Return to Yen Thinh to enjoy red Gio cake

Having the opportunity to come to Yen Thinh commune at the end of the year, visitors will feel the aroma of red gio cakes spreading throughout the village. For visitors who come here once to enjoy this cake, they will surely never forget the sweet and cool taste of banh gio dotted with molasses, mixed with a little bit of strong flavor from forest trees.

In the past, red gio cakes were often made by the people of Yen Thinh commune on every holiday, Tet to sell or worship ancestors, in recent years, with the increasing demand of the market, red gio cake has been sold all year round. Mrs. Hoang Thi Nhung’s family, Dien village is one of the households producing cakes in large quantities for sale, Mrs. Nhung said: Red gio cake is a traditional cake of the people of Yen Thinh commune. The main raw material for making gio cake is glutinous rice, according to which, in order to have a delicious gio cake, the baker must choose delicious yellow sticky rice with large, round seeds. About 4 years ago, my family made red gio cake to sell to tourists as well as deliver to customers inside and outside the province such as Thai Nguyen, Ha Nam, Hung Yen… On average, each month, my family makes about 500 to 1,000 cakes, with the selling price of 5,000 VND/cake.

People in Yen Thinh Commune wrapped gio cake

The stages of making gio cake are also very sophisticated, requiring the maker to be meticulous and careful to produce delicious cakes. First, the rice is soaked with ash water, in which the ash is burned from natural forest trees such as ferns or dragonplums. The ashes of the above plants will be boiled with water, left to cool, the clear water will be used to soak glutinous rice to create softness when the cake is cooked. Rice soaked with ash water overnight will be picked up, washed through water to reduce the pungent smell of ash and then drained. The important factor that determines the softness and flexibility of the cake is in this ash water. When wrapping the cake, the maker needs to skillfully put the rice in the leaf so that it is neat and even, then wrap the leaf and tie the cake so that it is even. In particular, when tying the cake, do not tie your hands too tightly so that when boiling the rice grains, they can expand and cook evenly.

The gio cakes through the skillful hands of the people are wrapped evenly and beautifully

The difference of Yen Thinh gio cake is that when the cake is cooked, it has a very beautiful red color. To do this, when boiling the cake, people will put dried bamboo shoots (apricot or bamboo shoots) into the boiling water so that the water can soak into the cake. The cake is boiled for about 3 to 4 hours, when the cake is brown, take it out to cool. A satisfactory cake must create a delicious feeling right from the moment it is peeled off, when it is peeled off the cake is red. When eating the cake, the first feeling is the slightly warm but cool taste, then the sweetness of molasses mixed with the sticky taste of sticky rice. Although it was made of glutinous rice, gio cake can be eaten without being fed up.

Mrs. Hoang Thi Hanh, a tourist from Que Vo district, Bac Ninh province said: During a trip to Yen Thinh commune, I enjoyed the red gio cake here. My first impression is that the cake has a very beautiful red color, when eaten, it is very soft, flexible, dotted with delicious and delicious cane sugar. When I returned, I bought a cake as a gift and asked for a phone number to order.

Currently, in Yen Thinh commune, there are about 10 households making regular cakes for sale. Households often make cakes according to orders to sell and deliver to customers inside and outside the province or retail in the commune to local people or tourists when they have the opportunity to come here, thereby contributing to attracting and making an impression on customers by the uniqueness of the product.

Mr. Hoang Trung Ta, Chairman of Yen Thinh Commune People’s Committee said: Red gio cake is a traditional product of the people here, on Tet holiday, almost every house will wrap the cake by hand to worship their grandparents and ancestors. In recent years, a number of households have made cakes all year round to sell, contributing to raising income and preserving traditional occupations. At present, a number of tourist attractions are being developed in the commune, so in the coming time, the commune Party Committee and authorities will orient people to gradually develop the development into tourism products to create a highlight for commune tourism. In addition, we will propagate and guide households to build OCOP products (one commune once product program) so that the product is more and more known to customers, contributing to promoting the image of people, typical products of the commune.

When it’s ripe, gio cake has a beautiful red color

Red gio cake is a simple but ethnic cake with the taste of the homeland of Yen Thinh people. During the Lunar New Year, especially the Lunar New Year, the people here still preserve the unique customs of their nation, including making red gio cakes according to the traditional method to eat and to worship ancestors. If you have the opportunity to return to Yen Thinh commune, people and tourists should visit and enjoy this unique traditional cake to feel and the essence of each cake.