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Fermentation Atlas

Cereals and bread from Thailand

Khanom chin (Thai fermented rice noodles)ขนมจีน

Aged or broken rice is soaked, left wet in a covered sieve to sour, then wet-milled and settled for days under 2 % salt water. The sour flour is pressed dry, part-cooked, kneaded and pressed through a sieve into boiling water as thin round noodles, sold fresh in small nests. Made in 7 steps over 7 days – 9 days. The longest step, sour the wet rice (solid-state fermentation), takes at least 3 days (Haard N.F 1999). Salt is 2 % (JIRCAS). Lactic acid bacteria, 40–60 % of the bacteria isolated from Thai fermented rice flour and Lactococcus lactis, Leuconostoc (L. citreum, L. lactis, L. pseudomesenteroides), Limosilactobacillus fermentum, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum, L. pentosus, Weissella confusa, Enterococcus faecium do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 3 daysReported[fao1999]Sour the wet rice (solid-state fermentation)
Salt2 %Reported[jircas-kj][marui2020]Wet-mill and settle under salt water (submerged fermentation)
AciditypH 3.7Measured[marui2020][jircas2019]Sell fresh
Fully documentedCereals and bread7 days – 9 daysMore cereals and breadMore from Thailand

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceTraditional process with no fixed batch size. Many noodle makers now buy fermented rice flour from factories instead of making it themselves.
Rice · Relatively aged Indica rice, including broken rice from milling[marui2020]
2 %Salt water · The milled rice settles under it for two to three days; the water is changed daily[jircas-kj][marui2020]
Water · For soaking, washing and kneading[jircas-kj]
Starterspontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 7 days – 9 days

Start
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Close-up: water moving into a grain

What changes: Rice soaks overnight and is drained in a sieve

Step 1 of 7
Soak the rice
Time
Overnight
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Streptococcus lactis
Pediococcus acidilactici
L. acidophilus

Output: soaked rice, drained in a sieve container.

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

Khanom chin has two fermentations. The wet rice sours in a covered sieve, and the milled rice then settles for days under 2 % salt water. The salt-water settling stage sets it apart from Cambodian num banhchok, which is soured as pressed flour cakes in cloth bags.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Factory fermented flourMany small noodle makers now buy fermented rice flour from suburban factories instead of fermenting their own.
  • Fresh-flour khanom chinMade without the long rice fermentation; Wikipedia describes it as whiter and softer, but gives no source.

Safety

Noodles kept acidic (extract pH around 4.0 or lower) did not liquefy, while noodles brought to pH 6.0 or 8.0 were broken down by starch-digesting bacteria within a few days at 37 °C. Producers are advised to check the pH of the washing water, which can be alkaline, and to sell the noodles within a few days.

Hazards the sources name: Cronobacter malonaticus and Acinetobacter baumannii (listed among isolates).

History and sources

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

Although chin means "Chinese" in Thai, the noodle is credited to the Mon, and the name is thought to come from the Mon words hanom cin, "boiled noodles". It is made by small and medium producers across Thailand and sold fresh to local markets.

  1. [fao1999] Haard N.F., Odunfa S.A., Lee C.-H., Quintero-Ramírez R., Lorence-Quiñones A., Wacher-Radarte C. 1999, Fermented cereals. A global perspective, FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin 138, ch. 3 (citing Rosanaphaiboon 1987)gov
  2. [jircas-kj] JIRCAS, Database of Fermented Foods of Thailand, Kha-nom-jeen (fermented rice noodles)gov
  3. [marui2020] Marui J., Shompoosang S., Panthavee W. 2020, pH-dependent liquefaction of Thai fermented rice noodles (khanom jeen) associated with bacterial amylolytic enzymes, JARQ 54(1):41–45, doi:10.6090/jarq.54.41paper
  4. [jircas2019] Marui J., Yoshihashi T., Shompoosang S., Surojanametakul V. 2019, Liquefaction of Thai fermented rice noodles can be prevented by maintaining the product in acidic condition of pH around 4, JIRCAS Research Highlight 2019 C01gov
  5. [wp] Wikipedia, Khanom chin (name and dishes only)wiki