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Soy and legumes from Assam

Other NE Indian soybean ferments (bemerthu, bekanthu, bezeithu, grep-chhurpi, peha, peron namsing, pehak)

A group entry for lesser-known home-made soybean ferments of north-east India, known mostly by name. A 2023 metagenome study of grep-chhurpi, peha and peron namsing from Arunachal Pradesh found Bacillus subtilis to be the main species in all of them. Their making is not yet described in any source read.

A short entry: the sources we found record only what is said here about Other NE Indian soybean ferments itself. Its own sources do not record how it is made, so the steps and scenes below are those of Kinema, the closest documented soy and legumes ferment, shown as a guide to the method, not as a record of Other NE Indian soybean ferments.

Short entrySoy and legumes

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedWhat goes in. No source gives amounts for this ferment.
soybeans; pehak adds bhut jolokia chilli

Total time across the steps of Kinema: 26 h – 3.1 days

Start
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Close-up: water moving into a bean

What changes: Soybeans are washed and soak overnight

Step 1 of 6 · steps of Kinema
Select, wash and soak the soybeans
Time
Overnight
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Bacillus

Output: soaked beans.

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

A group entry for lesser-known home-made soybean ferments of north-east India, known mostly by name. A 2023 metagenome study of grep-chhurpi, peha and peron namsing from Arunachal Pradesh found Bacillus subtilis to be the main species in all of them. Their making is not yet described in any source read. Bacillus subtilis does most of the fermenting.

What makes this one different

Like kinema, the grep-chhurpi, peha and peron namsing studied are Bacillus-fermented soybeans; the 2023 study found the microbiome and metabolites of grep-chhurpi, peron namsing and peruñyaan clearly different from other Asian fermented soybean foods.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Grep-chhurpi, peha and peron namsingArunachal Pradesh home-made foods; microbiome studied in 2023, process not described.
  • Bemerthu and bekanthuAssam (state named in the round-2 notes); nothing more found.
  • BezeithuTripura (state named in the round-2 notes); nothing more found.
  • PehakFermented soybeans prepared with bhut jolokia chilli (Wikipedia list only).

History and sources

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

The round-2 notes, from Tamang 2024, assign bemerthu and bekanthu to Assam, grep-chhurpi, peha and peron namsing to Arunachal Pradesh, and bezeithu to Tripura.

  1. [kharnaior2023] Kharnaior P., Tamang J.P. 2023, Microbiome and metabolome in home-made fermented soybean foods of India revealed by metagenome-assembled genomes and metabolomics, International Journal of Food Microbiology 407:110417 (abstract)paper
  2. [T2024] Tamang J.P. 2024, Unveiling kinema, blending tradition and science in the Himalayan fermented soya delicacy, Journal of Ethnic Foods 11:29 (Fig. 1 names; cited from the round-2 notes, not reread)other
  3. [s3] English Wikipedia, List of fermented soy productswiki