Hung Xuan peanut oil

(Baonghean.vn) -After a long time, the traditional peanut oil pressing profession in Hung Xuan commune (Hung Nguyen) has faded away due to the cheaper price of industrial vegetable oil and its eye-catching designs... But now, with the trend of consumers choosing refined peanut oil, ensuring quality and good for health, this craft village that has existed for more than half a century has "rekindled" again.

Traditional manual peanut oil pressing in Hung Xuan commune (Hung Nguyen).

According to some elders in the commune, the peanut oil pressing profession in hamlet 10, Hung Xuan commune appeared in the locality around 1945, passed down by Mr. Tran Ngu in hamlet 9 (who used to be a worker at Vinh Oil Factory during the French colonial period). By the 1980s, Hung Xuan peanut oil was present throughout the district and neighboring districts, Vinh City and even some communes in Ha Tinh. However, when industrial vegetable oil appeared with a price only half as cheap, the systematic business system caused peanut oil production to stagnate, from more than 80% of households in the hamlet doing the profession to only a dozen households sticking to the profession, mainly serving people in the surrounding area and neighboring communes. For about 7 years now, although the price of peanut oil is more than double the price of branded industrial vegetable oils on the market, it is still chosen by many housewives because peanut oil has guaranteed quality and is good for health, making workers love their traditional profession more, and they are more responsible in preserving and improving product quality...

When we visited, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Doan, head of Hamlet 10 - one of the large-scale households in the commune, was purchasing more than 2 tons of peanuts to reserve for pressing. According to Mr. Nguyen Quoc Doan: "Its price is not cheap because it is pressed from pure peanuts, without any adulteration. My family alone imports 2-3 tons of peanuts every 15 days. We have to hire 3 workers to clean the peanuts, remove rotten and sprouted tubers before storing them in the warehouse. This rustic product, imbued with the countryside, is delicious, has no preservatives, and does not change color or settle for a whole year, so it is loved by many customers. Thanks to the reputable product, it has brought in a good profit for the family, after deducting expenses, the net profit is about 10 million VND/month/2 workers."

Next to it is Mr. Pham Van Sinh's household. This is one of the households with a long tradition of working in the village. More than 25 years of working in the profession has given him a spacious house with full living facilities. From a hand-rotating thread press, in 2013, he boldly invested in buying 2 hydraulic presses using rotating motors to press oil. Mr. Sinh's production facility is considered the best in the village today. "Before there were no machines, the peeled peanuts had to be put in a mortar and pounded by hand, then gradually used a thick eye to get the powder and put it in a pot to cook over a steady heat for about 40 minutes, stirring at least 2 times when the peanut residue was wet, it was cooked. Then, they were wrapped into small cakes and put in a cage, using a lever to hang a heavy stone to press down to let the oil flow out, it took 3 hours to get 1 liter of oil. Now we do the job by following the same steps but it is "very healthy", all the stages from peeling the peanuts to the final stage of producing the finished oil are done by machines.

The final step is to put the cakes into a rotating threaded press and the oil is pressed out from there. It takes just over an hour to complete a batch that produces 10 liters of pure peanut oil. According to experience, peanuts grown on loamy soil often produce more oil than those grown on sandy soil. And to make the peanut oil odorless when cooked, let the oil heat up before adding food to cook..." - Mr. Sinh shared.

Every year, by mid-June (when the spring peanut harvest is finished), the villagers are busy with the oil pressing season. The main season in the village is from 6 to 8 DL, many households cannot keep up with the work because the product is consumed strongly, many customers inside and outside the district come to order as gifts to bring far away. According to the calculations of the households, each pot of 22 kg of peanuts will produce 10 liters of pure oil; currently, type I oil (used for grinding peanuts for export) costs 80,000 VND/liter, type II oil (peeled and milled horizontally) costs from 50,000 to 60,000 VND/liter; on average, a household sells 20 to 30 liters of oil/day, earning about 8 to 10 million VND/month. In addition, households also accept outsourcing pressing, each pot costs 50,000 to 55,000 VND.

If people who go to press oil do not need to use dry peanuts, they will buy them back at 10,000 VND/kg to serve livestock farming... To produce peanut oil products that meet consumer demand, the households working here are aware that quality must be put first, food hygiene and safety is an important step. Therefore, many families have renovated the production site to meet the criteria: airy, no pollution, convenient for production and also easy to clean machines, presses, pots... More than half a century has passed, the profession has had its ups and downs, but it has contributed significantly to improving the lives of the people here. It is known that since 2008, the commune has restored, improved tools, shortened pressing time and increased oil recovery efficiency, striving to be recognized by the province as a craft village.

Commenting on the development of the craft village, Mr. Nguyen Van Phan - Chairman of the People's Committee of Hung Xuan commune said: Currently, the whole commune has 45 households participating in the craft, of which 25 households are professional and produce year-round; mainly concentrated in hamlet 10 (35 households), the rest are scattered in hamlets 8 and 9. Raw materials for the craft village are purchased in communes along the Lam river with large areas of fertile land and alluvial land such as Hung Xa commune, Hung Long (Hung Nguyen), Nam Cuong commune (Nam Dan)...

Each year, the craft village produces about 50,000 liters. In 2013, the production value from the craft reached over 4 billion VND; the average income of workers in the craft reached over 20 million VND/person/year. Especially, in the current market mechanism, when many food, food, vegetables, fruits, essential consumer goods use preservatives or chemicals that are harmful to consumers' health, clean products such as traditional peanut oil are being sought after by many customers. Currently, the district has only recognized the village as a craft village. In the coming time, the direction will be to strive to be recognized by the Provincial People's Committee and granted a certificate of craft village title, and to register a collective trademark for peanut oil products. Thus, the brand of Nam Xuan peanut oil will have a certain position in the market inside and outside the province.

Ngoc Anh