Millions of dong per liter of shrimp paste for Tet

Besides steamed bloodworms and bloodworm cakes, bloodworm sauce 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 dike (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 rolls, steamed worm, and worm stewed in clay pots that attract customers, the number of orders for worm sauce is also increasing every day.

Earthworms are 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 store, adding that the reason why the shrimp paste is expensive is because the shrimp used to make the paste must be fresh, pink, large, and 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 facility will have its own characteristic flavor of the shrimp paste, but the shrimp paste must be golden yellow, shimmering like honey and have the gentle aroma of the shrimp paste to be delicious.

“This year, the number of customers ordering is quite large, mainly in 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 almost every season it is sold out, 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, I can sell 10-20 liters of fish sauce every 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, a lidded earthenware jar..., when choosing shrimp to make shrimp paste, you must choose large shrimp, pink or red in color, do not buy green shrimp because it has less powder. After cleaning, put the shrimp and crushed roasted salt in a bowl, stir well, then put it 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 the glutinous rice bran. Then in the 5th and 6th weeks, add the 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 the 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 has a good harvest, the shrimp are big and delicious, so the quality of the shrimp paste produced 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 ordering in large quantities. However, to ensure 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 and added with sugar, MSG, pepper, and chili to make it "go well" 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