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Sauces and condiments from Kaili and southeast Guizhou, China

Guizhou red sour soup (hong suan tang)红酸汤

Red sour soup is a sour, spicy paste of small tomatoes and red chillies fermented by lactic bacteria and yeasts for one to twelve months. In the split method tomato and chilli are soured apart, then blended and fermented again; it is diluted as a base for fish and hot-pot soups.

Fully documentedSauces and condiments4.9 months

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceTomato to chilli ratio used by manufacturers for the mixed type, from Tang et al. 2026. The sources give no amounts for salt, glutinous rice or liquor.
Small local tomatoes5 partsWashed, chopped and ground to a paste[tang2026]
Red chillies1 partGround to a paste with the tomatoes in the mixed type[tang2026]
Glutinous rice, white liquor, salt and garlicAdded in the traditional process; amounts not given[liu2024]
Starterspontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 4.9 months

Start
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What changes: Tomatoes and chillies are washed, chopped and ground to a paste

Step 1 of 4
Wash, chop and grind the tomatoes and chillies
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Lentilactobacillus
Lactobacillus
Lactiplantibacillus
Kazachstania

Output: tomato paste and chilli paste.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
coarse paste
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

Red sour soup is a sour, spicy paste of small tomatoes and red chillies fermented by lactic bacteria and yeasts for one to twelve months. In the split method tomato and chilli are soured apart, then blended and fermented again; it is diluted as a base for fish and hot-pot soups. Made in 4 steps over 4.9 months. The longest step, blend and ferment again, takes 3.9 months (Zhou X. et al. 2022). Salt is 3 % (Zhou X. et al. 2022). Lentilactobacillus and Lactobacillus and Lactiplantibacillus, Levilactobacillus and Leuconostoc do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step3.9 monthsReported[zhou2022]Blend and ferment again
Salt3 %Reported[zhou2022]Ferment tomato sour and chilli sour separately
AciditypH 3.1–3.8Measured[tang2026]Blend and ferment again

What makes this one different

Guizhou's other sour soup, white sour soup, is made without tomato and chilli. Red sour soup is made from tomato and chilli, and the split method sours each apart before blending them for a second fermentation.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Split-fermented red sour soupTomato and chilli fermented apart, then blended and fermented again.
  • Mixed-fermented red sour soupTomatoes and chillies (5:1) fermented together, anaerobically, at room temperature for 6 months.
  • Rice-acid red sour soupTomatoes, chillies and rice sour soup mixed 5:1:1 and fermented for 6 months.
  • Kaili heritage methodWashed and chopped tomatoes and chillies go into a jar with other ingredients, sealed for 5 to 6 months, then are ground to a slurry and fermented half a month more.

Safety

Nine traditional products had nitrite well below the 20 mg/kg limit that China's standard GB 2762-2022 sets for fermented vegetables. Fusarium taking over a batch marked spoilage in one study.

History and sources

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

In 2021 the Kaili sour-soup fish making skill joined China's national intangible cultural heritage list (fifth batch). Its record says Miao people of southeast Guizhou have passed the skill down through generations, and that local people used sour soup in place of salt.

  1. [ihchina] Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China (China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network), 凯里酸汤鱼制作技艺 (Kaili sour soup fish making skill), national representative list item Ⅷ-279, fifth batch, 2021gov
  2. [liu2024] Liu N. et al. 2024, The quality characteristics and microbial communities of three components in traditional split-fermented red sour soup, Food Sci. Nutr. 12(10):7287–7305, doi:10.1002/fsn3.4317paper
  3. [tang2026] Tang L. et al. 2026, Multidimensional characterization of red sour soup with different substrates, Food Chem. X, doi:10.1016/j.fochx.2026.104153paper
  4. [zhou2022] Zhou X. et al. 2022, Effects of post-fermentation on the flavor compounds formation in red sour soup, Front. Nutr., doi:10.3389/fnut.2022.1007164 (abstract)paper