960 and was recognized as a craft village in 2013. Of which, the two main products of the craft village, molasses and rock sugar, have achieved the 3-star OCOP product standard (One Commune One Product program) in 2023. The products of the craft village are produced and consumed, especially during the Lunar New Year.

The sugarcane pressing process has been mechanized by using a press. Using a press helps increase pressing productivity, thoroughly extract the sugar water in the sugarcane and minimize labor and manpower.

The sugarcane juice will then be put on the stove to cook. Instead of using single cast iron pans as before to cook molasses, the villagers of Gang have created a stove system that can place 5 pans of molasses to cook at the same time.

Maintaining the fire to ensure the temperature in the stove is very important. Each batch of honey will be cooked for about 1.5 hours. During that time, fuel must be continuously added and the temperature of the stove maintained. This is a labor-intensive job that requires a lot of patience.

At high temperatures, the sugarcane juice boils and bubbles. People use a 50cm high iron bucket placed on the mouth of the pan to prevent the boiling water from overflowing. During the boiling process, the cook must continuously use a long ladle to scoop out the foam. This is the most important step to ensure the molasses is clean, clear and has a beautiful color.

Once the sugarcane juice has been condensed into molasses, the foam will be skimmed off one more time before being cooled and put into barrels for storage.

The sediment filtering process continues during the honey preservation process to ensure that the products supplied to the market are of the best quality and most beautiful color.

Mr. Vo Dinh Luong, Director of Lang Gang Molasses Processing Village Cooperative, said that currently, each 200-liter jar of molasses costs 4-4.2 million VND. This season, his family plans to produce 60 jars of molasses. After deducting production costs, raw materials, and labor, he will earn over 60 million VND.

“Every 2-3 days, when we have enough raw materials, we will produce once. Cooking honey lasts from 4am to 8pm. From mid-December, the honey furnaces are almost always on fire all day to supply enough goods to the market,” Mr. Luong shared.

According to Mr. Nguyen The Vinh, Deputy Director of Lang Gang Molasses Processing Village Cooperative, most of the molasses is supplied to the Lunar New Year market, while a portion is left over and stored in barrels to crystallize into rock sugar. The process of crystallizing molasses into rock sugar takes 8-9 months.

“Every 200-liter barrel of molasses will crystallize about 40kg of rock sugar. Compared to selling molasses, rock sugar has a higher economic value of 1.2-1.5 million VND/barrel,” said Mr. Vinh.

Gang village molasses has its own flavor, deep brown color, clear, sweet aroma. Molasses is consumed mostly before Tet holiday, mainly used to produce some types of cakes and cook traditional dishes.

The honey making profession has created jobs for more than 200 workers in Gang village with an income of about 6 million VND/month.

Dantri.com.vn

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/lao-dong-viec-lam/do-mo-hoi-dung-bep-nau-thu-nuoc-song-sanh-thom-ngot-goi-tet-20250105233651081.htm