Thanh Hoa sour sausage specialty "sold out" during Tet

When mentioning Thanh Hoa, people and tourists from near and far cannot help but remember the specialty dish of Nem Chua, a famous culinary dish of Thanh Hoa that anyone who has ever set foot in Thanh Hoa wants to enjoy. Thanh Hoa people, no matter where they go, want to have Nem Chua on their Tet tray to remember their hometown.

Thanh Hoa sour sausage production process at Vi Thanh sausage facility

Nem chua, famous specialty of Thanh land

Therefore, during holidays, especially when the Lunar New Year is approaching, the demand for nem chua increases, 3-5 times higher than usual. To meet market demand, nem chua production facilities have increased production, capacity and staff. In fact, many facilities have employees working from early morning until late at night.

According to records in Thanh Hoa, there are currently thousands of establishments producing fermented pork rolls, fermented pork rolls and grilled pork rolls of all kinds, mainly concentrated in Thanh Hoa City, Hoang Hoa, Quang Xuong, Tho Xuan, Nong Cong... Each year, these establishments produce millions of pork rolls to supply markets in and outside the province.

VIDEO: Đặc sản nem chua Thanh Hóa — Many establishments producing nem chua, a Thanh specialty, have had to stop placing orders because they cannot make enough for customers in the days leading up to the 2024 Lunar New Year. Photo: Tuan Minh

According to Mr. Nguyen Duc Tho, owner of the Vi Thanh spring roll facility (Thanh Hoa City), after the Kitchen God Festival, the facility had to stop taking orders to focus on serving customers who had placed orders before. "During the Tet holidays, our two facilities had about 30 employees working non-stop. Each day, the facility could produce 12,000 - 15,000 spring rolls of various types, but still not enough to serve customers in and outside the province. Many small orders, late orders, the facility had to refuse" - Mr. Tho informed.

According to Mr. Tho, the facility always puts quality and brand first, so the quality of the spring rolls is always taken care of so that the products reaching consumers are of the best quality. "We are currently producing 4 types of spring rolls including sour spring rolls, grilled spring rolls, and fried spring rolls, the prices remain the same as usual," Mr. Tho added.

Although this year, at this time, the price of nem chua has skyrocketed continuously, increasing by one and a half to double, the number of customers has not decreased. The reason given by the owners of production facilities or nem shops is the high consumption, in addition to the high price of raw materials and labor.

According to a survey, the price of spring rolls on the market ranges from 50,000 - 70,000 VND/10 pieces, however, in many establishments, the price of spring rolls has increased to 100,000 - 120,000 VND/10 pieces. Although the price has almost doubled compared to normal days, many reputable and branded establishments in Thanh Hoa still have no spring rolls to sell on the market.

The most important step in making nem chua is the preparation of the ingredients. The most important ingredient for making nem chua is lean pork. The meat is ground or pounded and the pork skin is boiled, scraped clean and thinly sliced into about 3 cm strips, rice bran or roasted corn bran is mixed with many other spices and then fermented.

Another equally important ingredient is fresh banana leaves. Banana leaves are torn into small pieces to fit each spring roll, then washed and dried. When the main ingredients for making spring rolls have been fermented, the spring roll wrapper begins the wrapping process, from the pre-made ingredients rolled into each roll, the wrapper adds a few slices of chili, garlic and a few leaves of Polyscias fruticosa to give the spring rolls a distinctive aroma.

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