(VOVWORLD) - These days, Binh Lu vermicelli village in Tam Duong district, Lai Chau province, is busy preparing for the Lunar New Year (Tet) season. Every household is working hard to make more vermicelli products.
 Ethnic minorities in Tam Duong district have switched to growing arrowroot, helping hundreds of local families escape poverty. (Photo: VOV) |
Visitors to Tam Duong in the last months of the year will see vermicelli drying racks along the village roads. Duong Van Anh of Hanoi who came to buy vermicelli recalled, “Every time I go on a business trip, I buy Binh Lu vermicelli because my family has preferred it for many years. I buy vermicelli to serve my family during Tet and as gifts for my friends.”
Made entirely from pure arrowroot starch, Binh Lu vermicelli is quite different from other types of vermicelli. It doesn’t have the shiny, eye-catching yellow color of vermicelli from Cu Da village in Hanoi. It’s slightly green.
 Vermicelli threads are dried to have a certain elasticity and clarity and characteristic aroma. |
Binh Lu small vermicelli strands are soft and chewy, and not sticky or sour, when cooked. It’s never doughy, even when it has been re-heated two or three times.
Each step, from selecting ingredients to processing, is meticulous, said Binh Lu villager Bui Van Phan. “My family makes vermicelli all year round and during the year-end rush we focus all our manpower on making vermicelli for the Lunar New Year. If the weather is sunny, we can make 120 to 150 kilos of arrowroot starch, twice as much as usual,” said Phan.
To ensure the product supply for Tet, Do Van Tam of Toong Pa hamlet in Binh Lu commune has had to hire more than a dozen extra workers. He noted, “We have to cooperate with households that grow arrowroot to ensure input materials and maintain year-round production. Households that produce vermicelli, like my family, purchase about 500 tons of dry arrowroot starch each year.”
To meet the diverse Tet demands, local household businesses and cooperatives are improving quality and introducing new product lines to the market.
 Binh Lu vermicelli has been recognized as a 3-star OCOP product and has become the typical farm product of the locality. |
According to Nguyen Ngoc Anh, Director of the Binh Lu Agricultural Service Cooperative, “In addition to our traditional products, we now have three more types: hand-sliced vermicelli, black bean vermicelli, and ginseng cassava vermicelli. These three products have been introduced to diversify our product line for the coming Lunar New Year.”
Binh Lu traditional craft village has 100 households and three cooperatives supplying the market with 550 tons of dried vermicelli each year. Locals earn 1.8 million USD a year from growing arrowroot and producing vermicelli. Binh Lu vermicelli has been recognized as a 3-star OCOP product and is available nationwide.
The vermicelli trade will soon make Binh Lu a model new rural commune, said Lo Van Thang, Deputy Chairman of the communal People's Committee.
“Every year during the peak season, we make sure that the vermicelli supply is sufficient for Tet. We coordinate with relevant agencies to manage food hygiene and safety and encourage producers to take advantage of favorable weather to meet market demand,” said Thang.