Dien Chau Seafood Cooperative: Affirming the brand of clean fish sauce 'Country Heart'

(Baonghean) - Dien Chau Seafood Processing Cooperative was established by families who have been involved in the traditional fish sauce production profession for generations, with the desire to bring consumers the cleanest, best quality fish sauce products, ensuring food hygiene and safety.

Fish sauce of Dien Chau Seafood Cooperative is processed according to traditional methods.

For a long time, the fish sauce production of the people of Dien Bich coastal area (Dien Chau) has been produced by the traditional method of fermentation, pressing, without using preservatives. After 1 year of fermentation, stirring regularly will produce a product of golden brown fish sauce, rich flavor, famous for its delicious aroma. This is the method that has been preserved and passed down by the people for many generations.

The fish sauce product has a golden brown color and rich flavor.

With the desire to bring clean fish sauce products to consumers, Mr. Dang Trung Kien - a native of Dien Bich (Dien Chau) was very concerned. And he decided to establish Dien Chau Seafood Processing Cooperative - a gathering place of 16 households specializing in producing fish sauce using traditional methods. The criteria of the Cooperative is to specialize in producing clean fish sauce, ensuring food hygiene and safety. Therefore, all 16 households when joining the Cooperative must sign a commitment to ensure food hygiene and safety, and have the quality and fish sauce processing process inspected by relevant departments and branches before joining the Cooperative.

Mr. Dang Trung Kien - founder of Dien Chau Seafood Cooperative with the desire to build a clean fish sauce brand of Dien Bich craft village people to the market in and outside the province.

Mr. Nguyen Nhu Thanh (born in 1968), a veteran in the fish sauce industry in Hai Dong hamlet (Dien Bich) and also a member of the Dien Chau Seafood Processing Cooperative, said: From ancient times until now, Dien Bich people have mainly lived on two main occupations: fishing and salt making, so the fish sauce industry has developed because of that. Dien Bich was recognized as a craft village in 2005. The people here are very conscious of keeping the fire burning for the profession.

From those who have experience in making fish sauce in a famous hereditary way such as Thanh Mai... to those who are new to the profession, all are loyal to the traditional way of making fish sauce. To produce delicious fish sauce, the stage of choosing fish is very important. The fish used to make fish sauce that are favored by Dien Bich people are mainly anchovies, black anchovies, salmon, garfish, anchovies, herring...

Mr. Nguyen Nhu Thanh - member of Dien Chau Seafood Processing Cooperative - has many years of experience in processing traditional fish sauce of Dien Bich fish sauce village.

To have a delicious fish sauce product with a unique flavor, the selection of raw materials is very important. During the main fishing season, the fattest and best quality anchovies are brought back by fishermen who catch fish far from shore, sorted and selected for pickling. The salt used to make fish sauce must be produced for 3 months or more (according to experience, the longer the salt is left, the better, because by then the acrid water in the salt has been drained, making the fish tastier).

Then mix fish - salt in a ratio of 1/5 (1 salt, 5 fish) stir well and put into the fish sauce (in the past, people often made it with wood, now it has been changed to cement and tiled). Then sprinkle a thin layer of salt on top, press down with rocks and cover the tank. In the first month, stir it every day. After that, stir it once a week to make the water clear. Absolutely avoid rainwater from flowing in, otherwise the fish sauce will have a smell and lose its taste. The soaking and fermentation time lasts about 1 year.

During the incubation period, the first water flows out, called fish sauce essence. In addition to fish sauce essence, there are also fish sauce grade 1, grade 2, grade 3..., fish carcasses for livestock. Good fish sauce essence must have 30 degrees of protein or more, straw yellow color, delicious flavor. According to Mr. Thanh, making fish sauce is very hard work, but thanks to the job, he has successfully raised his children. He and his wife decided to stay faithful to the traditional fish sauce making profession of their hometown, both to keep the fire burning for the craft village and to develop the family economy.

Clean fish sauce product "Tam Que" of Dien Chau seafood processing cooperative.

Mr. Dang Trung Kien - Head of Dien Chau Seafood Processing Cooperative said: To evaluate the quality of pure fish sauce is the protein content - the protein creates the delicious taste behind the salty taste of salt. Good fish sauce must first have a salty taste, then must feel the sweetness on the tip of the tongue and accompanied by a characteristic strong aroma, the fish sauce products of Dien Chau Seafood Cooperative members have met those standards.

Currently, the cooperative's products have two types: special and premium. Both types of fish sauce have been certified by the Center for Testing Drugs, Cosmetics, and Food of Thua Thien Hue Province to be preservative-free and have their own distinctive flavors. In particular, the cooperative's products have been branded "Tam Que" so that people can easily distinguish them from other fish sauce products.

"Tam Que" clean fish sauce with the motto "real product, real value".

To develop the cooperative with the aim of bringing consumers clean, quality fish sauce products, in addition to selling to the market, the cooperative is aiming to bring products to supermarkets in and outside the province.

Thanh Thuy - Duc Anh