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Fish and seafood from India

Naphamnapham

Napham is the Bodo people's fermented fish paste from Assam. Dried or smoked fish is pounded with tender taro (colocasia) shoots or roselle leaves and left to ferment in a bamboo tube or a jar for one to two months. One review says a local alkali, khar, is sometimes used in place of salt.

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

Short entryFish and seafood30 days – 2 months

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedNo source gives amounts; the ratio of fish to taro shoots varies by area.
Dried fish[bodo-archive][borthakur2026]
Tender taro (colocasia) shoots, or roselle leaves[bodo-archive][borthakur2026]
Starterspontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 30 days – 2 months

Start
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What changes: The fish is dried or smoked

Step 1 of 3
Dry or smoke the fish
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
L. acidipiscis

The intensity of drying or smoking varies by area. Output: dried 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

At a glance

Napham is the Bodo people's fermented fish paste from Assam. Dried or smoked fish is pounded with tender taro (colocasia) shoots or roselle leaves and left to ferment in a bamboo tube or a jar for one to two months. One review says a local alkali, khar, is sometimes used in place of salt. Made in 3 steps over 30 days – 2 months. The longest step, pack into a bamboo tube or jar and ferment, takes 30 days – 2 months (Basumatary B. 2021). Staphylococcus saprophyticus, S. piscifermentans, S. debuckii and Lactobacillus acidipiscis, a core consortium in napham from several locations in Assam does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step30 days – 2 monthsReported[bodo-archive]Pack into a bamboo tube or jar and ferment

What makes this one different

Napham pounds dried fish together with taro shoots before it ferments, so it is a plant and fish paste aged in bamboo. In some accounts the alkali khar takes the place of salt.

Related ferments

History and sources

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

Narzary et al. (2021) say napham is still made the traditional way with a mortar and pestle and with local ingredients, and that its making and the paste itself are integral to Bodo cultural identity. A 2026 study reports that it was recently granted Geographical Indication status in Assam.

  1. [s1] Narzary Y. et al. 2021, Fermented fish products in South and Southeast Asian cuisine, indigenous technology processes, nutrient composition, and cultural significance, Journal of Ethnic Foods 8:33 (text and Fig. 5 caption)paper
  2. [bodo-archive] Basumatary B. 2021, नाफाम (Napham), Bodo Dimasa Digital Archive, digital heritage recordarchive
  3. [borthakur2026] Borthakur D., Sharma B.K., Duncan T. 2026, Functional and flavour-enhancing properties of Staphylococcus sp. from Napham, npj Science of Food, doi:10.1038/s41538-026-00885-6paper
  4. [das2026] Das S., Phukan P.S., Kalita D. 2026, Integrative bacterial-metabolite compositional profiling of traditional fermented fish paste (Napham), Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 119(2):47, doi:10.1007/s10482-026-02261-6 (abstract)paper