Bỏng Chủ (Chủ poprice) is a kind of food that is only made in Cổ Loa (the old Chủ Village). Legend has it that Bỏng Chủ was a kind of foodstuff reserved for the soldiers in the battles because it could have been kept for a long time. It is also an indispensable offering in Cổ Loa festival on 6th January (Lunar Calendar) which used to dedicate to the king to commemorate his merits.
As Bỏng Chủ is an offering, the makers must be abstinent before doing this. This craft has existed in Cổ Loa for a long time. Bỏng Chủ is made of glutinous rice. The rice seeds must be swollen and sappy; they must be left on the earthen ground for 5 days before being popped, therefore they can be soundly and equilaterally exploded.
In the past, part of the public fields were used for growing rice for making poprice in Cổ Loa. Nowadays, glutinous rice for making poprice is mainly bought from Dục Tú village or Bắc Ninh, Bắc Giang provinces. Other ingredients are cardamom, sesame, peanut, of which cardamom is a typical taste in Bỏng Chủ. Cardamom is torrefied, ground into pour and then mixed poprice to make it sweet-smelling.
The tools for making poprice include a big icon pan (about 1m in diameter), a handmade stove and the fire is usually controlled in normal level while torrefying and much higher level when the rice seeds start to explode. A bundle of bamboo sticks or chopsticks are used for turning over the rice seeds continuously during popping. When the rice seeds have exploded equilaterally, their husks are removed from them.
Three sieves with different sized are used for removing the husks: the big, medium and small ones. In accordance with the three sieves, there are three types of products: hoa 1 (type 1), hoa 2 (type 2), and hoa 3 (type 3). These three types of poprice are then mixed with sugar that was melt, sesame, peanut, cardamom flour. The sugar must be melt to the level that a little sugar remains in tiny pieces. The mixed poprice is then squeezed in a mould.
The rice seeds are normally popped and sieved about 1 month before the festivals, but they are just mixed and squeezed from 5 days to a week before the festival (around 29th December). The poprice is squeezed into cakes by two people: one holds a pestle and hardly squeeze it for 20 times while the other is keeping the mould tightly. The popcorn cakes are rectangular in sizes 25x30 or 37x10x10 and their thickness is at one’s disposal.
After the poprice cakes are covered with a thin layer of flour made of ground poprice and left for one night; they are then cut into 2 halves and each half is divided five sections which are wrapped in 2 layers of paper: the inner layer for keeping them dry and the outer red layer for decorating them.
They are tightly tied with bamboo strings. Cổ Loa people distinguish the poprice into three different types of bỏng thửa, bỏng nặng and bỏng nhẹ in accordance with the way and the levels that melt sugar is mixed in:
Bỏng thửa: with much sugar and more cardamom, which is usually used for ceremony or important events such as weddings, longevity-honored ceremony.
Bỏng nặng: with less sugar and no cardamom.
Bỏng nhẹ: with little sugar and no cardamom or peanut.
Both bỏng nặng and bỏng nhẹ are for sale and normal use.
Apart from a small quantity of poprice ordered or sold at the local market, Cổ Loa poprice is mostly sold in the markets such as Sọ (Phù Lỗ), Chờ (Yên Phong - Bắc Ninh), Núi (Sóc Sơn), Me, Giầu (Từ Sơn - Bắc Ninh) or Bưởi (Hà Nội), etc. Making poprice serves as a craft that not only increases the income of the Cổ Loa residents but also an effective way to advertise the traditional and cultural values of Cổ Loa.
