Ms. Pham Thi Thanh Phuong, in Tan Dien 2 quarter, An Hoi ward, successfully used local lemon ingredients to create a product with a unique flavor.
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| Ms. Pham Thi Thanh Phuong with startup products. |
Previously, Ms. Phuong had earned a living for many years by selling fruits, mainly lemons and kumquats. From trading in neighboring provinces, she gradually expanded the market to Ho Chi Minh City, Tay Ninh, the Central region... and to neighboring countries Laos and Cambodia. Every year, she buys about 200 tons of lemons from lemon growers in and outside the province.
In 2000, when selling lemons in some northern provinces, she saw people buying her lemons and salting them to export to the Chinese market. After that, some people from Ha Tinh and Ha Tay went to Ben Tre province (old) to directly buy lemons from her to salt and export to the Chinese market. Ms. Phuong recalled: “Seeing them salting lemons, I thought to myself, if others can do it, I must be able to do it!”
Thinking is doing, but success did not smile soon. The salted lemons had to be thrown away. Not giving up, Ms. Phuong continued to experiment with salted lemon products to sell to China.
In 2003, Ms. Phuong's first product was pickled lime and pickled kumquat, with ingredients including: chopped lime, kumquat, pickled apricot marinated in sugar and honey. The places where she sold fresh limes always included boxes of pickled lime and pickled kumquat for sale. In particular, beverage shops bought boxes of pickled kumquat and pickled lemon to mix into drinks and sell for a high profit. Just like that, these two beverage products became more and more known to many people.
Ms. Thanh Phuong said that the facility currently has 6 products for sale on the market, including: salted lemon, dried plum lemon, dried kumquat, licorice salted lemon, dried lemon jam, crispy dried kumquat jam of Hai Phuong and Ngoc Y brands. Each product she creates is unique. For example, people often use licorice to treat coughs and sore throats, she thought of extracting licorice as an ingredient along with distilled salted lemon to create Ngoc Y licorice salted lemon product... In the production of products, she always cares about food hygiene and safety through testing by relevant departments.
In 2014, Ngoc Y lime and tamarind reached the Top 100 famous brands and trademarks of the Mekong Delta. In 2015, it won the Golden Cup for clean and safe food for consumers' health. In 2019, Hai Phuong and Ngoc Y establishments were certified as Top 10 trusted brands and trademarks.
The program of surveying high-quality products and brands awarded the title of Golden Cup for high-quality products and brands and the right to use the trademark for Ngoc Y pickled lemon and pickled kumquat products. Ms. Pham Thi Thanh Phuong was awarded a certificate of merit by the Provincial Women's Union for her good achievements in 5 years of implementing the Project "Supporting women to start a business" in the period of 2017-2025.
| In September 2024, the product set "Hai Phuong Salted Lemon, Ngoc Y Licorice Salted Lemon" was recognized by the Department of Industry and Trade (under the Ministry of Industry and Trade ) as a typical rural industrial product in the Southern region. In June 2025, the 3 products "Hai Phuong Salted Lemon", "Ngoc Y Dried Apricot Lemon", "Ngoc Y Licorice Salted Lemon" of Ms. Pham Thi Thanh Phuong were recognized as 4-star OCOP products. |
Article and photos: TRAN QUOC
Source: https://baovinhlong.com.vn/kinh-te/202507/khoi-nghiep-thanh-cong-tu-trai-chanh-f6209b1/
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