Nghe An's specialty of one-sun-dried squid "attracts" customers

To process dried squid, after washing and draining, Mr. Nguyen Van Phuong in Son Hai commune (Quynh Luu) dries the squid on a net; if the weather is sunny and dry, he only needs to dry it for one session and then freeze it. Photo: Viet Hung

Working in the seafood industry at sea, every time he catches fresh squid, Mr. Nguyen Van Phuong in Son Hai commune stores it on the boat to bring home to process into one-sun dried squid. After about 7-10 days of fishing at sea, many trays of fresh squid have been collected and transported to shore to prepare for the process of making one-sun dried squid.

Mr. Phuong shared that the boat he is operating is jointly funded with his brothers in Quynh Long commune. Whenever the boat catches a lot of squid, he chooses the big ones to bring home to process into dried squid; the small ones will be transported back to sell to traders. During this time, squid is difficult to catch, so he has to buy more from other boats to process further.

Sun-dried squid must be fresh, big and long, and especially tube squid. Photo: Viet Hung

"Sun-dried squid is a specialty that is very popular with customers, so my family always processes 100-200 kg of sun-dried squid per day to serve people," said Mr. Phuong.

To process dried squid, fishermen must choose fresh and delicious squid, the bigger the squid, the more valuable the quality of the squid. First, the squid is split, washed, then drained. The next step is to dry the squid in two ways: dry in the sun or dry in charcoal. Depending on the temperature, when the squid meets the requirements, people will collect, package and freeze.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Dao, owner of a one-sun-dried squid processing facility in Quynh Nghia commune, said that during the tourist season, tourists come to swim in the sea, enjoy specialties and they often stop by the facility to buy one-sun-dried squid as gifts. From now until the opening day of Quynh beach tourism is about a week away, so her family is buying fresh squid to process one-sun-dried squid to serve tourists. On average, her facility processes about 200 kg of squid per day.

Before drying, the dried squid is washed and drained. Photo: Viet Hung

"To meet the requirements, the processed squid will be dried in the sun for about a day. If dried for a long time, the squid will gradually dry out and lose its sweetness, and will not be chewy and delicious. In cool weather, people have to dry it with charcoal, usually taking about a day to meet the requirements," said Ms. Dao.

According to processing facilities, due to the elaborate processing, the value is relatively high; on average, 1kg of dried squid costs 500,000 VND, 2-3 times higher than fresh squid. In particular, dried squid, thanks to the elaborate processing and freezing, has a very long shelf life.

Due to elaborate processing, dried squid is currently priced at 500,000 VND/kg, 2-3 times higher than fresh squid. Photo: Viet Hung

Quynh Luu is a district with a large number of boats, with nearly 1,300; each year, the output is more than 4,000 tons of squid, of which nearly 1,000 tons are processed by fishermen into one-sun-dried squid. Currently, one-sun-dried squid specialties often appear on wedding trays and in parties. In addition, this product is also transported by people to consume everywhere, even exported to Laos and Korea.

Dried squid with tamarind sauce. Photo courtesy

Sun-dried squid can be processed into many delicious and attractive dishes such as grilled squid, steamed squid with onion and ginger; squid fried with fish sauce, deep-fried, crispy fried or stir-fried sun-dried squid, tamarind sauce...