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Fermentation Atlas

Sauces and condiments from Myanmar

Ngan-pya-yeငါးငံပြာရည်

thin, salty fish or shrimp sauce, often a by-product of ngapi. Made in 4 steps over 2.2 months – 6.2 months. The longest step, age the juice in tanks, takes 2–6 months (Ishige N 1987). Salt is 30–40 % (Ishige N 1987). Tetragenococcus muriaticus, 10^2–10^5 cfu/ml in bottled shrimp sauces and Halanaerobium do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step2–6 monthsReported[ishige1987]Age the juice in tanks
Salt30–40 %Reported[ishige1987]Salt the fish at the landing port
AciditypH 6.9–7.1Measured[mizutani1988]Blend and bottle
DocumentedSauces and condiments2.2 months – 6.2 monthsMore sauces and condimentsMore from Myanmar

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedWhat goes in. No source gives amounts for this ferment.
small fish
anchovy
krill
shrimp
salt
Starter: spontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 2.2 months – 6.2 months

Start
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Salt 30–40 %

What changes: Small sea fish are mixed with salt and packed into jute sacks

Step 1 of 4
Salt the fish at the landing port
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
30–40 %
Reported
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
T. muriaticus

Fish of about 12 cm, caught December to July, are trucked in jute sacks; more salt is added if they look soft. Output: salted fish in jute sacks.

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

Variants

  • Traditional by-productThe drip from ngapi gaung boxes or the seepage from ngapi jars is collected; commercial makers aged it about a year in jars, and households spooned it out as needed. Boiling and straining ngapi gaung also gives ngan-pya-ye. A 1982 freshwater sample ("ngapiyekyan") read pH 5.4, NaCl 28.6 g/dl and total N 1.43 g/dl [ishige1987, mizutani1988].

Safety

bottled Myanmar shrimp sauces held 10^2-10^5 cfu/ml lactic bacteria (Tetragenococcus muriaticus).

History and sources

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

Ishige and Ruddle describe the sack-press method as unique to Burma; their example factory near Rangoon was founded in 1974. Bottled factory sauce dates from 1956 and greatly increased fish-sauce use in Burmese cooking [ishige1987].

  1. [s1] Wikipedia, Fish sauce (Myanmar), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_saucewiki
  2. [s2] Fisheries Science 2020, Myanmar bottled shrimp sauce microbiota, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12562-020-01415-3web
  3. [ishige1987] Ishige N., Ruddle K. 1987, Gyoshō in Southeast Asia (Study of Fermented Aquatic Products 5), Bull. Natl Mus. Ethnol. 12(2), pp. 274–283paper
  4. [mizutani1988] Mizutani T. et al. 1988, A chemical analysis of fermented fish products (6), Bull. Natl Mus. Ethnol. 12(3)paper