Tu Le Green Rice: From culinary quintessence to cultural festival imbued with national identity

The Com Festival is held to honor the cultural value of Tu Le Com, a famous product of Lao Cai, while promoting community tourism, promoting OCOP products, and improving local economic life.

" Culinary quintessence" of Thai people in Tu Le land

Tu Le sticky rice is also known as Tan La sticky rice, a specialty only found in Tu Le valley, Tu Le commune, Lao Cai (formerly Yen Bai province). Tu Le valley is surrounded by three high mountains, Khau Pha, Khau Than and Khau Song, so the temperature fluctuation during the day is large, the night is longer than the day. This is an important factor that determines the softness and aroma of the rice grains.

Furthermore, the soil structure of Tu Le is loose, permeable and the climate is fresh, favorable for the natural growth of rice plants, so the planted Tan La sticky rice plants take root and grow lush green. Therefore, Tan Tu Le sticky rice is considered clean rice and has a very unique aroma.

Hardly any other place can grow this type of rice and produce fragrant, sticky rice like Tu Le valley. Tu Le sticky rice is ranked as one of the best sticky rice varieties in the country.

Thai girls skillfully make green rice flakes. (Photo: Tien Khanh/VNA)

When processed into green rice flakes, they have a sweet and refreshing taste. To produce green rice flakes that still retain their rich, refreshing flavor, with the characteristics of the highlands, the processing stage is especially important.

From early morning, when the dew drops still linger on the grass, trees and flowers, Thai girls in Tu Le go to the fields to pick the young sticky rice flowers that are almost dry of milky white water and bring them home. The harvested rice must be processed on the same day; if left for a few days, the rice grains will no longer be green and fragrant.

After being threshed and the broken grains removed, the rice is roasted in a large pan. The fire must be maintained evenly for about 30 minutes until the grains crack and give off a fragrant aroma. According to Thai people, this is an important step that determines the deliciousness of the green rice, because if the fire is too high, it will be hard, if the fire is not high, it will lose its elasticity.

To pound Tu Le sticky rice, technique is also required. The pounder's feet must be steady and rhythmic so that the pounding force is neither too strong nor too light; at the same time, one person is needed to stir the rice in the mortar. If there is chaff, scoop it out, winnow it down, then put it back in and continue pounding. Depending on the maturity of the rice when harvested, the pounder will estimate. On average, it takes about 10 poundings to complete a batch of rice. The pounded rice is wrapped in green dong leaves, which both enhances the green color of the rice and preserves the aroma of the rice.

The scent of young rice lingers on visitors so that every autumn, Tu Le young rice brings with it the flavor of Tan La wild sticky rice, contributing to the autumn a poetic gift, creating a part of the brand of Lao Cai land.

Highlights of Tu Le Green Rice Festival

From September 13-21, 2025, Tu Le Commune People's Committee will organize the Com Festival with the theme "Autumn colors of Tu Le" with many attractive activities that promise to bring many memorable experiences to domestic and foreign tourists.

The Com Festival will open on September 20, 2025 at Le Champ Resort, Nuoc Nong village, Tu Le commune. The program opens with the "Celebrating New Com" ceremony.

At the Festival, visitors and locals will be immersed in the vibrant atmosphere with a series of activities: display of Tu Le green rice products, green rice pounding contest, goat fighting contest, display of traditional dishes, national costume contest, rice cake pounding contest, experience the process of making Tan Na Long green rice...

In addition, many attractive folk games such as tug of war, blindfolded duck catching, climbing the greased pole, sack jumping, stick pushing, stilt walking, walking on the swaying bridge, etc. are also organized, creating a joyful playground, connecting the community. Folk art activities and the contest "The beauty of girls in the land of Com" promise to bring a rich artistic space.

The Com Festival is a way for people to express their gratitude to their ancestors and heaven and earth for blessing them with bountiful harvests and a prosperous and fulfilling life. Every year, in the 8th lunar month, people in Thai villages in Tu Le commune celebrate the "Celebrating New Rice" ceremony.

With respect to their ancestors, all villages prepare offerings to perform the "New Rice Celebration" ceremony. The main ceremony is led by a shaman to ask for the blessings of the gods and ancestors and pray for favorable weather, good crops, health, prosperity, and a happy and harmonious life for all villagers.

After the new rice offering ceremony comes the festival; the main part of which is the green rice pounding competition. This year’s green rice pounding competition has teams from 9 villages of Tu Le commune. From early morning, the girls and boys of each team went to the fields to harvest the rice still wet with night dew to make green rice.

After selecting rice and threshing the grains, each team of 4 contestants participated in the competition of pounding fragrant, delicious, colorful green rice and wrapping green rice. Under the skillful hands and harmonious coordination of the girls and boys, the steps of selecting rice, roasting rice, and pounding green rice were all performed skillfully and skillfully.

Paragliding pilots perform at the Paragliding Festival. (Photo: The Duyet/VNA)

Notably, before that, from September 13 to the end of October 2025, Tu Le commune will organize the Paragliding Festival "Flying over the golden season of Tu Le" in Lim Thai village, combining check-in with terraced fields and learning about the culture of the Thai and Mong people. Here, there will be paragliding performances by pilots flying in pairs with tourists and precise landing competitions, hoping to bring more unique travel experiences to domestic and foreign tourists./.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/com-tu-le-tu-tinh-hoa-am-thuc-den-le-hoi-van-hoa-mang-dam-ban-sac-dan-toc-post1061037.vnp