Tuong Cu Da - 3-star OCOP product

The craft of making sticky rice sauce here has existed for hundreds of years with the famous saying "Cu Da soy sauce, Dam village eggplant". Cu Da sauce is currently certified as a 3-star OCOP product (One Commune One Product Program) and is gradually conquering the national market.

The Cu Da soy sauce making profession is over 500 years old. Photo: Do ​​Phong

Coming to Cu Da, Thanh Oai district these days, the whole village is filled with the aroma of ground soybeans, the aroma of batches of soy sauce just "out of the oven". According to the elders in the village, the soy sauce making profession is as old as the village itself, more than 500 years old. For generations, the traditional soy sauce making profession in Cu Da has been a valuable asset left by the ancients.

Unlike other soy sauce making villages, Cu Da soy sauce has its own way of making and its own flavor, making anyone who has enjoyed it fall in love with this rustic, traditional dish. Soy sauce makers in Cu Da said that the difference that creates the unique brand for Cu Da soy sauce is the sweetness and aroma of the soy sauce. Cu Da soy sauce has a naturally sweet taste because to produce the finished product, it must go through many elaborate and meticulous stages. Cu Da soy sauce is made from two main ingredients: sticky rice and soybeans. The sticky rice chosen to cook the soy sauce must be golden sticky rice, not mixed with regular rice. Soybeans must also be climbing soybeans, small grains, light yellow in color.

The process of making soy sauce also includes two main steps: molding and making beans. Regarding the ingredients, it must be made from newly harvested sticky rice from Hai Hau, Nam Dinh, then winnowed, picked out the husks, and dried in the sun until the rice grains are dry. Soybeans are the main ingredient that makes the soy sauce delicious, so you have to go to faraway markets to buy soybeans that can only be grown in one region, with large, even, and yellow beans. The purchased soybeans are picked out of damaged and broken beans, then winnowed to select the qualified beans.

Tuong Cu Da is made from two main ingredients: sticky rice and soybeans. Photo: TH

The roasting process also requires technique. Roast over low heat, stirring constantly so that no beans burn, then remove the shell, simmer on a wood stove until soft, then soak in a clay pot until the beans float. The sticky rice must also be washed thoroughly, all broken rice removed, steamed in a steamer, and then incubated until fully cooked. The sticky rice is spread on a tray to ferment quickly, when it turns yellow, it is covered with roasted soybeans and fermented bean water. The time for the soy sauce to have a fragrant smell is from 15 to 25 days. The soy sauce maker depends on the weather. The hottest summer months are best, the soy sauce will ferment quickly. The soy sauce is stored in a clay pot covered with cloth to avoid flies. It is left to dry in the sun in the yard for several summer months until the soy sauce is ripe, then poured into earthenware jars for consumption.

Although machines can replace them, all steps in the Cu Da sauce making process are done by hand and there are no additives. Because of its unique features and flavor, Cu Da sauce has been certified as a 3-star OCOP product... and is consumed nationwide.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/tuong-cu-da-san-pham-ocop-3-sao-699170.html