Millions of Dong per liter of shrimp paste for Tet

Besides steamed shrimp and shrimp rolls, shrimp paste is a specialty that is loved by many customers, especially during Tet.

Rươi is a "heaven-sent" specialty of Tu Ky, Hai Duong. Every October of the lunar calendar, farmers living along the Thai Binh River embankment (Tu Ky district, Hai Duong) "lose sleep and appetite" to collect the bounty of heaven. This is also a natural specialty that diners seek, so products made from Tu Ky rươi are always expensive, such as rươi stewed in a clay pot for nearly 1 million VND per pot; rươi sausage costs 800,000 to 900,000 VND per kg. In particular,Another very popular product isshrimp paste, especially during Tet, is quite expensive. If normal fish sauce is only a few tens of thousands of dong per liter, or the special type is only 200,000-300,000 dong, shrimp paste costs up to 600,000-700,000 dong per liter, even up to 1 million dong.

The owner of the Tu Ky - Hai Duong (Hanoi) specialty shop for worm products said that for the past month, in addition to selling worm patties, steamed worm, and clay pot-braised worm, the number of orders for worm sauce is also increasing every day.

Rươi is available in the 10th lunar month. Photo: Ngoc Thanh.

“Most of the shrimp paste is made by us to serve the Tet holiday, so now we only accept orders but do not have any products yet. Because the shrimp paste must be fermented for at least 30-60 days to have a finished product and if you want it to be more delicious, it will take 3 months. The price of each liter of shrimp paste is 1 million VND,” said the owner of this shop, adding that the reason why the shrimp paste is expensive is because the shrimp used to make the paste must be fresh, pink, large, grade 1. In the market, the price of this type when purchased is from 550,000 to 650,000 VND per kilogram. In addition, the processing and seasoning process is also quite elaborate. Each establishment will have its own characteristic flavor of the fish sauce, but the fish sauce must be golden yellow, shimmering like honey and have the gentle aroma of the shrimp paste to be delicious.

“This year, there are quite a lot of customers ordering, mainly from Lao Cai, Hanoi... so the facility plans to produce about 1,000 liters of shrimp paste. This type is a specialty, the quantity is not much, so it almost always sells out in that season, customers who order late will not have any left,” said the owner of this store.

Selling at a cheaper price than the above store, Ms. Hoa - a business owner in Hai Duong said that the first grade fish sauce she sells to customers costs 700,000 VND, the second and third grades range from 300,000 to 500,000 VND per liter.

“This year, I also produced several hundred liters, mainly for Tet. Because I just started producing the product, I can sell 10-20 liters of fish sauce per day. It is expected that the number of orders will increase sharply in early December,” said Ms. Hoa.

Prepared shrimp paste can be eaten with rice noodles, meat, cucumber, raw vegetables... .Illustration photo.

Regarding the secret to making shrimp paste, in addition to the necessary spices such as tangerine peel powder, glutinous rice bran powder, ginger powder, coarsely ground roasted salt, and a lidded earthenware jar, when choosing shrimp to make the paste, you must choose large, pink or red colored shrimp. Do not buy green shrimp because they have less powder. After cleaning, put the shrimp and crushed roasted salt in a bowl, stir well, then put in an earthenware jar, then bring it out to dry in the sun.

In the 4th week, use chopsticks to mix thoroughly so that the fish sauce absorbs the spices and add sticky rice bran. Then in the 5th and 6th weeks, add tangerine peel powder and ginger powder to the jar and stir well. After 10 weeks, transfer the fish sauce to a clean glass bottle and continue to dry in the sun. After 3 months, the product will reach a certain level. However, to make it palatable and delicious depends on the person who ferments and adds spices.

As a long-time seller of shrimp paste, Ms. Minh in Hai Duong said that this year she also plans to supply 1,000 liters to the market. This year's shrimp paste is in season, big and delicious, so the quality of the paste is also better. Although the price is expensive, shrimp paste is very popular with people in the North, especially in Hanoi, Hai Duong, and Thai Binh. "In addition to retail orders for gifts and year-round consumption, I have about 3 agents placing large orders. However, to ensure that the shrimp paste meets standards, I can only supply them at certain times, not at the same time," Ms. Minh shared.

According to Ms. Minh, the shrimp paste can be steamed with minced pork fat, seasoned with sugar, MSG, pepper, and chili, which is very "good" with rice, or used as a dipping sauce. People can mix the shrimp paste like shrimp paste. The way to mix it is to pour the shrimp paste into a bowl, add lemon, vinegar, sugar, MSG, chili, and mix well before serving. The mixed sauce is eaten with boiled meat, vermicelli, raw vegetables, pineapple, star fruit, etc.

According to VNE