In the cool weather of days nearing Tet holiday, sellers prepare variety of goods to satisfy shopping demands, the well-known traditional ginger confectionery business in Binh Hoa, Binh Nhan (Thuan An district) also enters the market.
People in Binh Hoa hamlet do not know the origin of this kind of business. They just know of the transition within their own family. To make confectionery ginger, people have to observe thorough processing including pealing, salt soaking, tapping and lemonade soaking before drying in the sun. Then, ginger will be boiled before being soaked with sugar and fried on the pot. Everyone follows the normal processing but the whiteness of confectionery ginger depends on specific experience of the makers.
A woman process ginger before making into confectionery.
“I have made confectionery ginger for over 10 years. To make a white, soft and delicious confectionery ginger is quite an effort. Previously, confectionery ginger is made by hand. Therefore, only 50-100kg of ginger made are plenty. Now, people can make hundreds of kilograms or tons of confectionery ginger thanks to machinery equipments,” claimed Ms. Trung Ngoc My.
“In ordinary days, people in here work differently but the all make confectionery ginger when the Tet comes closer. Customers choose local confectionery ginger with no pigments or whitening chemicals. Makers grow bigger in population,” said Mr. Nguyen Thanh Vinh who is Deputy Chair to Binh Nham farmer Association.
Recently, the rising price of materials for making ginger could not stop consumption.
“I intended to make about 300kg of confectionery ginger for being afraid of higher price of sugar and ginger. But out of my expectation, customers order so much that I have to buy more ginger to make more. It makes me so happy,” said Ms. Huynh Thi Cao.
Confectionery ginger is only made on seasonal occasions but people can earn from it. Confectionery ginger is sold at VND 60,000-70,000 a kg for wholesale price which is double last year’s price. However, customers accept the new price for the particular taste of confectionery ginger made in here.
Reported by Thoai Phuong – Translated by Vi Bao
