Visit the 5-star OCOP fish sauce factory in Thanh Hoa

Tourists visit the production process of traditional fish sauce at Le Gia Food and Trading Service Company Limited. Photo: Binh Nguyen

In particular, Le Gia Food and Service Trading Company Limited has contributed to building the traditional fish sauce brand of Khuc Phu village, as one of the first entities in Thanh Hoa province to have products certified with 5-star OCOP (One Commune One Product) national level. This is also a tourist attraction that attracts many visitors to experience, enjoy and shop for traditional Thanh specialties.

Making 5-star OCOP for craft village products

The traditional fish sauce making village of Khuc Phu is associated with Hai Tien beach, located in the North of Thanh Hoa province. With a length of 12km, this is the coastal area with the longest coastline in Northern Vietnam. In recent times, large real estate and tourism corporations in Vietnam have been investing in this coastal area.

This pristine sea area not only becomes an attractive destination for tourists but also has an abundant source of seafood, especially fish used as raw materials for fish sauce production such as anchovies, mackerel, herring, etc.

According to Mr. Le Sy Tam, Vice Chairman of the Thanh Hoa Province Tour Guide Club, to make delicious, high-quality traditional fish sauce, the freshest fish must be used. The salt used to marinate the fish is clean, dry, and stored for a period of time in a dry place to remove the astringent taste. The fish sauce of the craft village is made entirely by hand.

The maker must ferment the fish sauce for a long time, depending on the type of fish used, the fermenting time will be different, but at least 12 months or more for the fish to decompose naturally. The maker must be careful and meticulous in every stage of production from drying, stirring, filtering the fish sauce... The quality fish sauce must be clear with a cockroach brown color, and have a characteristic, rich aroma.

Tourists enjoy fish sauce, a national 5-star OCOP product at Le Gia Food and Trade Service Company Limited.

Le Gia Food and Trading Service Company Limited was established in 2015, with the desire to preserve the traditional values of the 200-year-old craft village of Khuc Phu. Le Gia fish sauce products are made entirely from fresh anchovies and coarse salt, fermented in wooden barrels for 24 months using the traditional pressing method, without adding additives or preservatives.

With a strict quality control process, the products not only meet Vietnamese standards, but also meet the standards of many markets around the world with many prestigious certifications such as: FDA, HACCP, ISO 22000, GACC, high-quality Vietnamese goods, typical national rural industrial products... In particular, this enterprise has 2 products that have achieved 5-star OCOP at the national level: fish sauce and shrimp paste. The enterprise's products have export codes in markets such as: Europe, Korea, China, Taiwan (China), Japan...

Traditional fish sauce products of Le Gia Food and Trading Service Company Limited are available on e-commerce platforms. Product consumption on these modern sales channels is quite large.

Attractive tourist experience

With the goal of introducing and promoting good traditional cultural values to domestic and foreign tourists, Le Gia Food and Trade Service Company Limited has been recognized by Thanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee as a tourist destination for sightseeing, experiencing, enjoying and shopping for traditional fish sauce products.

Coming to Le Gia fish sauce factory, visitors are free of admission fees and still get to experience many interesting activities. Visitors are invited to enjoy rustic dishes such as sour star fruit, figs, rice paper, rice cake with shrimp paste and other traditional sauces. Although it is a fish sauce production area, the space here is quite cool and green, with many ideal check-in areas for visitors to capture beautiful and impressive photos. In particular, visitors can visit and learn about the traditional fish sauce making process with a unique, giant wooden fish sauce fermentation system. Here, visitors will visualize the "fish pickling" model in wooden barrels with a ratio of 3 fish, 1 salt. This is the process of naturally fermenting the mixture of fish and salt in wooden barrels.

Fishermen in Tien Hai sea area (Thanh Hoa province) carry shrimp, one of the raw materials to produce traditional fish sauce.

Learn more, visitors can collect many interesting stories surrounding the traditional fish sauce making profession. The “fish pickling” barrels are over 2.5m in diameter and height, made from Lagerstroemia or Boi Loi wood and reinforced with woven bamboo straps wrapped around them. At the joints of the wooden pieces joined together to form the barrels, cajuput bark is inserted and resin from the otter tree mixed with pearl shell powder and kerosene is used to caulk/rubberize. Under the layer of salt water that penetrates deep into each wood fiber, it creates a strong bond that can hold up to 15 tons of “pickling” fish and is durable for hundreds of years.

According to tour guide Nguyen Thi Thanh at the Le Gia fish sauce specialty area, after visiting and experiencing the fish sauce making area, hearing stories about culture and traditional occupations, visitors are more interested in choosing to buy specialties as gifts. The products here are quite diverse and rich such as: shrimp paste, shrimp paste, fermented fish sauce, fish sauce, dried shrimp paste, squid sausage, sea fish, dried clams, etc. These specialties are invested in by businesses, carefully packaged in the form of beautiful gift boxes suitable for gifts.

Mr. Le Sy Tam added: Visitors to Tien Hai beach or many other locations in Thanh Hoa province always want to buy Thanh Hoa specialties to enjoy and give as gifts. Among them, Le Gia fish sauce, a specialty with a national 5-star OCOP certification, is popular with many people. Tourists also enjoy coming here to visit, experience, and enjoy traditional fish sauce to better understand the unique flavor of Thanh Hoa beach - a place that preserves the quintessence of heaven and earth as well as the dedication of the people here.

Binh Nguyen

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/dong-nai-cuoi-tuan/202508/tham-nha-may-san-xuat-nuoc-mam-ocop-5-sao-xu-thanh-c1911c3/