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Vegetables from Thailand

Look-riang-dorng (fermented Parkia sprouts)ลูกเหรียงดอง

Look-riang-dorng is the sprouted seed of Parkia timoriana, blanched for a few minutes and soured for 3 to 5 days in the shade under a 10 % salt solution made with coconut water. The liquid turns white as it ferments. Thailand's community product standard requires the finished pickle to be pH 4.0 or below.

Fully documentedVegetables3 days – 5 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceHome method from the JIRCAS Thai fermented-food card; the salt strength is the only amount given.
Sprouted sa-riang seedsSprouted until the young roots show[jircas][tcps318]
Salt dissolved in coconut waterAbout 10 % (w/v) saltRice-wash water in some places; enough to cover[jircas]

Total time across the recorded steps: 3 days – 5 days

Start
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What changes: Starting material: Parkia seeds sprouted until their young roots show

Step 1 of 3
Sprout the seeds
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactobacillus plantarum
Lactobacillus
Candida sp.

The standard defines the product as seeds sprouted until young roots appear, then blanched.

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

Look-riang-dorng is the sprouted seed of Parkia timoriana, blanched for a few minutes and soured for 3 to 5 days in the shade under a 10 % salt solution made with coconut water. The liquid turns white as it ferments. Thailand's community product standard requires the finished pickle to be pH 4.0 or below. Made in 3 steps over 3 days – 5 days. The longest step, cover with salted coconut water, close and ferment in the shade, takes 3–5 days (JIRCAS 1995). Salt is 10 % (JIRCAS 1995). Lactobacillus plantarum and other Lactobacillus species and Candida sp. do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step3–5 daysReported[jircas]Cover with salted coconut water, close and ferment in the shade
Salt10 %Reported[jircas]Cover with salted coconut water, close and ferment in the shade
AciditypH up to 4Set[tcps318]Cover with salted coconut water, close and ferment in the shade

What makes this one different

Look-riang-dorng is a pickle of sprouted seeds, made with coconut water or, in some places, rice-wash water. The tree, Parkia timoriana, is called riang in Thailand, and a Thai food-science study notes that its seed can be eaten after germination and dehulling [medhe2022].

Related ferments

Safety

Thailand's community standard for pickled Parkia sprouts requires pH 4.0 or below, total microbes no more than 1 × 10^4 per gram, no Staphylococcus aureus in 0.1 g, E. coli below 3 per gram (MPN) and yeasts and moulds no more than 100 per gram. It bans synthetic colours, borax and non-sugar sweeteners.

Hazards the sources name: Staphylococcus aureus; Escherichia coli (the standard sets a 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.
Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [jircas] JIRCAS, Database of Fermented Foods of Thailand: Look-riang-dorng (fermented parkia sprout); microbes cite The traditional fermented foods of Thailand (1995); read 2026-10-23gov
  2. [tcps318] Thai Industrial Standards Institute 2004, Thai Community Product Standard มผช.318/2547, Pickled Parkia bean (look-riang dorng) (copy on archive.org)spec
  3. [medhe2022] Medhe S.V., Kamble M.T., Kettawan A.K., Monboonpitak N., Kettawan A. 2022, Effect of hydrothermal cooking and germination treatment on functional and physicochemical properties of Parkia timoriana bean flours, Foods 11(13):1822, doi:10.3390/foods11131822 (introduction)paper