Making soy sauce in Duong Lam village

      Duong Lam village in Son Tay, Hanoi is an old village that has interesting buildings and still preserves a traditional craft - the making of soy sauce.
Soy sauce know-how
No one in Duong Lam has any idea when the first soy sauce was made in the village. "Before I was born," you might hear. But it's been around for many generations. More than that - who knows? What is clear is that almost every family in the village is doing the same thing, which is making soy sauce.
Nguyen Thi Vuot lives in Duong Lam and she's been making soy sauce for decades. She says that soy sauces that are made in different places all taste different. That which is made in Duong Lam village has a very strong taste, very different from that made in Cu Da, for example (Cu Da soy sauce is very sweet).
Soy sauce is made from glutinous rice, soybeans, corn and salt. It's made using stone mortars, copper pans, steamers, frying pans, baskets and jars. Soy sauce makers choose their materials very carefully. They make soy sauce mostly in May and June because this is optimum soy sauce making weather. Duong Lam villagers continue to make soy sauce by hand and for them rainwater is a necessary ingredient.
Soy sauce is used with almost every meal eaten in Duong Lam village. People dip their boiled water morning-glory, meat and just about every kind of food in it. It's also brushed on fish when they are fried. Soy sauce is a necessary ingredient of many traditional Duong Lam dishes. The villagers are proud of their soy sauce and they love making it so much.
Preserve the craft
In the old days, Duong Lam villagers made soy sauce just for their own use. Nowadays, with everyone chasing the almighty dong, soy sauce has become a sellable commodity and many households in Duong Lam village are making soy sauce to sell.
Nguyen Thi Vuot, a teacher and resident of Mong Phu hamlet, has been making soy sauce for more than 20 years. She makes it to sell and at the same time keeps the tradition alive. At the place where she makes it there are always 40-50 jars (100 liters each) of soy sauce ripening. Her family has sold more than 7,000 liters of soy sauce in a month getting an average of VND5,000 per liter. A batch that is particularly good might sell for VND20,000 per liter. Soy sauce is a fine source of income for Duong Lam villagers.
Le Thi Tu in Dong Sang hamlet has been churning out the soy sauce for nearly 30 years and this is the only source of income for her family, that income being several million dong per month. "That's a good income for rural people like us," said Mrs. Tu.
In the last few years tourists have gone to Duong Lam not just to check out the sights in the ancient village but also to buy some soy sauce. "Wow! Very nice, very special. It has a very attractive and strange flavor," said Rose Marie, from Switzerland, when she tried the soy sauce made in Mong Phu hamlet, Duong Lam village.
Presently, soy sauce that's made in Duong Lam village is sold in many places in Vietnam. However, soy sauce production in the village is still very small scale (family-sized). It is hoped that the soy sauce that's made in Duong Lam will help villagers escape poverty and enrich their lives. And it is also hoped that in the future Duong Lam soy sauce will earn a reputation as an excellent kind of soy sauce.