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Fermentation Atlas

Fish and seafood from Türkiye

Lakerdaλακέρδα

Thick steaks of Atlantic bonito are cleaned, soaked in cold brine and packed in layers of dry salt under a weight, then ripened in the cold for weeks. This is a salt cure, not a microbial ferment. Salt draws water out while the fish's own enzymes change its texture, and bacterial numbers stay low. Made in 5 steps over 10 days – 6 months. The longest step, ripen in the cold in its own brine, takes 10 days – 6 months (Altan C.O. 2025) and runs at 3–5 °C (Altan C.O. 2025). Salt is 5 % (Altan C.O. 2025).

Key numbers
Main step10 days – 6 monthsReported[altan2025][turan2006]Ripen in the cold in its own brine
Temperature3–5 °CMeasured[altan2025][turan2006]Ripen in the cold in its own brine
Salt5 %Reported[altan2025]Soak in iced brine, then ice water
AciditypH 6.9Measured[altan2025]Ripen in the cold in its own brine
Fully documentedFish and seafood10 days – 6 monthsMore fish and seafoodMore from TurkeyMore from Greece

Recipe

Amounts from a sourcePer 1 kg of bonito slices, from a 2025 study that followed the traditional method. An earlier study used fish and salt at 5 to 1 by weight.
1 kgAtlantic bonito, gutted, head and tail off, cut into chunks about 4 cm thick[altan2025]
300 gRock salt, for dry salting · 30 % of the fish weight[altan2025]
As neededIce-cold 5 % salt water, then plain ice water · For soaking the chunks clean before salting[altan2025]
Starternone (salt cure)

Total time across the recorded steps: 10 days – 6 months

Start
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What changes: The bonito is gutted and cut into thick chunks, and the backbone is cleaned out

Step 1 of 5
Gut and cut into thick chunks
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Head and tail are cut off, the guts removed, and a thin skewer is pushed along the backbone to clean out the spinal cord. Output: bonito chunks about 4 cm thick.

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

Lakerda is a dry salt cure of fat bonito steaks, ripened cold for weeks. Unlike pla ra or rakfisk there is no lactic stage and no rice or sugar; salt and the fish's own enzymes do the work.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Lakerda from young tunaMade the same way from young tuna instead of bonito.

Safety

Bonito is eaten raw after curing, so the fish must be fresh and kept cold. At 4 °C, bacteria and yeasts did not multiply over 6 months in salted bonito. Biogenic amines fell during ripening in one study, to 63.93–68.79 mg/kg in total in the finished product; the FDA warns that histamine can form while fish is salted until the product is shelf-stable, and uses 50 ppm as its guidance level.

History and sources

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

Salted bonito and tuna have long been made on the Black Sea and Mediterranean coasts so that fish can be eaten out of season (Altan 2025). The name comes from Byzantine Greek (Wikipedia).

  1. [altan2025] Altan C.O. 2025, Monitoring physicochemical attributes and nutritional alterations in lakerda during early-stage and intermediate maturation periods, a preliminary research, Mar. Sci. Technol. Bull. 14(3):139–148, doi:10.33714/masteb.1757035paper
  2. [turan2006] Turan H., Kaya Y., Erkoyuncu I., Sönmez G. 2006, Chemical and microbiological qualities of dry-salted (lakerda) bonito (Sarda sarda), J. Food Qual. 29(5):470–478, doi:10.1111/j.1745-4557.2006.00087.x (abstract)paper
  3. [ormanci2017] Ormancı H.B. and Arık Çolakoğlu F. 2017, Changes in biogenic amines levels of lakerda (salted Atlantic bonito) during ripening at different temperatures, J. Food Process. Preserv. 41(1):e12736, doi:10.1111/jfpp.12736 (abstract)paper
  4. [fda-ch7] US FDA 2011, Fish and Fishery Products Hazards and Controls Guidance, 4th ed., Chapter 7, Scombrotoxin (histamine) formationgov
  5. [s1] Wikipedia, Lakerda (name history and serving only)wiki