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Fish and seafood from Thailand

Khem-bak-natเค็มบักนัด

Khem-bak-nat is northeast Thai fish fermented with pineapple. Thin slices of lean catfish meat are salted overnight, mixed with an equal weight of chopped pineapple and packed airless in a jar for about three months. The flesh turns pink in a clear liquid; the Thai community product standard advises cooking it before eating, though JIRCAS also lists eating it raw with vegetables.

Fully documentedFish and seafood3 months

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceRatios from the JIRCAS database method. The community product standard sets limits for the finished product, not a recipe.
Lean catfish meat, sliced thin5 parts by weightHead, scales, guts and fatty parts removed[jircas]
Fine salt1 part by weight[jircas]
Pineapple, choppedEqual to the salted fish by weight (1:1)[jircas]

Total time across the recorded steps: 3 months

Start
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What changes: The head, scales and guts come off and the lean meat is sliced thin

Step 1 of 4
Clean the fish and slice the lean meat thin
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

The head, scales and guts are removed and the meat is sliced into thin pieces, discarding the fatty parts. Output: thin slices of lean catfish meat.

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

Khem-bak-nat is northeast Thai fish fermented with pineapple. Thin slices of lean catfish meat are salted overnight, mixed with an equal weight of chopped pineapple and packed airless in a jar for about three months. The flesh turns pink in a clear liquid; the Thai community product standard advises cooking it before eating, though JIRCAS also lists eating it raw with vegetables. Made in 4 steps over 3 months. The longest step, pack tight in a jar, press out the air and keep in the dark, takes 3 months (JIRCAS 1995). Salt is 10–15 % (Thai Industrial Standards Institute 2003). Lactic acid bacteria, named as the fermenters in a Thai PBS feature does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step3 monthsReported[jircas]Pack tight in a jar, press out the air and keep in the dark
Salt10–15 %Set[tcps148]Pack tight in a jar, press out the air and keep in the dark
AciditypH up to 5.5Set[tcps148]Pack tight in a jar, press out the air and keep in the dark

What makes this one different

Plaa-som, som-fak and pla-ra use cooked rice, roasted rice or rice bran. Khem-bak-nat uses pineapple instead, which makes it sweet as well as sour and salty.

Related ferments

Safety

The Thai community product standard requires 10–15 % salt, pH no higher than 5.5, no Salmonella in 25 g, S. aureus and E. coli each below 3 MPN per g, no parasites, and a label giving advice on use, such as cooking it before eating, and on storage, such as keeping it in the refrigerator after opening (มผช. 148/2546). That pH limit is above 4.6, the level below which FDA lists C. botulinum as unable to grow, and the jar stays sealed and unheated for months, so acid does not protect this fish. Salt has to, and FDA puts the growth limit for types A and B at 10 % salt in the water of the food, which is a different measure from salt by weight of the whole product. The JIRCAS weights give about 8–9 % salt by weight of the whole mix by our arithmetic (1 part salt in 11–12 parts), under the standard's 10–15 % by weight, and no source we read measures the salt of the finished product. No source we read tests this product for botulism, and this is not a tested home recipe. Cook it before eating, as the standard says it should be. Eating it raw adds a second risk. Northeast Thai salted freshwater-fish ferments such as pla som are a known source of the liver fluke Opisthorchis viverrini, and WHO says this infection can lead to an often fatal bile-duct cancer. The fluke's usual hosts are carp-family fish rather than the catfish the standard names, but JIRCAS lists freshwater fish in general.

Hazards the sources name: Salmonella (must be absent in 25 g under the standard); Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli (each below 3 MPN per g under the standard); Opisthorchis viverrini liver fluke (in pla som, a related northeast Thai salted freshwater-fish ferment; not tested in this product).

History and sources

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

A Technology Chaoban feature calls khem-bak-nat an old Isan way of keeping food, made mostly in the rainy season, when floods bring plenty of river fish and pineapples ripen at the same time, and says it is especially popular in Ubon Ratchathani. In 2003 (B.E. 2546) the Thai Industrial Standards Institute issued Community Product Standard 148 for it. The same feature says villagers mostly use large scaleless catfish such as sawai or tepo. JIRCAS lists it as a home industry of the northeast.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [jircas] JIRCAS, Database of Fermented Foods of Thailand, Khem-mak-nat (references The traditional fermented foods of Thailand, 1995), read 2026-10gov
  2. [tcps148] Thai Industrial Standards Institute 2003, Thai Community Product Standard มผช.148/2546, Khem mak nat, pineapple pickled fish (TCPS 148-2546)spec
  3. [fda-app4] US FDA 2011, Fish and Fishery Products Hazards and Controls Guidance, 4th ed., Appendix 4, Bacterial pathogen growth and inactivation, Table A-1gov
  4. [senasri2024] Senasri N., Chumnanka N., Talkul W. et al. 2024, Temperature and preparation time intervals on survival of Opisthorchis viverrini metacercariae in pickled fish (Pla-som), International Journal of Food Science 2024:4817012paper
  5. [who-fbt] World Health Organization, Foodborne trematode infections (fact sheet)gov
  6. [thaipbs] Phongphan Hansaphan, Thai PBS Now (Dan Kin Dong series), Khem-bak-nat, Mekong wisdom and the science of pickling (เค็มบักนัด ภูมิปัญญาแม่น้ำโขง กับวิทยาศาสตร์หมักดอง), read 2026-10web
  7. [technology-chaoban] Thawida Sirisamphan, Technology Chaoban (Khaosod), Khem-bak-nat, an old Isan folk way of keeping food (เค็มบักนัด ภูมิปัญญาพื้นบ้านโบราณในการถนอมอาหารคนอีสาน), 4 June 2022web