VietNamNet Bridge – An area near the Vietnam-Cambodia border in An Giang province is home to a famous dried snake product. 

Locals in An Phu District’s Vinh Hoi Dong commune produce various kinds of dried food from fish, such as sac ran fish, snakehead and loaches but the most famous is dried snake. This is a must-buy product for any tourist to Vinh Hoi.

About 10 households produce this product, with a daily output of several dozens of kilos.

Dried snake producers said that they make this product from several species of snakes like bong sung, rau, trun and water snakes. Snakes are imported from Cambodia.

Only snake meat is used. The meat is mix with spices, pressed thin and dried under the sun for at least three days.

A local man named Nguyen Van Tieu said he produces 20-25kg of dried snake a day. Each 12kg of fresh snake produces 1kg of dried product.

Dried snake is only produced in the flood season, from August through November.

The average price is from VND250,000 to VND300,000 VND per kilo.

There are two kinds of dried snake: snakes as a whole and snake meat. The first is for soaking into alcohol as medicinal wine.

Snake skin and heads are sold to fish breeders as animal food and the innards to restaurants to process in delicious dishes. Dried snake bones are sold to bone glue producers, at the price of VND30,000/kg.

Xuan Ha