The three-striped crab lives in burrows under the roots of mangrove trees in the forest or along the riverbank. The name “three-striped crab” originated in the old days when people had the habit of naming according to their physical characteristics, so this small crab with three stripes on its body was named “three-striped crab”.
October is the season of three-sided crab. Only on rainy days will the crab meat be firm and sweet. At this time, three-sided crabs swarm the tree roots in the mangrove forest.
Poor family food becomes specialty
Ms. Pham Thi Duoc (79 years old, residing in Dai Hoa Loc commune, Binh Dai district, Ben Tre ) has more than 40 years of experience in the crab salting profession. She was once famous throughout Binh Dai district for her delicious crab salting skills, selling hundreds of kilograms of fish sauce every day.
Mrs. Duoc said that in the late 70s of the last century, her family made salt. After drying the salt in the afternoons, she took the opportunity to catch three-striped crabs around the fields to make fish sauce for her family to eat. Many neighbors knew that she made three-striped crab sauce so they came to ask for it, then praised it as delicious, and advised her to make more to sell.
At first, Mrs. Duoc made both salt and fish sauce. But as more and more people bought fish sauce, the time to prepare the fish sauce was almost gone, so she switched to making fish sauce.
“In the 1990s and 2000s, there were many days when we sold up to 700 kg of fish sauce, all of which were ordered in advance by wholesale customers. Back then, the house was filled with earthenware jars and urns for fermenting fish sauce, and the whole family could not keep up with the whole day of selecting and processing the crabs,” Ms. Duoc shared.
Ms. Duoc said that now there are only 5-7 crab catchers in the area, each catching about 5 kg a day. With limited raw materials, Ms. Duoc can only make about 20 kg of fish sauce a day.
Sharing the secret to making delicious crab sauce, Ms. Duoc said: "I know how to do this job myself and didn't learn from anyone. The ingredients are only crab and salt, but the way to choose the ingredients and the ratio, the way to salt each person is different, so the sauce is also different."
Famous specialties of the West
Mr. Nguyen Hoi - a specialty business in Can Tho said: Ba Khia fish sauce is a dish with simple, readily available ingredients such as sea salt and Ba Khia, but it has become an unforgettable flavor for many people. In particular, Ba Khia fish sauce is recognized by people in the West as the most "rice-consuming" dish.
"Mam ba cua is a dish that evokes old memories for the elderly, while young people eat it as an experience. Nowadays, not many people buy mam ba cua, and they only buy small quantities. On the contrary, many customers from far away areas order it as a specialty gift." - Mr. Hoi shared.
According to Mr. Hoi, the current market price of three-striped crab fish sauce is about 120,000 VND/kg. The three-striped crab fish sauce mixed with pineapple, star fruit, mango, etc. to make a dish on a plate will cost a little more, depending on the seller.
According to Mr. Hoi's experience in choosing products, when buying three-sided crabs, you should not buy big ones but choose small ones with lots of roe because this type has firm meat. If you find crabs holding eggs, the flavor will be more attractive.
The three-striped crab fish sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for later use. The three-striped crab dish mixed with garlic, chili, sour lemon, and MSG creates a unique flavor that is hard to match. It is even more delicious when eaten with cold rice and riverbank-picked crab meat.
Source: https://kinhtedothi.vn/dam-da-vi-mam-ba-khia-dac-san-tru-danh-mien-tay.html
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