The long-Standing culinary culture of the Ede is extremely rick and diverse. It is not only unique from the dishes, but also the drinks are prepared meticulously and attractively by the people.
Meanwhile, Ruou Can is one of these drinks, which is created its own characteristic and also loved by many people, because of the strong aroma, that is hard to describe. However, the Ede in the Central Highlands have their own way to enjoy this kind of wine, which isn't known by everyone.
Enjoy Ruou can in the Ede's Festival
Ruou Can should be called Kpie Cheh in Ede's language
To have the delicious jars of wine, besides the processing technique, it is also necessary to have careful preparation before serving. The Ede tie the jars of wine to the pillars in a circle or row, depending on the kind of festival. Those pillars are bamboo trees which are about 2-3 meters high and decorated with colorful tassels, pattern and small slats with carved wooden animals like Lunar New Year trees.
The jars of wine are tightly tied to each pillar to keep them from falling. The Ede take nontoxic leaves around the garden such as banana leaves, jackfruit leaves, guava leaves… to put them in the mouth of the jars before pouring water. In this way, the wine dregs and rice husks will not float on the surface of the jars and spill out, and at the same time there will be a gap from the neck to the mouth of the jars (10 –15 cm). This space is for 1 person each time of serving, each serving is about 200-300 ml of water.
After that, there will be a drinking pipe which is usually prepared in every Ede's family. This pipe is made of bamboo tree or small bamboo branch, which is about 1.3 meters long, depending on the type of jar and cleaned all the nodes inside. The middle part of the pipe is attached with a small transparent plastic tube (about 20 centimeters long) which will connect the two pipes so that the drinker can rotate the pipe from all directions without breaking it. This will also make the drinker feel comfortable when they can directly see the flow of Ruou Can through the plastic pipe when they suck the pipe.
The head of pipe is a tab that has been cut into a slot and punched with 3-5 small holes, enough for wine to absorb without carrying wine dregs or rice husks. There is 1 pipe for each jar of wine. But on wedding day, there will be two pipes for the bride and groom. Pipe will be plugged into the jar with enough height for drinker and will not be clogged, that is also the skill of the person, who will plug the pipe. Then, after using, it should be stored for the next holidays.
Today, despite the variety of beverages, Ruou Can of Ede still exists as a specialty drink with a traditional taste. The most important thing is Ruou Can's culture should contain community solidarity, love, sharing and here it is like echoing love words in the ancient Ay Ray Song, next to the traditional wine jar….
Source: Baodaknong.org.vn (Đ.H translated)