Black jelly mixed with other ingredients help to cool down heat in summer months. (Photo: VNA)

Cao Bang (VNS/VNA) - Sweet soup, soya bean curd or mixed jellyare popular snacks for Vietnamese people, especially in the hot days of summer.They all have things in common – they’re delicious, fresh and many of themcontain one tasty ingredient: black grass jelly.

The grass jelly is an indispensable ingredient for a delicious cup of sweetsoup or soya bean curd of all flavours. It can also stand independently as themain part of a tasty snack such as ‘grass jelly with caramel’ or ‘grass jellywith lotus seeds and coconut milk’.

Jelly comes in plenty of flavours. From the natural flavour of lemon jelly tothe fresh gracilaria jelly, from the strong flavour of coffee to the sweetnessof coconut jelly. But grass jelly is one of a kind, not only because of itsunique flavour, but also because of the land where it comes from.

Cao Bang province is famous for this unique kind of jelly.

Cao Bang is in the northeast of Vietnam, with many pristine mountains, forests,rivers and attractions like the majestic Ban Gioc Water Falls or Pac BoCave where President Ho Chi Minh used to live and work during the waragainst the French colonialists.

With the mild sub-tropical climate of the northeast, this mountainous provinceis a perfect land for planting and harvesting the main ingredient to make grassjelly.

Thanks to the climate, farmers rarely need to use fertiliser or any plantprotection products. With more than 350ha of area growing the raw materials forgrass jelly all over the province, cooks from Thach An district, which has along tradition of producing most of the Cao Bang products from grass jelly,receive quintals of grass jelly tree every year, in order to bring deliciouscubes of unique black grass jelly to everyone.

With more than 20 years of experience, Phan Thi Thuy’s family is one of manyother families in Thach An district who make grass jelly for a living.

The process of making jelly is not complicated, but requires a very carefullyhand, especially in washing the grass jelly leaves.

“I have to purify the dried leaves very carefully. Just like washing clothes,you can’t leave any dust, or else the quality won’t be guaranteed and theleaves can’t be used. After three hours of boiling and non-stop stirring, thegrass jelly will start to expand and develop a sweet flavour. After that, itgoes through another washing process, and after being rinsed three times inclean water and filtered with fabric to eliminate the scum, I can finally havea big cauldron of pure grass jelly water,” Thuy said about the meticulous workthat goes into clean and fresh grass jelly.

Hand-made black jellies made by Thach An ethic people is popular

After purification, the mixed grass jelly water will be boiled for two morehours before sugar and tapioca powder is added to create flavour and condensethe mixture into cubes. After being divided into 1kg slabs and cooling down,tasty grass jellies are ready to serve.

“With more than 20 years of experience making jelly, I put my family reputationon top of everything. It’s the matter of bringing the best and also thecleanest jelly to everyone. If the leafs aren’t purified enough, I have tothrow them all away. Ensuring food safety is paramount, it’s all about thehealth of customers and it is a responsibility which every cook must have,” sheadded.

Every day, hundreds of boxes of jelly from Thach An are sent to countless shopsand made into delicious sweet soups or soya bean curds to please customers inVietnam.

“Whenever I eat a summer snack, I have to add many grass jellies. The flavouris so unique, it’s a combination of the sweetness of sugar and the grass jellyherb which is very tasty and fresh. I add grass jelly to every snack I eat,from black bean sweet soup to soya bean curd and with coconut milk and driedcoconut, everything is perfect,” said Dao Ngoc Minh, 16, a student of Yen HoaHigh School in Hanoi.

“I don’t know why but every time I eat something with jelly, I feel reallyrefreshed, especially the black grass jelly. That’s why my mother always makeme black bean sweet soup with a large amount of jellies during the summer andit saved my life during the horrible stress of this year’s national high schoolexams,” said Tran Minh Chau, a 12th grade student from Viet Duc High School inthe capital.

With all-natural ingredients, there is no doubt about the health benefitsprovided by grass jelly. According to Dr. Nguyen Van Hung from the TraditionalMedicine Association of Hanoi, with its high levels of polyphenol, tannin andpectin, grass jelly is a precious medicine with a sweet flavour and coolingeffect. It helps to lower blood pressure, treat joint pain and support theliver, help with diabetes. It also has anti-aging properties and lowerscholesterol. 

"Grass jelly is good but if eaten too much, it may affect the abilityof the body to absorb protein. For children, jelly reduces appetite andabsorption of nutrients. The most dangerous risk is producing and sellingchemical grass jelly in polluted places. I have seen many emergency casesbecause of eating dirty and out of date items,” Hung warns.

Luckily, a Cao Bang food company, recognised by the Ministry ofAgriculture and Rural Development in May 2016 for their product ‘Cao Bang GrassJelly’, has received good feedback from consumers as a leading producer infield of hygiene food.

“My family enjoys Cao Bang food so much because it is very clean, safe andhealthy. We all feel cool in summer after eating it. The most important is thatCao Bang grass jelly is ensured to not contain any additives, chemicals orartificial colour which makes me feel safe as a consumer,” said Nguyen Thi Ha,from Hanoi’s Cau Giay district.

Hà added that the jelly is more enjoyable when mixed with tea, yogurt andhoney.

“This food has secured and preserved the faith of many families around thecountry. It is a real specialty of Vietnam,” said Pham Tuan Hai, former jurymember of Master Chef Vietnam.-VNS/VNA