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Fermentation Atlas

Soft drinks from North India

Kanji (black carrot)कांजी

Grated or cut purple-black carrots are steeped in salted water with crushed mustard seed and chilli, and left in a nearly sealed earthenware pot for several days. Lactic bacteria sour the liquid to about pH 3.5 and it turns a deep purple-red; it is strained and drunk within a few days. Made in 4 steps over 8 days – 14 days. The longest step, ferment in a nearly sealed earthenware pot, takes 5–10 days (Battcock M 1998). Pediococcus acidilactici and Lactobacillus paraplantarum and L. pentosus do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step5–10 daysReported[fao134][sharma2021]Ferment in a nearly sealed earthenware pot
AciditypH 6 → 3.47Measured[sharma2021]Ferment in a nearly sealed earthenware pot
Fully documentedSoft drinks8 days – 14 daysMore soft drinksMore from IndiaMore from Pakistan

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceFAO recipe for one batch; each kilogram of carrot yields just over 7 litres of kanji.
1 kgFinely grated purple carrot[fao134]
7 LWater[fao134]
200 gSalt[fao134]
40 gCrushed mustard seed[fao134]
8 gHot chilli powder[fao134]
Starterspontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 8 days – 14 days

Start
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What changes: Purple carrots are washed and finely grated

Step 1 of 4
Wash and grate the carrots
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

Output: grated carrot.

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

What makes this one different

Kanji is a vegetable brine drunk as a beverage, not a pickle. Its pungency comes from crushed mustard seed, and the anthocyanins of black carrot give its colour.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Beetroot kanjiBeetroot with or instead of black carrot.
  • Kanji vadaRajasthani mustard-water ferment with fried lentil dumplings soaked in it.

Safety

FAO notes that the lactic acid lowers the pH enough to stop food-poisoning organisms, and that the drink spoils 3 or 4 days after straining. In one study the pH fell from 6 to 3.47, and coliform and yeast counts fell during fermentation.

Hazards the sources name: Coliforms (counts fell after fermentation).

History and sources

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

FAO describes kanji as a traditional drink of northern India and Pakistan, valued as cooling and soothing.

  1. [fao134] Battcock M., Azam-Ali S. 1998, Fermented fruits and vegetables, a global perspective, FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin 134, section 6.3.5 Kanjigov
  2. [sharma2021] Sharma C., Sahota P.P., Kaur S. 2021, Physicochemical and microbiological evaluation of antioxidant-rich traditional black carrot beverage, Kanji, Bulletin of the National Research Centre 45:143paper
  3. [kingston2010] Kingston J.J. et al. 2010, Molecular characterization of lactic acid bacteria recovered from natural fermentation of beet root and carrot Kanji, Indian Journal of Microbiology 50(3):292–298 (abstract)paper
  4. [afreen2023] Afreen A., Ahmed Z., Khalid N. 2023, Exopolysaccharides from Levilactobacillus brevis NCCP 963 isolated from "kanji", RSC Advances 13(29):19725–19737 (abstract)paper