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Fish and seafood from Indonesia

Terasiterasi

Terasi is Indonesia's shrimp paste, made mostly from tiny rebon shrimp (Acetes). The shrimp are washed, salted and left to ferment, then dried and ground in turns before being pressed into blocks and dried again. Cirebon is one of the main production centres.

Fully documentedFish and seafood12 months – 2 years

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceSalt rates from two small Cirebon makers; amounts vary by maker.
Rebon shrimp (Acetes)Dried rebon at one Cirebon maker, fresh shrimp at another; the study says terasi is made from fish or shrimp[azmi2024][utama2025][kurnianto2025]
Salt150–350 g per kg of paste350 g at one Cirebon maker, 150 g at another[azmi2024]
Starterspontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 12 months – 2 years

Start
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What changes: The tiny shrimp are sorted and washed

Step 1 of 5
Sort and wash the shrimp
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Bacillus

Output: clean rebon shrimp.

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

Terasi is Indonesia's shrimp paste, made mostly from tiny rebon shrimp (Acetes). The shrimp are washed, salted and left to ferment, then dried and ground in turns before being pressed into blocks and dried again. Cirebon is one of the main production centres. Made in 5 steps over 12 months – 2 years. The longest step, store, takes 12 months – 2 years (Azmi S 2024). Lactic acid bacteria, steady at 6.32–7.64 log CFU/g over 14 days and Staphylococcus, which increased during fermentation, with Bacillus, Exiguobacterium and Jeotgalicoccus among the abundant genera do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step12 months – 2 yearsReported[azmi2024]Store
Temperature30–35 °CReported[utama2025]Dry and grind, twice
AciditypH 5.9–7.4Measured[azmi2024]Store

What makes this one different

Terasi is fermented, then dried and ground several times and pressed into blocks. Indonesia's national standard SNI 2716:2016 sets its moisture, protein and hygiene limits.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Wet terasiA softer paste; the standard allows up to 45 % moisture.
  • Terasi from fishMade from small fish instead of shrimp.

Safety

In 12 samples from two small Cirebon makers, presumptive E. coli counts ran above the national standard's limit and all held moulds, though PCR found no Salmonella or Vibrio parahaemolyticus. The study judged this terasi not safe for direct consumption, and it does not say that cooking makes it safe. The fall in Vibrio is a fall in its share of the bacteria in one laboratory batch, not a pathogen test, so it does not show that raw paste is safe. The 14 days at room temperature on this page come from that batch, which had only 5 % salt and was not tested as a home method; the two Cirebon makers used 15–35 %.

Hazards the sources name: Vibrio, 39 % of bacteria on day 0, almost gone by day 7 (laboratory terasi); Escherichia coli, 6.00×10^2 to 2.10×10^4 CFU/g in Cirebon terasi, above the national standard's limit.

History and sources

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

History
The sources we found do not record its history.
  1. [kurnianto2025] Kurnianto M.A., Adirama S.I., Xu W., Winarti S., Rini D.M. 2025, Enhancing the quality of traditional Indonesian shrimp paste (terasi) through Tetragenococcus halophilus 54M106-3 inoculation, Foods 14(14):2419paper
  2. [azmi2024] Azmi S., Pratama R.I., Triwibowo R., Dewanti L.P., Rostini I. 2024, Quality and microbiological conditions of small-scale shrimp paste processing in Cirebon production centers, Jurnal Perikanan 14(4):1798–1809 (cites SNI 2716:2016)paper
  3. [utama2025] Utama G.L. et al. 2025, Unveiling microbial dynamics in terasi spontaneous fermentation, insights into glutamate and GABA production, Current Research in Food Sciencepaper