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Fermentation Atlas

Fish and seafood from Korea

Sikhae식해

Sikhae is lightly salted fish mixed with cooked millet or rice, radish, chilli powder and garlic, then left to sour. Lactic acid bacteria feed on the grain, and the pH falls to about 4.5 within days to a week. The flatfish form, gajami-sikhae, is the best known. Made in 4 steps over 35 days – 56 days. The longest step, ferment, takes 7–28 days (Lee C.H 1983) and runs at 20 °C (Lee C.H 1983). Salt is 2–10 % (Narzary Y 2021). Latilactobacillus sakei and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and Levilactobacillus brevis do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step7–28 daysReported[lee1983][chayu2024]Ferment
Temperature20 °CMeasured[lee1983]Ferment
Salt2–10 %Reported[narzary2021][chayu2024]Mix with cooked millet, radish, chilli and garlic
AciditypH 6.3 → 4.5Measured[kim2022][lee1983]Ferment
Fully documentedFish and seafood35 days – 56 daysMore fish and seafoodMore from Korea

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe studies name the ingredients but give no ratios; the salt levels come from two reviews that disagree. Makers set the amounts by hand.
Salted flatfish (Glyptocephalus stelleri), cut up[kim2022][lee1983]
Boiled millet (Setaria italica)[kim2022][lee1983]
Radish[kim2022]
Red pepper powder and chopped garlic[kim2022][lee1983]
Low salt; about 2 % in one review, 5–10 % in anotherSalt[narzary2021][chayu2024]
Starterspontaneous (the grain feeds lactic acid bacteria)

Total time across the recorded steps: 35 days – 56 days

Start
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Close-up: salt moving into a fish

What changes: Salt draws water out of the fish pieces

Step 1 of 4
Salt the fish
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
L. sakei
L. mesenteroides

Output: lightly salted fish pieces.

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

What makes this one different

Sikhae uses less salt than other jeotgal and adds cooked grain, so it sours by lactic fermentation in days. Most jeotgal are salted at 20–30 % and ripen slowly with no grain.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Gajami-sikhae (flounder)Hamgyeong and Gangwon style with millet; the reference sikhae.
  • Myeongtae-sikhae (pollock)Pollock pieces instead of flatfish.
  • Dorumuk-sikhae (sandfish)Sandfish instead of flatfish.

Safety

Sikhae is low in salt, so its safety rests on the fast fall in pH; in one study the pH dropped from 6.25 to 4.50 within two days at 20 °C. Keep it refrigerated after it sours; one study found quality held for up to 4 weeks in the refrigerator.

History and sources

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

  1. [kim2022] Kim E., Won J.-E., Yang S.-M., Kim H.-J., Kim H.-Y. 2022, Diversity of a lactic acid bacterial community during fermentation of gajami-sikhae, a traditional Korean fermented fish, as determined by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, Foods 11(7):909paper
  2. [lee1983] Lee C.H., Cho T.S., Lim M.H., Kang J.H., Yang H.C. 1983, Studies on the sik-hae fermentation made by flat-fish, Korean Journal of Applied Microbiology and Bioengineering (Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters) 11(1):53–58 (abstract)paper
  3. [chayu2024] Cha Y.J., Yu D. 2024, Health benefits and functions of salt-fermented fish, Journal of Ethnic Foods 11:34 (table 1)paper
  4. [narzary2021] Narzary Y., Das S., Goyal A., Lam S., Sarma H., Sharma D. 2021, Fermented fish products in South and Southeast Asian cuisine, indigenous technology processes, nutrient composition, and cultural significance, Journal of Ethnic Foods 8:33, doi:10.1186/s42779-021-00109-0 (tables 1 and 2)paper