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Fermentation Atlas

Vegetables from Assam, India

Khorisa (Assamese fermented bamboo shoot)খৰিচা

Khorisa is young bamboo shoot, grated and packed tight, often with a little dried Garcinia pedunculata fruit as an acidifier, and left to ferment without air until sour. Lactic bacteria lower the pH from about 6.4 to near 4 in under two weeks, and the sour shoot is cooked with meat and fish or made into pickle. Made in 4 steps over 12 days. The longest step, ferment, takes 12 days (Badwaik L.S 2014) and runs at 32 °C (Badwaik L.S 2014). Lactic acid bacteria, rising from 5.24 to about 7 log CFU/g by day 6 does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step12 daysMeasured[badwaik2014]Ferment
Temperature32 °CMeasured[badwaik2014]Ferment
AciditypH 6.4 → 4.09Measured[badwaik2014]Ferment
Fully documentedVegetables12 daysMore vegetablesMore from India

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceA laboratory batch of 500 g glass jars that follows the household method. Households add small, unmeasured amounts of Garcinia; no fixed household recipe was found.
Young bamboo shoots (Bambusa balcooa) · Defoliated, trimmed to the soft edible part, washed and grated[badwaik2014]
1 %Dried Garcinia pedunculata fruit (borthekera) · Small pieces added as an acidifier; optional[badwaik2014]
Starterspontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 12 days

Start
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What changes: Young bamboo shoots are trimmed and grated

Step 1 of 4
Trim and grate the young shoots
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 bamboo shoot.

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

Khorisa is grated, not sliced or left whole, and is often soured further with dried Garcinia pedunculata fruit. In the 2014 study the Garcinia batch reached a lower pH, 4.09 against 4.52.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Khorisa with GarciniaAbout 1 % dried Garcinia pedunculata is mixed in; it sours further and ends at a lower pH.
  • Khorisa pickleThe fermented shoot is made into a pickle.

Safety

Fresh shoots carried Salmonella and Shigella at 4.49 log CFU, which were no longer found by day 8 as the pH fell. Fermentation that does not sour enough would not give this protection.

Hazards the sources name: Salmonella and Shigella in fresh shoots (4.49 log CFU), gone by day 8 of fermentation.

History and sources

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

  1. [badwaik2014] Badwaik L.S., Borah P.K., Borah K., Das A.J., Deka S.C. and Sharma H.K. 2014, Influence of fermentation on nutritional compositions, antioxidant activity, total phenolic and microbial load of bamboo shoot, Food Science and Technology Research 20(2), 255–262paper
  2. [borthakur2025] Borthakur D., Sharma B.K. et al. 2025, Investigating the probiotic and flavor-producing functions of Bacillus sp. FPIK1 sourced from fermented bamboo shoots of Assam, Microbial Cell Factoriespaper