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Sauces and condiments from Northern Thailand

Nam-pooน้ำปู

Live rice-field crabs are pounded with lemongrass and other leaves, and the juice is pressed out through woven bamboo. The juice ferments overnight, then is salted lightly and cooked slowly into a thick black paste with a very strong smell. It is made at home in the north and goes into chilli dips (nam prik).

A short entry: the sources we found record only what is said here about Nam-poo itself.

Short entrySauces and condiments24 h

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedHome method with no fixed amounts.
Live freshwater crabsSesarma mederi (poo-sa-mer) and Somanniathelphusa (poo-naa)[jircas]
Lemongrass, galangal and guava leavesTo hide the fishy smell; some districts use lemongrass only[jircas]
Watera littleAdded at each pounding[jircas]
Salta small amountAdded the next morning, before cooking[jircas]

Total time across the recorded steps: 24 h

Start
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What changes: Live crabs are pounded with lemongrass and leaves and a little water

Step 1 of 5
Wash and pound live crabs with leaves
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Flavour
Not documented
Texture
crushed crab and leaves
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

Live rice-field crabs are pounded with lemongrass and other leaves, and the juice is pressed out through woven bamboo. The juice ferments overnight, then is salted lightly and cooked slowly into a thick black paste with a very strong smell. It is made at home in the north and goes into chilli dips (nam prik). Made in 5 steps over 24 h. The longest step, ferment the juice overnight, takes 24 h (JIRCAS).

Key numbers
Main step24 hReported[jircas]Ferment the juice overnight

What makes this one different

Nam-poo ferments only the pressed crab juice, and only overnight, then cooks it down to a paste (JIRCAS).

Related ferments

Safety

No study gives the pH or salt of nam-poo itself. A related rice-field crab chilli paste measured pH 4.75 and kept only 5 days at room temperature but 141 days at 5 °C. Botulism spores can survive boiling for hours (WHO), and only a small amount of salt goes in before this paste is packed in a screw-cap jar. JIRCAS gives its one-year storage life with no temperature or test, so that is not a safety result. Keep every jar cold, opened or not.

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, Nam-poo (น้ำปู)gov
  2. [siripanwattana2026] Siripanwattana C., Santijayabhorn J., Iamtaweejaroen P., Pianjing P. 2026, Extension of the shelf life of rice field crab chili paste using hurdle technology, Journal of Food Health and Bioenvironmental Science 19(2):e269260 (abstract; a related chilli paste, not nam-poo)paper
  3. [who-botulism] WHO, Botulism fact sheetgov