Fish sauce specialty in Song Ngoc parish

(Baonghean.vn) - With the advantage of seafood exploitation, people of Song Ngoc parish, Quynh Ngoc commune, Quynh Luu district have promoted the traditional fish sauce making profession left by their ancestors.

As a family with a fairly developed fish sauce making business in Hamlet 12 (Song Ngoc Parish), these days Ms. Nguyen Thi Hien is actively producing fish sauce for market consumption. Continuing the fish sauce making business left by her ancestors, Ms. Hien's family has started to build and invest capital to develop the business.

With the spacious land, her family invested in over 300 barrels to produce fish sauce, each barrel salted about 160 - 200 kg of fresh fish. After more than 1 year using traditional production methods, each barrel produced 70 - 80 liters of delicious fish sauce.

Fish sauce production by Mrs. Nguyen Thi Loan's family in Quynh Ngoc commune. Photo: Viet Hung

“To make delicious fish sauce, the most important thing is to choose two types of fish: fresh anchovies and spotted fish. My family usually buys fish from April to June, because at this time the fish are big and fat, so the fish sauce will be of good quality and delicious. Second, you have to mix fish, salt, sesame... in the right proportions; then the fish sauce will have a golden color, a fragrant smell, and retain its flavor for a long time,” said Ms. Hien.

Thanks to the application of the family secret, the fish sauce at Ms. Hien's family is known by customers in many places; on average, 30 - 40 liters of fish sauce are consumed each day, and there are days when customers order up to 80 - 100 liters. From the fish sauce making business, Ms. Hien earns a profit of 150 - 200 million VND/year; creating jobs for 3 workers with a salary of 5 million VND/month/person.

Fish is salted in barrels for more than a year to make fish sauce. Photo: Viet Hung.

Not only Ms. Hien's family, many households making fish sauce in Song Ngoc parish are currently actively participating in the traditional fish sauce production season.

Ms. Loan - a fish sauce producer said that people make fish sauce in two ways. The first way is after all the fresh anchovies or spotted fish are mixed with salt, sesame, chili... put in a sealed container, salted for more than 1 year to produce fish sauce; the second way is to salt the fish by using a grill or rocks to press down on the fish to make it tender quickly.

“Both of the above methods of salting fish produce delicious fish sauce, however, the fish salted using a grill and stone will be more delicious and have a higher selling price,” Ms. Loan shared.

Fish sauce filtration process. Photo: Viet Hung

Currently, Song Ngoc fish sauce grade 1 costs 60,000 - 70,000 VND/liter; grade 2 costs 40,000 - 50,000 VND/liter; grade 3 costs 30,000 - 40,000 VND/liter. According to households in the profession, local fish sauce is now consumed nationwide; thanks to preserving the family secret, Song Ngoc fish sauce is competing with delicious fish sauces on the market.

Currently, grade 1 fish sauce costs 60-70 thousand VND/liter; grade 2 fish sauce costs 40-50 thousand VND/liter. Photo: Viet Hung

Taking advantage of the benefits from the sea, in recent years, people in Song Ngoc parish have preserved the traditional fish sauce making profession. This profession has helped many households become well-off with an income of 150-300 million VND/year such as the families of Bui Van Tien, Bui Ngoc Sy, Nguyen Xuan Than...

In the past 5 years, thanks to fish sauce processing, the lives of people in Song Ngoc parish have improved, the rate of well-off households accounts for more than 50% of the total number of households in hamlets 12 and 13; the rate of poor households decreased to 6% in 2017 (in 2010, the rate of poor households was over 30%).

In order for the fish sauce production profession in Song Ngoc to develop, Quynh Ngoc commune is reviewing and developing a plan to soon be recognized as a village with the Song Ngoc fish sauce profession.

Mr. Ho Ngoc Hoang - Vice Chairman of Quynh Ngoc Commune People's Committee said that promoting the traditional fish sauce making profession has created regular jobs for nearly 100 local workers. In order for fish sauce products to be known to more and more customers and at the same time enhance the brand, the locality is reviewing households doing the profession, mobilizing people to participate in classes and training in fish sauce processing. From there, there will soon be a roadmap to recognize villages with fish sauce making profession in Song Ngoc.

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