Cốm is the Vietnamese rice food made from young green rice flakes harvested before the grains fully mature.
To make cốm, young sticky rice is harvested, roasted, and pounded repeatedly to remove the husk and flatten the grains. The finished flakes are pale green, fragrant, and gently chewy. They may be eaten on their own, wrapped in lotus leaves, or used in sweets and other dishes.
Cốm is especially associated with Hanoi and the autumn harvest season. Vòng village, now part of Hanoi, is famous for its traditional production. The product’s color comes from the immature rice grains and processing rather than artificial coloring in the traditional method.
Cốm is not the same as cơm tấm, which means broken rice, or xôi, which generally refers to cooked sticky rice. It can also be used to make bánh cốm, a sweet rice cake filled with mung bean paste.