Hoisin sauce
A thick, dark, sweet-salty Chinese condiment built on fermented soybean paste. This page gives one quick home version and records how commercial formulas differ.
Tương Bần
Tuong Ban · Tương Bần Yên Nhân · Bần tương · Bân tương
Tương Bần is a thick, sweet and salty northern Vietnamese soybean sauce made from soybean and sticky rice at Bần Yên Nhân in Hưng Yên, matured in ceramic jars for months.
The village and the sauce
Tương Bần is a regional soybean sauce associated with the craft village of Bần Yên Nhân in Mỹ Hào, Hưng Yên, northern Vietnam. It is thick and has a sweet and salty taste. The Vietnamese craft-village account and the national tourism page both tie it to the village and to its ceramic jar practice.
Its inputs are soybean and sticky rice. Both are prepared separately before they are combined.
Sources for this section
Method
Tương Bần combines mould-grown sticky rice with soybeans in covered ceramic jars and matures them outdoors, which gives the sauce its thick texture and sweet taste. The craft-village account gives the rice stage and the maturation time, but not salt proportions, jar sizes or temperatures.
Sources for this section
Limits
The sources are heritage and tourism descriptions. They are not food-safety guidance and do not give shelf-life or storage periods. A home method needs a food-science source with process evidence.
Sources for this section
History
The craft-village account and the national tourism page associate the sauce with Bần Yên Nhân and its jar practice.
Ingredients
Soybeans
Amount not stated
Prepared separately from the riceSticky riceSteamed, then mould-grown on bamboo sieves
Amount not stated
Salt
Amount not stated
Proportion not given in the sourceMethod
- Steam sticky rice and spread it on bamboo sieves to grow mould for six to seven days.
- Prepare the soybeans separately by cooking them.
- Combine the soybeans and the mould-grown rice with salt.
- Pack the mixture into covered ceramic jars and mature it outdoors for three to six months; some batches are kept for more than six months.
- Filter and bottle the liquid; the thick sauce is sweet and salty.
Places
Bần Yên Nhân, Mỹ Hào, Hưng Yên
Traditional preparation · Region evidenceRegion as named by the cited source; no dated origin.
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Sources
GoVietnam TravelHistory · Method
Ban soy sauce craft village (Vietnam National Administration of Tourism)Sticky rice grown with mould on bamboo sieves for six to seven days.
Ceramic jar maturation three to six months; some batches over six months.
Cited in: The village and the sauce; Method; Limits