Jar wine of fermented rice and husk, drunk communally through long bamboo straws. Central Highlands communities including the Ede and Jarai make it; jars are opened at festivals and topped up with water as the guests drink.
Producing alcohol at home is licensed or restricted in most of the atlas’s readership, and the ferment depends on a starter cake carrying a specific local set of moulds, yeasts and plant material.
What goes into it
- rice or other grain, with the husk
- a leaf-and-root starter cake
- rice husk
- water
How it is made
Cooked grain is mixed with a crushed starter cake and rice husk — which keeps the mass open — and packed into a large ceramic jar sealed with leaves and clay. It ferments for weeks to months. To drink, water is poured in through the neck and drawn out through bamboo straws, and the jar is refilled as the level drops.
How long it takes: several weeks to months in the sealed jar
How it is eaten
Through bamboo straws from the shared jar at festivals, with the host drinking first.
History
Made by Central Highlands communities including the Ede and Jarai; jars are opened at festivals and topped with water as guests drink.
Frequently asked questions
What is Ruou Can?
Ruou Can is a wine & spirit from Vietnam: jar wine of fermented rice and husk, drunk communally through long bamboo straws. Made by Central Highlands communities including the Ede and Jarai; jars are opened at festivals and topped with water as guests drink.
How is Ruou Can made?
Cooked grain is mixed with a crushed starter cake and rice husk — which keeps the mass open — and packed into a large ceramic jar sealed with leaves and clay. It ferments for weeks to months. To drink, water is poured in through the neck and drawn out through bamboo straws, and the jar is refilled as the level drops. It takes several weeks to months in the sealed jar.
Can I make Ruou Can at home?
No, and the atlas gives no method for it. Producing alcohol at home is licensed or restricted in most of the atlas’s readership, and the ferment depends on a starter cake carrying a specific local set of moulds, yeasts and plant material.
What goes into Ruou Can?
Rice or other grain, with the husk, a leaf-and-root starter cake, rice husk, water.
How is Ruou Can eaten?
Through bamboo straws from the shared jar at festivals, with the host drinking first.
