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Vegetables from Thailand

Lam-peuak-dorng (fermented taro leaf stalk)ลำเผือกดอง

Lam-peuak-dorng is young taro leaf stalks, peeled, cut into short pieces and kneaded with about 2.5 % salt until soft. They are packed in an earthen jar with rice-wash water and left at room temperature for about 5 days, until sour and light purple. It is eaten with nam prik and cooked in spicy soups.

DocumentedVegetables5 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceHome recipe from the JIRCAS card; salt is given as a share of the stalk weight.
Young taro leaf stalksOuter skin peeled off, cut into pieces 2.5–3 inches long[jircas]
SaltAbout 2.5 % of the stalk weight[jircas]
Rice-wash waterEnough to packMore is added when the pickle is served[jircas]

Total time across the recorded steps: 5 days

Start
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What changes: Young taro stalks are peeled and cut into short pieces

Step 1 of 4
Peel and cut the stalks
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Pieces 2.5–3 inches long.

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

Lam-peuak-dorng is young taro leaf stalks, peeled, cut into short pieces and kneaded with about 2.5 % salt until soft. They are packed in an earthen jar with rice-wash water and left at room temperature for about 5 days, until sour and light purple. It is eaten with nam prik and cooked in spicy soups. Made in 4 steps over 5 days. The longest step, pack in an earthen jar with rice-wash water and ferment, takes 5 days (JIRCAS 2026). Salt is 2.5 % (JIRCAS 2026).

Key numbers
Main step5 daysReported[jircas]Pack in an earthen jar with rice-wash water and ferment
Salt2.5 %Reported[jircas]Knead with salt until soft

What makes this one different

Unlike Thai pickles of leaves or bulbs, this one is made from taro leaf stalks, which carry needle-like calcium oxalate crystals. It uses about 2.5 % salt, and the card gives a storage life of 15 days.

Related ferments

Safety

Taro plants, including the leaf stalk, hold needle-like calcium oxalate crystals that numb the mouth and can damage its lining. In a study of taro flowers, 2 hours of steaming cut both the number and the size of the crystals by roughly 70 to 80 %, though total oxalate stayed the same, and 30 minutes removed only about 20 %. A drop of acetic acid on a microscope slide left the crystals unchanged after 30 minutes [zi2024]. A 2025 review lists calcium oxalate crystals among the anti-nutrients of taro corms and leaves and names boiling, roasting and fermentation as traditional ways to reduce them; it also warns of cyanogenic compounds in corms and leaves [pertiwi2025]. No study we found measured any of this in the fermented stalks, so 5 days of fermenting cannot be assumed to remove them. That long steaming of flowers is the only cooking we found measured, so a short time in the soup may do little. If it numbs or stings the mouth, stop eating it.

History and sources

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

  1. [jircas] JIRCAS, Database of Fermented Foods of Thailand, Lam-peuak-dorng (fermented taro leaf stalk) card, read 2026-10-23gov
  2. [zi2024] Zi H., Chen R., Jia N., Ma Y., Zhao C., Chen Z., Zhang J. 2024, Impact of cooking duration on calcium oxalate needle-like crystals in plants, a case study of vegetable taro flowers in Yunnan, Foods 13(23):3730, doi:10.3390/foods13233730 (abstract)paper
  3. [pertiwi2025] Pertiwi R., Wilar G., Sumiwi S.A., Levita J. 2025, Colocasia esculenta as a potential plant-based medicine, a review on its bioactive constituents and pharmacological activities, Journal of Experimental Pharmacology 17:755-803, doi:10.2147/JEP.S550113paper