Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Fermentation Atlas

Eggs from Thailand

Khai-khem (boundary: salt-cured, not fermented)ไข่เค็ม

Duck eggs are kept under strong salt brine, or coated in salted clay and rolled in rice husk or ash, for two to three weeks in the shade. Salt moves through the shell, the yolk sets firm and the white stays much like a fresh egg. It is a salt cure with no microbial fermentation. Made in 4 steps over 2 months – 2.3 months. The longest step, boil or fry and eat, takes 30 days (Japan International Research Center for Agric…). Salt is 26 % (Wongnen C 2023).

Key numbers
Main step30 daysReported[jircas]Boil or fry and eat
Temperature27–29 °CReported[wongnen2023]Cover with brine and weigh down
Salt26 %Reported[wongnen2023]Cover with brine and weigh down
Fully documentedEggs2 months – 2.3 monthsMore eggsMore from ChinaMore from ThailandMore from Philippines

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceHousehold amounts from the JIRCAS Thai fermented foods database. A laboratory version used 26 % (w/v) salt brine at 1 part eggs to 3 parts brine.
1 cup salt to 4 cups waterBrine, boiled, strained and cooled (brine method)[jircas]
2 cups fine salt and 6 cups semi-solid clay for 20 eggsSalted clay coat, rested 2 nights (clay method)[jircas]
Rice husk or charcoal ash, to keep coated eggs apart[jircas]
Fresh duck eggs, washed[jircas][wongnen2023]
Starternone

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 months – 2.3 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Starting material: fresh duck eggs, washed and checked for cracks

Step 1 of 4
Wash and dry the eggs
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: clean, uncracked eggs.

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

Khai-khem is cured only by salt, which sets the yolk. Century egg uses alkali, which turns the white to jelly; zaodan uses rice-wine lees.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Clay-coated khai-khemCoated in salted clay and rice husk or ash instead of brined.

Safety

Salt holds back microbes as it moves into the egg. Salted eggs are cooked before eating.

History and sources

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

Salted eggs are made across Thailand, China and the Philippines; in China they are, with century eggs, the main pickled egg products.

  1. [jircas] Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), Thai fermented foods database, Khai-khem (salted eggs)gov
  2. [wongnen2023] Wongnen C., Panpipat W., Saelee N., Rawdkuen S., Grossmann L., Chaijan M. 2023, A novel approach for the production of mildly salted duck egg using ozonized brine salting, Foods 12(11):2261paper
  3. [zheng2023] Zheng M., Chen S., Yao Y. et al. 2023, A review on the development of pickled eggs, rapid pickling and quality optimization, Poultry Science 102:102468paper