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Vegetables from Thailand

Dton-horm-dorng (fermented green shallots)ต้นหอมดอง

Dton-horm-dorng is fresh shallots covered with a 10 % salt brine and a little cooked rice, then left under a cheesecloth in the shade for about 4 days. The shallots turn yellowish green, salty and sour. It is eaten with nam prik.

Fully documentedVegetables4 days

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedHome recipe with no fixed batch size. The JIRCAS card gives only the brine strength and a small amount of cooked rice.
Fresh shallots (dton-horm)Washed and drained[jircas]
Salt solution, 10 % (w/v)enough to cover[jircas]
Cooked ricea small amountSome places use coconut juice instead[jircas]

Total time across the recorded steps: 4 days

Start
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What changes: Starting material: fresh shallots, washed and drained

Step 1 of 5
Wash and drain the shallots
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactobacillus plantarum
Lactobacillus
Pediococcus pentosaceus
Candida
Lactobacillus sp.

Output: clean shallots in a bowl.

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

Dton-horm-dorng is fresh shallots covered with a 10 % salt brine and a little cooked rice, then left under a cheesecloth in the shade for about 4 days. The shallots turn yellowish green, salty and sour. It is eaten with nam prik. Made in 5 steps over 4 days. The longest step, cover with cheesecloth and ferment in the shade, takes 4 days (JIRCAS 2026). Salt is 10 % (JIRCAS 2026). Lactobacillus plantarum, other Lactobacillus sp. and Pediococcus pentosaceus does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step4 daysReported[jircas]Cover with cheesecloth and ferment in the shade
Salt10 %Reported[jircas]Cover with 10 % brine and mix in a little cooked rice

What makes this one different

Unlike horm-dorng, which uses peeled shallot bulbs in a sweetened vinegar mix, dton-horm-dorng uses fresh shallots in plain salt brine with cooked rice and no vinegar. It is quick, ready in about 4 days, and keeps only a week.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Pickled scallion (ton-hom dong, Allium fistulosum)A closely related market pickle made from scallions with salt and rice-washed water, fermented 5–7 days at room temperature [panutai2024].
  • Coconut-juice versionCoconut juice replaces the cooked rice in some places [jircas].

Safety

Market samples of the closely related pickled scallions were about pH 3.5 [panutai2024]. The pickle is short-lived and keeps only about 7 days [jircas].

History and sources

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

Koch Cha Sarn Journal of Science (2020) names ton-hom (spring onion) among the vegetables that Thai-Lao and Thai-Khmer makers in border villages of Surin province pickle, as som phak (Thai-Lao) or chu (Thai-Khmer). Makers in both groups say they inherited the method from their ancestors and passed it to their children.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [jircas] JIRCAS, Database of Fermented Foods of Thailand, Dton-horm-dorng (brine pickled shallot) card, read 2026-10-23gov
  2. [panutai2024] Pan-Utai W., Settachaimongkon S., La-Ongkham O. et al. 2024, Physicochemical, nutritional, and antioxidant properties of traditionally fermented Thai vegetables, Foods 13(17):2848, doi:10.3390/foods13172848 (Tables 1–3)paper
  3. [trongjit2020] กฤช ตรองจิตต์ and อุบลวรรณ สุวรรณภูสิทธิ์ 2020, Fermented food technology, local wisdom and eating culture of ethnic groups along the Thailand-Cambodia border regions (เทคโนโลยีอาหารหมัก ภูมิปัญญาท้องถิ่นกับวัฒนธรรมการกินอาหารของกลุ่มชาติพันธุ์บริเวณชายแดนไทย-กัมพูชา), Koch Cha Sarn Journal of Science 42(2):23-39 (section 3.6, pickled vegetables)paper