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Fermentation Atlas

Sauces and condiments from Thailand

Nam plaน้ำปลา

Small fish, mostly anchovies, are layered with salt in tanks and weighed down under their own brine for 6 to 18 months, while enzymes from the fish and salt-loving bacteria turn the flesh into a clear amber liquid. The first drained liquid is sun-ripened and bottled as the top grade; the residue is soaked in brine again for lower grades. Made in 6 steps over 10 months – 2 years. The longest step, ferment in the tank, takes 6–18 months (Codex Alimentarius Commission 2011) and runs at 30–40 °C (Disarapong S. 2005). Salt is 25–33 % (Disarapong S. 2005). Tetragenococcus halophilus and Halanaerobium do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step6–18 monthsSet[codex302][jircas][disarapong2005]Ferment in the tank
Temperature30–40 °CReported[disarapong2005]Ferment in the tank
Salt25–33 %Reported[disarapong2005][jircas]Layer the fish with salt
AciditypH 4.8–5.6Measured[huang2025][codex302]Drain and filter the first liquid
Fully documentedSauces and condiments10 months – 2 yearsMore sauces and condimentsMore from Thailand

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe 2–3 parts fish to 1 part salt is the traditional proportion given in the Lopetcharat review, as quoted in a Prince of Songkla University thesis. JIRCAS records 5:1 to 1:1 across Thai makers. There is no fixed batch size; plants ferment in large concrete or wooden tanks.
2–3 parts by weightSmall fish, mostly anchovies (Stolephorus spp.) · Washed and used whole[disarapong2005][jircas]
1 part by weightSalt · Thai makers range from 5:1 to 1:1 fish to salt[disarapong2005][jircas]
As neededSaturated brine · Poured over the residue to extract lower grades[disarapong2005][jircas]
Starterspontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 10 months – 2 years

Start
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Close-up: salt moving into a pieceSalt 25–33 %

What changes: Salt layered between the anchovies starts to pull water out of the fish

Step 1 of 6
Layer the fish with salt
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
25–33 %
Reported
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
T. halophilus
Halomonas

The fish are washed in cold water first to remove dirt and lower the microbial load. Output: salted fish.

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

Nam pla is the Thai anchovy sauce made in large tanks and sold by grade of total nitrogen, with Thai law setting a lower nitrogen floor (9 g/L) than Codex (10 g/L). Unlike Phú Quốc nước mắm, which ferments in wooden barrels and is drawn off and poured back until clear, the Thai first extract is sun-ripened for 1–3 months before bottling.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Nam pla thae (pure fish sauce)Made only by fermenting fish or fish residue; at least 9 g/L total nitrogen and 200 g/L salt under the Thai standard.
  • Fish sauce from other animalsFermented from animals other than fish, such as shrimp or squid, and labelled with the animal's name.
  • Nam pla phasom (mixed fish sauce)Pure fish sauce diluted or flavoured; the Thai floor is 4 g/L total nitrogen.
  • Pla soi and pla kratak (historical)Older names for sauces from freshwater fish (pla soi) and sea fish (pla kratak).

Safety

Codex requires at least 200 g/L salt and caps histamine at 40 mg per 100 g of sauce. Histamine forms when fish warm up before salting; 16 Thai brands bought in Taiwan held 26–515 ppm, and at least one was above that cap, so fish must be chilled and salted fresh. Codex also bars fish carrying marine biotoxins.

Hazards the sources name: Histamine-forming bacteria on fish that warm up before salting.

History and sources

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

Thailand's Ministry of Public Health set the current fish sauce standard in 2000 (Notification No. 203), replacing a 1989 rule, and later added iodine rules. Thai industry grades sauce by total nitrogen under a 1983 Thai Industrial Standard.

  1. [codex302] Codex Alimentarius Commission, Standard for Fish Sauce, CXS 302-2011 (amended 2012, 2013), FAO/WHOspec
  2. [thai203] Thai Ministry of Public Health Notification No. 203 (B.E. 2543, 2000) on fish sauce, consolidated text, Thai Food and Drug Administrationspec
  3. [jircas] Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), Database of Fermented Foods of Thailand, Nam-plaagov
  4. [disarapong2005] Disarapong S. 2005, Effect of tuna internal organs quality and the acceleration of protein hydrolysis on changes in fish sauce characteristics during fermentation, M.Sc. thesis, Prince of Songkla University, chapter 1 (reviews Lopetcharat et al. 2001, Food Reviews International 17:65–88)paper
  5. [huang2025] Huang Y.-R., Wu P.-C., Lo C.-J., Lee Y.-C., Tsai Y.-H. 2025, Comparative analysis of chemical composition and food safety of commercial fish sauces from four Asian countries, Foods 14(17):3134paper
  6. [udomsil2010] Udomsil N., Rodtong S., Tanasupawat S., Yongsawatdigul J. 2010, Proteinase-producing halophilic lactic acid bacteria isolated from fish sauce fermentation, International Journal of Food Microbiology 141:186–194paper
  7. [ohshima2019] Ohshima C. et al. 2019, Next-generation sequencing reveals predominant bacterial communities during fermentation of Thai fish sauce in large manufacturing plants, LWT 114:108375paper
  8. [wp] Wikipedia, Fish sauce (variant names only)wiki