Sweet scent of Khau Tan green rice Welcomes and holds tourists

Tham Duong is a land blessed by nature with a cool, gentle climate. In particular, this place has a very famous product, Khau Tan Don sticky rice, which is called by the locals as the First Queen of Sticky Rice. According to the elders, Tham Duong has 3 mountains symbolizing 3 daughters: Thai, Tay, Giay. These are also the 3 ethnic groups that have lived here for a long time and they have discovered this special sticky rice variety.

Sweet aroma of Khau Tan Don green rice. Photo: Internet

Every tourist coming to Tham Duong cannot forget the green rice sticky rice, the bamboo rice dish made from Khau Tan Don sticky rice, a type of white, sticky, fragrant, sweet sticky rice that only Tham Duong has. Because of that fame, preserving and exploiting the value of Khau Tan Don sticky rice is also a fundamental direction that the local government pays special attention to, with the goal of developing it into a tourism product.

Cultivated later than regular glutinous rice varieties, at this time, Khau Tan Don sticky rice fields in Tham Duong commune, Van Ban district, Lao Cai province have just begun to ripen. Revered by the locals as “The best sticky rice”, the green rice products made from this rice variety are also famous far and wide for their sweet, sticky and fragrant flavor.

According to the Tay ethnic language, “Khau” means seed, “Tan Don” is “white sticky rice”. The rice has a very fragrant smell, after being cooked, the sticky rice grains are sticky, sweet and rich, with a layer of essential oil on the surface of dong leaves or banana leaves when wrapping the sticky rice. Khau Tan Don sticky rice, a type of sticky rice grown only once a year in April and harvested in September of the lunar calendar, when the rice grains are ripe and golden, the rice flowers are beautiful and round. On this occasion, local people go to cut and take each bunch, bring it home to heat over a fire until fragrant, then bring it to a mortar and pound it many times to make sticky and delicious green rice throughout the region. This is also the product that every household in Tham Duong respectfully offers to their ancestors and has become the main dish in the new rice celebration of the people of this commune.

The Thai people of Tham Duong commune have many ways to make green rice flakes. A secret to preserve the rich, sweet flavor that people often choose is to roast the sticky rice until cooked on hot coals, then take it out to thresh and put it in a stone mortar to pound. With each stroke of the pestle, the rice grains are gradually flattened, the husk and the natural rice kernel are flipped apart, then carefully sifted to retain the most quintessential part, which is the smooth, plump green green rice flakes. In addition to the traditional green rice flakes product, some other products made from Khau Tan Don sticky rice have also been developed and brought to the market, with initial signs being quite positive.

People in Tham Duong (Van Ban district, Lao Cai) make green rice from Khau Tan Don sticky rice. Photo: LD

In 2021, the entire Tham Duong commune has nearly 100 hectares of Khau Tan Don sticky rice growing area. Khau Tan Don green rice products are one of the unique traditional cultural symbols of the local Thai people. Preserving and exploiting the value of Khau Tan Don sticky rice is also a fundamental direction that the local authorities pay special attention to, with the goal of developing it into a tourism product associated with experiences in the near future, first through the annual Com Huong Festival.

Making green rice flakes is a long-standing custom of the ethnic minorities in Tham Duong commune. Every year in the ninth lunar month, during the harvest season of “Khau Tan Don” sticky rice, people choose the rice flowers that still have milk to make green rice flakes to celebrate the new rice, to offer thanks to their ancestors, and to pray for a good and bountiful harvest.

Every October, in Tham Duong commune, Van Ban district, the "New Com Fragrance" Festival is held from the OCOP product of "Khau Tan Don" sticky rice. Attending the festival, visitors can experience the highland cultural space imbued with the national identity of Van Ban district; enjoy the performances and folk dances of the Thai, Tay, and Dao people here. In particular, coming to   Festival,   Locals and tourists will be able to immerse themselves in the exciting atmosphere of the green rice pounding competition with teams from villages and hamlets and enjoy the fragrant, soft green rice grains made from “Khau Tan Don” sticky rice, an OCOP product of Van Ban district (Lao Cai province).

Fragrant green rice grains create the green rice festival in the Northwestern highlands. Photo: Internet

Khau Tan Don is the first sticky rice product in the country to be granted geographical indication by the Intellectual Property Office in 2018. In 2020, the locality also successfully built a 4-star OCOP product brand. The fragrant sticky rice brand Khau Tan Don is bringing high economic value, contributing to improving people's income and life.

Anyone who has ever enjoyed Tham Duong sticky rice (Van Ban) will never forget its lingering, fragrant taste. Even after eating countless other types of sticky rice, they will still "think" about Khau Tan Don - the famous sticky rice of Lao Cai, known as "The best sticky rice"./.

Yanjiang