Ganzi Water-Washed Tsampa

Ganzi Water-Washed Tsampa

Ganzi Water-Washed Tsampa is a protected geographical indication product.

　　Ganzi Water-Washed Tsampa is a specialty of Ganzi County, Ganzi, Sichuan.

　　Tsampa is one of the staple foods of the Tibetan people, rich in nutrition, convenient to carry and eat, making it an ideal food for travelers in Tibetan areas. Living in the pastoral region, sipping highland barley wine under the moonlight while imagining a meal of butter tea and tsampa is truly comforting.

　　Tibetans cannot do without tsampa in their three daily meals. Tsampa is essentially roasted barley flour. It is made by roasting highland barley grains, grinding them finely, and not sifting the flour—making it somewhat similar to the roasted flour made in northern China. The difference is that northern roasted flour is ground before roasting, while Tibetan tsampa is roasted before grinding, and the bran is not removed.

　　The production of water-washed tsampa involves selecting Kangqing No. 3 and other high-quality white highland barley, which is air-dried, sifted, cleaned in cold water, dried, and then washed with hot water. After draining, it is placed in sacks while still hot and sealed to maintain a constant temperature overnight. The next day, a large flat-bottomed wok is heated. When the sack is opened, a wine-like aroma naturally wafts out. Then, a large bowl of river sand is scooped into the wok. Once the sand is extremely hot, a large bowl of highland barley is added and continuously stirred. The key to roasting the barley is controlling the heat so it is neither burnt nor undercooked. Once the barley begins to pop, the sand is sifted back into the wok, and the roasted barley is poured into a basket. Then another large bowl of barley is added, and more sand is used as needed. This process is repeated until all the barley in the sack is roasted. After the roasted barley cools, it is resifted and poured into leather sacks, then taken to the mill where it is ground with water. The resulting tsampa is fine, snow-white in color, fragrant, and delicious.

　　Eating tsampa is somewhat of a skill. Place some butter in the bowl, pour in tea, add the roasted barley flour, and stir with your hands. When stirring, first press the flour gently to the bottom of the bowl with your middle finger to prevent the tea from spilling. Then rotate the bowl and press the flour into the tea with your fingers against the rim. Once the flour, tea, and butter are well mixed and can be formed into a ball with your hands, it is ready to eat.

　　Within the administrative region of Ganzi County, Sichuan Province, covering 17 townships including Ganzi Town, Jia La Township, Se Xi Di Township, Ka Gong Township, Ren Guo Township, Tuo Ba Township, Si E Township, Nan Duo Township, Sheng Kang Township, Gong Long Township, Ting Ka Township, Si Tong Da Township, Duo Duo Township, Zha Ke Township, Lai Ma Town, Xi Se Township, and Ni Ke Township.