Delicious taste from Pearl Island, the taste of traditional value for over 200 years

Having the name in most dictionaries English-Vietnamese, French-Vietnamese… without translation, acclaimed around the world. Nuoc Man or Fish Sauce is indispensable in Vietnamese cuisine and meals, but not all Vietnamese or foreigners like its strong smell.

In fact, Phu Quoc fish sauce is a kind of fish sauce that is not only famous in Vietnam but also known all over the world. The delicious taste from Pearl Island has created a cultural beauty in the cuisine that is extremely impressive in the eyes of tourists.

Coming to Phu Quoc, you can not only visit the beautiful island but also discover the traditional fish sauce village which is more than 200 years old. With a rich flavor, and the same red-brown color of cockroach wings, it has created a delicious fish sauce.

History of Phu Quoc fish sauce

The origin of Phu Quoc fish sauce is from the harvest of seafood and hunting wild animals. Some coastal people have chopped wood in the forest, forming rudimentary boats for fishing; Fresh fish is often used to serve the daily meals of fishermen.

Thanks to the abundant fish resources, fishing has also become convenient, helping to increase the catch but the low consumption caused the fish to become rotten and difficult to use. To overcome this problem, the local people here have devised a way to preserve fish by salting them in the crock pot to help them have a longer shelf life.

The fishing trips last from 2-3 months on the sea, so they have changed the taste of the fish marinated in the “am” or “pottery or ceramic vase”, the fish is fragrant and delicious to eat. From that experience, fishermen began to think about how to process fish into fish sauce to make a spice that adds flavor to Vietnamese family meals.

A special feature of Phu Quoc fish sauce is the abundant and fresh source of anchovies caught in the waters of Kien Giang and Ca Mau in the Gulf of Thailand. The salt used to marinate fish is Ba Ria-Vung Tau sea salt, with low impurity content, stored for at least 3 months to get an acrid taste at the tip of the tongue, then a sweet aftertaste in the throat.

Phu Quoc fish sauce barrel house

At first, people only kept fish sauce in small ponds, but then slowly formed wooden crates with a capacity of 7-13 tons of fish. The type of wood used to make the barrels is “lời bời” or “litsea cubeba” that are harvested from the local forest then the barrel is bound with rattan fibers.

Wood and rattan fiber are mainly on the island, fish for the sauce are anchovy, lead chalk, striped pepper, and are all caught year round. The best quality fish season is around 4 calendar months (starting January 5), because at that time the fish sauce has the best quality.

After catching, people will clean the anchovies and salt them right on the ship offshore to ensure freshness. Only when the ship is docked, this mixture (chượp) can be transferred into wooden crates made from Litsea cubeba, to be aged by the compression method.

After 9 to 15 months, the “chuop” will produce the finished fish sauce with the professional pulling method. Phu Quoc fish sauce has a characteristic and natural red-brown color of cockroach wings due to the way the fish is fresh then incubated so long in wooden barrels.

With the elaborate fish sauce production process, Phu Quoc people have created a fish sauce with a mild aroma, natural fatty taste, and a certain consistency which stimulates the appetite right after enjoying. Some nước mắm production factories in Phu Quoc are open for visitors to visit and buy this specialty.