Having been in the profession all their lives , having rich experience and holding the formula and secret to making delicious , premium quality fish sauce , they are the quintessence of the traditional fish sauce making village of Long Thuy ( An Phu commune , Tuy Hoa city ) .
However, in recent years, competition from fish sauce and industrial fish sauce has put traditional fish sauce at risk of being overshadowed, and many people cannot survive in the profession.
Painful with the profession left by his father
Long Thuy sea area is endowed by nature not only with beautiful scenery but also with abundant shrimp and fish, especially anchovies and mackerel with a characteristic sweet and fatty taste. This is the source of raw materials to create traditional fish sauce.
The traditional fish sauce making profession was formed relatively early in the Long Thuy fishing village and has a fairly complete production process. Although the exact time of its birth or the founder of this fish sauce craft village is not known, according to the elders, by the end of the 19th century, fish sauce in Long Thuy was famous for its quality and quantity.
Long Thuy fish sauce still retains its sweet taste, special aroma and characteristic cockroach color thanks to folk experience as well as the traditional fish sauce making technique of the craft village.
Following Long Thuy Village Chief Nguyen Minh Han, we went to the house of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Huong, one of the veteran fish sauce makers in this coastal village.
In a space filled with the aroma of traditional fish sauce, we listened to Mrs. Huong enthusiastically tell many interesting stories about the making of pure fish sauce that she was taught and accumulated over nearly a lifetime.
Mrs. Huong can't remember exactly when her family started this traditional profession, but for her and her husband, it has been nearly half a century.
Mrs. Huong shared: “I love making fish sauce. Every year when the sea is bountiful and there is a good fish season, my family is very happy because there is a lot of fresh and delicious fish to make fish sauce.”
According to this 66-year-old woman with nearly 50 years of experience in the profession, to have delicious fish sauce, in addition to each person's own secret, the fish ingredient is very important. It must be fish from the sea to give the fish sauce its characteristic, fragrant smell.
“Before 1981, my family both fished and made fish sauce on a small scale, just enough to retail within the neighborhood and neighboring villages. Since 2010, my family has stopped fishing, transferred the boat to someone else to focus on the job, creating the Hong Gia Phuc fish sauce brand.
The more industrial fish sauce "encroaches", the more determined we are to preserve the traditional profession. My family is always struggling to create better quality products and find more customers. Long Thuy fish sauce is the quintessence left by our ancestors, we must definitely preserve it for future generations and forever", Ms. Huong confided.
In the past, each year, Mrs. Huong's family provided consumers with about 5,000-6,000 liters of fish sauce with many different types. Because she worked with all her heart and worked hard to find a market, Hong Gia Phuc fish sauce was produced and consumed as much as it was sold.
“My family's biggest goal is to work with the locality to develop traditional craft villages associated with developing experiential tourism ,” said Ms. Huong.
Not only Mrs. Huong's family, Mrs. Le Thi Kim Ngan's family has also been involved in this traditional profession for generations with the Ngan My A fish sauce brand. Thanks to the prestigious brand, the product meets the 3-star OCOP standard, so the consumption is quite good. On average, each year, Ngan My A fish sauce facility produces and brings to the market 100,000 liters of fish sauce.
Ms. Ngan shared: “The core condition for good fish sauce is the input material, which means the fish must be fresh and newly caught. This is something that Long Thuy fishermen can completely meet. After processing and salting the fish according to traditional recipes, the next steps must also be strictly followed.
Just one mistake will ruin the whole batch. Only by following the traditional process and secret will we be able to produce a fish sauce that is thick, shimmering, has a characteristic aroma, and is not fishy. When tasted, the richness will be on the tip of the tongue. The secret and process to making delicious fish sauce, the people of Long Thuy fishing village always keep and strictly follow.
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| Mrs. Huong's family invested in a fish sauce filter. Photo: PHAM THUY |
Join hands to build the brand
Working for a construction company with a salary of tens of millions of dong, Mr. Vo Nhat Linh, Mrs. Huong's son, decided to take over the family's fish sauce production facility, continuing to maintain it with his parents so as not to lose the profession left by his ancestors. And the more he sticks with the profession, the more passionate Mr. Linh becomes and the more "addicted" he becomes to the familiar taste of fish sauce.
For a while, many people tended to use industrial fish sauce and dipping sauce because of its convenience and variety. To attract consumers to use traditional fish sauce, Mr. Linh always wondered and realized that, if he wanted people to trust traditional fish sauce products, in addition to quality, an extremely important factor was ensuring health. Therefore, in addition to keeping the traditional secret recipe, he researched and adjusted some steps and stages to improve quality.
In particular, he invested in a filtration system to remove unnecessary impurities. With tireless efforts, by 2023, his family's Hong Gia Phuc fish sauce product was granted a 3-star OCOP certificate by Tuy Hoa City People's Committee.
Mr. Truong Cong Hoan, who is also involved in the fish sauce making profession in Long Thuy fishing village, confided: “Maintaining the traditional fish sauce making profession of our ancestors is also my family’s wish. Thanks to this fish sauce making profession, my wife and I were able to raise three children to go to university.
The move towards modernity, bringing the Long Thuy fish sauce brand further and increasing the income for fish sauce makers has further motivated me to preserve the traditional profession. Examples like Ms. Huong’s family, Ms. Ngan’s family… have helped me nurture my dream and believe that the dream will come true.”
According to those in the profession, Long Thuy fish sauce has always been processed by hand. With the pressing method, people add salt once at the beginning at a ratio of 3 fish to 1 salt. The pressing is done with a grill, a bar and pressed down with heavy stones so that the fish is always submerged in the brine. When the fish sauce is almost cooked, the fish sauce is pulled out and stirred (the fish sauce is circulated) until the fish sauce is evenly cooked.
To aim for sustainable and long-term development, in recent years, Long Thuy craft village people have actively invested in technology, promoted the application of science and technology in production, improved product quality and efficiency of production activities to meet the needs of consumers in the market.
“Previously, fish sauce production went through many stages, using manual and small-scale methods. Currently, with the increasing demand of consumers and science, Ms. Huong, Ms. Ngan’s family and many households have boldly invested in technology, expanded factories, purchased machinery and equipment, and actively applied science and technology in each stage of production and product packaging: Labeling machines, date inkjet printers, filling and bottling lines, filtration systems; changing the design of labels and packaging models...”, said Long Thuy Village Chief Nguyen Minh Han.
Long Thuy fish sauce craft village has just been granted a certificate of recognition by the Provincial People's Committee and enjoys policies to support the development of rural industries and craft villages according to current regulations. Among them, there are great contributions from the families of Ms. Huong and Ms. Ngan...
Vice Chairman of An Phu Commune People's Committee Nguyen Kim Hoan |
PHAM THUY
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