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Fish and seafood from Thailand

Maeng-ka-proon-dorngแมงกะพรุนดอง

Maeng-ka-proon-dorng is Thai jellyfish cured in saturated brine with alum. The cap is soaked in iced water, macerated twice for two to three days in brine and alum, washed and dried in the shade into a pale brown, salty solid. It is a boundary entry, cured mostly by salt and alum rather than by microbes.

A short entry: the sources we found record only what is said here about Maeng-ka-proon-dorng itself.

DocumentedFish and seafood7.3 days – 10 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceRatios from the JIRCAS database method.
Jellyfish cap, separated from the tentacles[jircas]
Saturated salt solution with alum30 % of the cap weight, then 20 % in the second soak1.8 litres brine to 75 g alum in the first soak, 1.8 litres to 60 g in the second[jircas]

Total time across the recorded steps: 7.3 days – 10 days

Start
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What changes: The jellyfish cap soaks in iced water to loosen its mucus

Step 1 of 4
Separate the cap and soak it in iced water
Time
8–10 h
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
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

Maeng-ka-proon-dorng is Thai jellyfish cured in saturated brine with alum. The cap is soaked in iced water, macerated twice for two to three days in brine and alum, washed and dried in the shade into a pale brown, salty solid. It is a boundary entry, cured mostly by salt and alum rather than by microbes. Made in 4 steps over 7.3 days – 10 days. The longest step, wash and dry in the shade, takes 3–4 days (JIRCAS 1995).

Key numbers
Main step3–4 daysReported[jircas]Wash and dry in the shade

What makes this one different

Most entries in the atlas are microbial ferments. Thai salted jellyfish is a salt and alum cure that takes 7–10 days. A review says alum firms the jellyfish in the Asian method and that the whole procedure can take 4–40 days depending on the treatment and species.

Related ferments

Safety

Alum leaves aluminium in the product. A review notes a guideline of no more than 1.8 % alum in salted jellyfish and a JECFA provisional tolerable weekly intake for aluminium of 2 mg/kg body weight (Raposo et al. 2022). Store it refrigerated.

History and sources

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

  1. [jircas] JIRCAS, Database of Fermented Foods of Thailand, Maeng-ka-proon-dorng (references The traditional fermented foods of Thailand, 1995), read 2026-10gov
  2. [raposo2022] Raposo A., Alasqah I., Alfheeaid H.A., Alsharari Z.D., Alturki H.A., Raheem D. 2022, Jellyfish as food, a narrative review, Foods 11(18):2773paper