The journey of bringing "pure gold" of sandworms into Van Don fish sauce

“Sardines are so delicious, why not put that sweetness into fish sauce?”, “How to eat well without being allergic to MSG?”, “There was a period when I ate and slept with fish sauce for 3 months”,… those concerns and constant determination were the motivation for Ms. Cao Hong Van, Director of Newstar LLC, Hong Ha ward, Ha Long city, Quang Ninh province to create Sandworm fish sauce - a spice that every household needs and has a truly unique flavor.

Pointing to the 316 stainless steel tanks stacked up and drying on the steps on the hillside, Ms. Cao Hong Van smiled brightly: "That's Van Don's sea worm fish sauce, fish sauce made from seafood as expensive as pure gold, it's delicious..." This golden brown fish sauce, without any flavorings but with a rich sweetness and a mild, creamy aroma when enjoyed, is the result of Ms. Van's passion and dedication to bringing healthy products from local ingredients to the community.

Sandworm is an important ingredient to create the unique flavor of the Vanbest fish sauce brand, but to blend this precious ingredient into traditional fish sauce with all its inherent quintessence, requires the female director to do a lot of research and follow a strict production process.

To bring delicious, nutritious bottles of sea worm fish sauce with the characteristics of the heritage land to users, requires a meticulous and elaborate production process. First, is the step of selecting and purchasing fresh fish and sea worms from the port; then mixing and washing with sea water and adding salt according to the ratio; next is the step of "pickling" the fish sauce into tank 316.

Sandworm is a typical seafood of Van Don, people call it precious ginseng, living along the coast in areas with rising sea levels and often reproducing in the summer. The nutritional value of sandworm is very high; sandworm meat has a natural sweet taste, so sandworm is considered "high-class MSG" used to prepare dishes on holidays or on important days of Quang Ninh people. In addition to cooking, sandworm is also a good spice for pho, creating a sweet and attractive pho flavor.

In 2021, Vanbest brand Van Don sea worm fish sauce product was recognized as a 4-star OCOP product of Quang Ninh province.

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“Normally, people salt fish in wooden barrels or earthenware jars, but I salt fish in 316 tanks, each tank can hold 5 tons of fish. Salting fish in tanks helps to absorb heat better, accelerates the fermentation process faster, helps the fish sauce to have a more beautiful color and does not have the strong smell of dead fish. Compared to the traditional salting method, the fermentation process is shortened by 1-2 months. Currently, Vanbest is the only unit that produces fish sauce using this technology because the process requires expertise and special secrets because the saltiness and acidity can easily destroy the tank,” the female director enthusiastically talked about the results after a long research journey.

While listening to Ms. Van's sharing, we instinctively tried to smell the decomposing fish carcass that is often found when approaching traditional fish sauce factories, but indeed, because the stainless steel tank was tightly sealed, the fish and sea worms were all fresh ingredients, so the fish sauce smell had no chance to escape.

The next step is to wait for the fermentation process. During this time, you need to pay attention to stirring the fermentation process to release toxic gases, help the salt penetrate deeply into the fish and speed up the decomposition process. Just like that, after about 9-10 months, you can produce a batch of fish sauce. After that, continue to grind the sea worms and soak them. After 3-4 months, the sea worms decompose to give off a sweet taste, then go through a rough filtration and fine filtration process to get the final product.

Vanbest Company's sea worm fish sauce is rated to have both a rich sweet taste and a mild, rich aroma, a golden brown color, and no flavor enhancers, industrial protein, or additives. Diners who enjoy pure Vanbest sea worm fish sauce with protein-rich and greasy foods will feel light and comfortable after eating.

In 2021, Vanbest brand of Van Don sea worm fish sauce was recognized as a 4-star OCOP product of Quang Ninh province. At the same time, the product also received noble awards such as Gold Medal for high-quality Vietnamese products, meeting standards; Super Cup for famous brands for the cause of protecting health and developing the community; Gold Cup for safe brands for community health.

Listening to Ms. Van passionately talk about the "high-class MSG" and the positive feedback from relatives, friends and consumers, no one would have thought that there was a time when her friends were "scared" of her because of the fish sauce smell all over her body, there was a time when she lost everything and had to start over...

At first, when she had no experience, Ms. Van put the sea worms directly into the fish sauce but it did not bring out the characteristic delicious flavor. She tried boiling it, but boiling traditional fish sauce would lose its delicious flavor and beneficial bacteria in the fish sauce. After that, she spent time learning from the experiences of professional fish sauce makers, trying many different ways but the aroma of the sea worms was still not much. Too discouraged, thinking that she would hardly succeed, she gave up the idea of ​​making sea worm fish sauce and put the jars of fish sauce deep in the kitchen cabinet.

However, after a period of oblivion, one day when cleaning the house and seeing a jar of fish sauce in the kitchen cupboard, she opened it and saw that the sea worms had decomposed, creating layers of slime in the fish sauce. She tasted it and smiled involuntarily after discovering that the aroma of the sea worms had permeated the fish sauce. Ms. Van immediately regained her excitement and determination to research.

The fish sauce was already fragrant, but the sandworm residue in the fish sauce made it taste bad. She continued to try to filter the sandworm residue with a cloth, but the fish sauce was still not clear. She asked for advice from those in the profession, and was shown some ways to filter the fish sauce to ensure clarity.

Admitting to being a meticulous person, Ms. Van was determined to achieve a perfect product. After learning how to make fish sauce clearer and more beautiful in color, another problem arose: why the fish sauce only smelled fragrant but not sweet, why they made it delicious but she tried and still couldn't. She traveled everywhere from the north to the south, to traditional fish sauce production facilities and the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City to learn about food chemistry and techniques to prevent risks in food production, in order to come up with her own recipe for making fish sauce made from sea worms.

How to eat well without being allergic to MSG? .... The sea worms are delicious and the broth is sweet, while traditional fish sauce is quite salty and bitter, why don't we add the sweetness of the sea worms to the fish sauce? Ms. Cao Hong Van

The journey to bring the sweetness of sea worms into fish sauce took Ms. Van about 2 years with many failures, but her passion and love for coastal products guided the businesswoman to continue. Day and night, she experimented and researched, and her passion for salt, fish, and sea worms grew day by day.

“There was a period of 3 months where I ate and slept with fish sauce, put aside all my work, and hid in my research room every day, to the point that the salty taste of fish sauce permeated the entire room, my body, and my hair without me realizing it. One time, I wore a sparkling dress, sprayed my favorite perfume on myself, and confidently went out to meet my friends, but as soon as I got close, my friend waved his hand: Oh, it smells like fish sauce, fish sauce is attached to your life, Van!”, she laughed as she recalled the memory.

Passion became the driving force for Ms. Van to decide in 2018 to invest over 50 billion VND to build a Van Don sea worm fish sauce processing factory in Khe Ngai village, Doan Ket commune (Van Don district), to take advantage of the abundant, fresh seafood resources from the locality as raw materials for fish sauce production.

When the production line and customer base were stable, the Covid-19 pandemic came. Nearly 3 years of the pandemic made transportation difficult, many orders were shipped but did not reach consumers, the amount of inventory was large, causing a lot of damage to the business, but Ms. Van still steadfastly loved and devoted to her products.

Behind the success of the Vanbest fish sauce brand, few people know that the female owner of this product is actually the director of a famous garment company. She came to the food industry because of her own special needs. With an allergy to MSG, Ms. Van always wondered, "How can I eat well without being allergic to MSG?" . Thinking of the specialty sea worms from her hometown, Ms. Van asked herself, " Sand worms are so delicious, they make the broth so sweet, while traditional fish sauce is quite salty and astringent, why don't I add the sweetness of sea worms to the fish sauce ?",... Those thoughts kept going around, urging the woman who is also very passionate about cuisine to go deeper into this field...

At first, Ms. Van's batches of fish sauce were mainly for her own and family's needs and given as gifts so that those she cherished could enjoy the sweet, fragrant, and nutritious dipping sauce made from local products, not from flavoring agents.

But then, receiving positive feedback from friends, encouragement and the desire to bring healthy seasoning products to more people, motivated her to expand her own fish sauce production model with an expensive additive: "sá sung". And that is the reason for the current brand of Vanbest Sa Sung Fish Sauce.

Up to now, the company produces an average of 40,000 liters of fish sauce each year. Completely confident in her products, Ms. Van is promoting and selling online through clean food product channels and OCOP sales channels to bring the fish sauce closer to the dining table of every Vietnamese family as well as preparing the necessary conditions to bring Vietnamese spices to the international market.

The product has been successfully registered as a trademark in 16 developed countries such as the US, UK, France, Japan, Korea, Australia, EU...

In addition to the sea worm fish sauce product, in 2021, Ms. Van continued to launch the market with dried shrimp salt and Phu Trang sea worm shrimp salt, which are used for cooking and seasoning dishes. This is the only salt product on the market that is produced from crystallized salt during the process of separating water from Van Don sea worm fish sauce to increase the natural protein of fish sauce. This salt source is processed with sea worm and shrimp powder, so it has a natural sweet and aromatic flavor, suitable for boiled dishes and broth without the need for additional sweeteners. The product has also been recognized as a 4-star OCOP.

Recently, entrepreneur Cao Hong Van continued to perfect and launch the product "Phu Trang Pho Essence Spice Powder" with special ingredients from fresh, local seafood sources including sea worms, dried shredded squid, shrimp, dried sea shrimp, star anise, cinnamon..., all blended together, bringing a rich, refreshing flavor, natural sweetness to pho, vermicelli, soup, porridge, noodles and stews. Ms. Van hopes that the "youngest sister" in the Vanbest family will share part of the task of "building a warm home" in every Vietnamese family as well as contribute to improving the health of Vietnamese people.

Within the framework of the 9th Global Young Parliamentarians Conference, on the afternoon of September 14, 2023, Ms. Van's Vanbest branded products from sea worms were selected to be displayed at the Exhibition of Product Innovation Achievements of the One Commune One Product OCOP Program to introduce the image of Vietnam's land and people to international friends. Here, Ms. Cao Hong Van said: "OCOP is truly a creative innovation, very practical, timely support for businesses to have a good launching pad to look back at themselves to improve themselves. Bringing the typical strengths of the region and the product to consumers as well as international tourists".

Constantly innovating and exploring new ideas, contributing to improving Vietnamese cuisine, however, Ms. Van is struggling to have a specific export plan because the output of sea worms is decreasing, threatening to disrupt the supply, and the concern about raw material areas is still there.

She said that sea worms reproduce quickly, but people are currently exploiting them freely and massively, selling them to Chinese traders in large quantities, while sea worms are not farmed and depend entirely on the natural environment, so this product is increasingly rare, and local businesses cannot take the initiative in sourcing raw materials.

Ms. Van hopes that local leaders will support and provide appropriate solutions and exploitation mechanisms to ensure people's livelihoods, but also avoid the situation of illegal exploitation and destruction that causes a shortage of raw materials. In the coming time, the enterprise hopes to stabilize local raw materials to develop sustainable domestic brands and aim for the further goal of exporting.

Although not a native of Van Don, growing up with the salty taste of the sea and the fishy taste of fish, with her passion, enthusiasm and love for healthy products associated with the traditional fish sauce making profession from local products, Ms. Van told herself that she would follow in the footsteps of her predecessors, do her best to play the role of the next generation to join hands in developing the quintessential products of the people of Van Don island district, contributing to preserving and enhancing the value of the traditional profession of the heritage land, bringing the quintessential products of the sea of ​​Quang Ninh to every Vietnamese kitchen and reaching beyond the S-shaped strip of land, to international friends.

Publication date: November 7, 2023 Implementation organization: HONG MINH-XUAN BACH Content: SONG THU-NGOC BICH Photo:   THANH DAT, NVCC

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