The poem: “When I go, I miss my homeland/ Miss the morning glory soup, miss the eggplant with soy sauce” has been known by many people and passed down through the generations for hundreds of years. However, few people know that the eggplant with soy sauce mentioned in this poem is a famous specialty fruit of a region of Hanoi.
Returning to Vietnam from Canada this time, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy, from Bac Giang, asked an acquaintance to find and buy eggplant with soy sauce, but for more than a month she has not been able to buy it.
Eggplants with soy sauce cost up to 50 thousand VND/fruit. This fruit is sought after by many people because eating it brings back old memories (Photo: Eggplant with soy sauce).
Ms. Thuy said that after more than 10 years of living abroad, 2 years ago, a friend brought her a jar of 3 eggplants with soy sauce as a gift. After tasting it, she felt the familiar flavor of the fruit that she had not eaten for decades. So, this time when she returned home, she wanted to buy eggplants with soy sauce as a gift.
“The new eggplant in my mouth had the salty taste of salt, the fragrant taste of soy sauce, the crunchy taste of eggplant but the sweet aftertaste. I ate the eggplant and my eyes were teary because I missed home so much, I missed the meals with only water spinach soup and a bowl of eggplant salted for a long time to get through the meal, the whole family gathered around talking and laughing loudly in the house,” Ms. Thuy recalled.
Eggplants soaked in soy sauce for over 6 months will be sold for 50,000 VND each. (Photo: Eggplant soaked in soy sauce).
According to Ms. Thuy, her hometown used to make pickled eggplants, making them in one season to eat all year round, but they only had eggplants and salt, not made with soy sauce like the eggplants she was given, so they were not as delicious. However, the salty taste of the eggplants pressed for a long time became a dish more delicious than the delicacies of the people living far away from home.
“I have to eat sparingly because I’m afraid I’ll run out. Every meal, I take out an eggplant and slice it thinly, add a little sugar, a few crushed garlic cloves, squeeze in half a lemon, and stir well to reduce the saltiness. I can eat one eggplant for half a month,” said Ms. Thuy.
Eggplants are selected that are not too old, the stems are removed, they are washed, and salted for about 20 days before being soaked in soy sauce. (Photo: Eggplant in soy sauce).
Eggplant dish seems to only exist in folk songs or poems, however, this is a famous specialty of the Doai region, Hoa Thon village, Tam Hiep commune (Phuc Tho, Hanoi), in recent years many people have known about this fruit, looking to buy it to eat or give as a gift.
More specifically, a pickled eggplant in Hoa Thon costs up to 50 thousand VND, 10 times more expensive than a normal unprocessed eggplant.
Considered the youngest person in Hoa Thon to make eggplant with soy sauce, Mr. Do Van Truong (born in 1982) said that the whole village only has about 20 people who know how to make this dish, and his family has been making eggplant with soy sauce for sale for decades.
After the eggplants are salted, they will be squeezed to remove the water and then soaked in soy sauce. (Photo: Eggplants in soy sauce).
To get the best eggplants, choose white eggplants grown on the alluvial plains on the other side of the river, weighing 0.3-0.6 kg/fruit, not too young or too old. Eggplants are harvested on sunny days to ensure crispness, washed, cut off the stem and marinated with salt for 20 days.
“After the eggplants are pickled, they will be squeezed out of all their water and put into a jar of soy sauce for 6 months or more before being sold. The best eggplants that have been pickled in soy sauce for 1 to 2 years and have a beautiful yellow color are the best,” said Mr. Truong.
Every year, Mr. Truong's family produces about 1 ton of eggplant but still cannot sell enough. (Photo: Eggplant with soy sauce).
Salted eggplant sauce must also be made carefully and meticulously. The ingredients to make the sauce include sticky rice, soybeans, corn, and coarse salt. Good sauce must be fermented in earthenware jars, with enough sunlight, enough wind, and the right technique to avoid fermentation or scum, and to give it a characteristic aroma.
Mr. Truong said, according to the elders, in the past, eggplant with soy sauce was used as a gift for kings and only famous rich people in the village could make it. After hundreds of years, the increasing number of delicious and strange foods has caused the eggplant with soy sauce to be at risk of being lost, with only a few people in the village knowing how to make it.
Eggplants with soy sauce are most popular around Tet due to the high demand for gifts. (Photo: Eggplants with soy sauce).
So, Mr. Truong learned from the elders how to make eggplants with soy sauce, becoming the youngest person in the village who knows how to make eggplants, although he is 42 years old this year. Eggplants with soy sauce have suddenly become more popular in recent years. Every time Tet approaches, hundreds of people come to Hoa Thon to buy this specialty fruit to give as gifts everywhere, even abroad.
Source: https://danviet.vn/bat-ngo-mot-loai-qua-que-mua-re-nhu-cho-thanh-dac-san-gia-50-nghin-dong-qua-phai-an-de-vi-so-het-20240828071258532.htm
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