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Fermentation Atlas

Fish and seafood from Malaysia

Pekasampekasam

sour-salty fish fried before eating; pH 4.5-6.1. Made in 3 steps over 7 days – 30 days. The longest step, ferment, takes 7–30 days (Md Yusoff N.I. et al. 2025) and runs at 28 °C (Md Yusoff N.I. et al. 2025). Salt is 10–30 % (Md Yusoff N.I. et al. 2025). Lactobacillus does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step7–30 daysReported[yusoff2025][s1]Ferment
Temperature28 °CMeasured[yusoff2025]Ferment
Salt10–30 %Reported[yusoff2025][s1]Salt fish
DocumentedFish and seafood7 days – 30 daysMore fish and seafoodMore from IndonesiaMore from Malaysia

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedWhat goes in. No source gives amounts for this ferment.
freshwater fish (tilapia, sepat, lampam; silver barb, climbing perch and three-spot gourami in a lab study)
salt
roasted ground rice
tamarind (asam keping)
Starter: spontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 7 days – 30 days

Start
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Close-up: salt moving into a fishSalt 10–30 %

What changes: Salt draws water out of the fish overnight

Step 1 of 3
Salt fish
Time
overnight, after 15 min of drying (lab method)
Measured
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
10–30 %
Reported
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactobacillus
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

Made the pekasam way

History and sources

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

  1. [s1] Narzary et al. 2021paper
  2. [yusoff2025] Md Yusoff N.I. et al. 2025, pekasam from silver barb, climbing perch and three-spot gourami, J. Agrobiotechnology 16(2):55-62paper