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Fish and seafood from Sikkim and the Darjeeling hills

Gnuchignuchi

Gnuchi is a smoked fish of Sikkim and the Darjeeling hills. River fish are prepared with salt and turmeric powder and smoked and dried. It is a boundary entry, smoked and dried rather than fermented on purpose, although lactic acid bacteria and yeasts live on it; it is eaten as a curry.

A short entry: the sources we found record only what is said here about Gnuchi itself.

Short entryFish and seafood

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedWhat goes in. No source gives amounts for this ferment.
river fish (Schizothorax richardsonii and others)
salt
turmeric powder
Starterspontaneous
Start
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Close-up: salt moving into a fish

What changes: The gutted fish are mixed with salt and turmeric

Step 1 of 3
Gut the fish and mix with salt and turmeric
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
L. plantarum
Lactococcus lactis
L. mesenteroides
Enterococcus faecium
Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Gnuchi is a smoked fish of Sikkim and the Darjeeling hills. River fish are prepared with salt and turmeric powder and smoked and dried. It is a boundary entry, smoked and dried rather than fermented on purpose, although lactic acid bacteria and yeasts live on it; it is eaten as a curry. Lactiplantibacillus plantarum, Lactococcus lactis, Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Enterococcus faecium, E. faecalis and Pediococcus pentosaceus does most of the fermenting.

What makes this one different

Gnuchi and suka ko maacha are both river fish with salt and turmeric powder, smoked and dried; sidra and sukuti are dried fish made without them. All four carry much the same lactic acid bacteria.

Related ferments

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

  1. [thapa2006] Thapa N., Pal J., Tamang J.P. 2006, Phenotypic identification and technological properties of lactic acid bacteria isolated from traditionally processed fish products of the Eastern Himalayas, Int. J. Food Microbiol. 107(1):33–38 (abstract)paper
  2. [tamang2016] Tamang J.P., Watanabe K., Holzapfel W.H. 2016, Review, diversity of microorganisms in global fermented foods and beverages, Front. Microbiol. 7:377 (table entry for gnuchi)paper