The grass jelly is an indispensable ingredient for a delicious cup of sweet soup or soya bean curd of all flavours. The northern province of Cao Bang is famous for this unique kind of jelly.
Cao Bang grass jelly: A summertime treat
With the mild sub-tropical climate of the northeast, this mountainous province is a perfect place for the planting and harvesting of the main ingredient to make grass jelly.
The process of making jelly is not complicated, but requires a very careful hand, especially while washing the grass jelly leaves.
The dried leaves must be purified very carefully. Just like washing clothes, you can’t leave any dust, or else the quality won’t be guaranteed and the leaves can’t be used.
After three hours of boiling and non-stop stirring, the grass jelly starts to expand and develops a sweet flavour. After that, it goes through another washing process, and after being rinsed three times in clean water and filtered with fabric to eliminate any scum, you finally have a big cauldron of pure grass jelly water.
After purification, the mixed grass jelly water is boiled for two more hours before sugar and tapioca powder is added to create flavour and condense the mixture into cubes. After being divided into 1kg slabs and having cooled down, the tasty grass jellies are ready to serve.
