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Fruit from Thailand

Ma-kaam-pom-dorng (pickled Indian gooseberry)มะขามป้อมดอง

Ma-kaam-pom-dorng is Indian gooseberry wilted in the sun and soaked in about 20 % salt brine, sweetened to taste with an extract of cha-em stem. The bowl is covered with cheesecloth and left in the shade for 5 days. It is a sour, salty and sweet snack.

Fully documentedFruit5 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceHome method from the JIRCAS Thai fermented-food card; only the brine strength is given, not the batch size.
Mature Indian gooseberriesWashed and sun-wilted[jircas]
Salt solutionAbout 20 % (w/v)[jircas]
Cha-em extractTo tasteA few pieces of dried climbing stem soaked in water for a few hours, then strained; used to sweeten[jircas]

Total time across the recorded steps: 5 days

Start
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What changes: Washed gooseberries wilt in the sun as water leaves them

Step 1 of 4
Wash and sun-wilt the fruit
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactobacillus plantarum
L. brevis
Lactococcus lactis
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

Ma-kaam-pom-dorng is Indian gooseberry wilted in the sun and soaked in about 20 % salt brine, sweetened to taste with an extract of cha-em stem. The bowl is covered with cheesecloth and left in the shade for 5 days. It is a sour, salty and sweet snack. Made in 4 steps over 5 days. The longest step, cover with cheesecloth and ferment in the shade, takes 5 days (JIRCAS 2026). Salt is 20 % (JIRCAS 2026). Lactobacillus plantarum, L. brevis, L. pentosus and Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step5 daysReported[jircas]Cover with cheesecloth and ferment in the shade
Salt20 %Reported[jircas]Soak in brine, with cha-em extract to taste
AciditypH up to 3.5Set[tcps160]Cover with cheesecloth and ferment in the shade

What makes this one different

Ma-kaam-pom-dorng follows the general Thai fruit-pickle method but the fruit is sun-wilted first and sweetened to taste with cha-em stem extract. It sours in an open bowl under cloth, not a closed jar.

Related ferments

Safety

Thailand's community standard for pickled fruit requires pH 3.5 or below, total microbes at most 1 × 10^4 per gram, no Staphylococcus aureus in 0.1 g, E. coli below 3 per gram (MPN) and yeasts and moulds at most 100 per gram. It bans synthetic colours, borax and sweeteners other than sugar. Keep the fruit under the brine and the cloth clean. In a 2015 survey of 45 pickled fruit samples (plum and Indian gooseberry) at the Indochina Market in Nong Khai, the gooseberry pickles included 2 samples with E. coli above 3 per gram, 1 with S. aureus and 9 with moulds above 100 per gram, and 3 with borax [koosab2016].

Hazards the sources name: Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli (the pickled-fruit standard sets limits for both); Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and moulds (found in market samples of pickled Indian gooseberry above the standard's limits).

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: Ma-kaam-pom-dorng (pickled Indian gooseberry), read 2026-10-23gov
  2. [tcps160] Thai Industrial Standards Institute 2003, Thai Community Product Standard มผช.160/2546, Pickled fruit (phonlamai dong) (copy on archive.org)spec
  3. [koosab2016] Matnakhul K. (คู่ทรัพย์ มาตรณาคุณ), Settheetham D. 2016, Microbial contamination in processed fruit sold at Indochina Market, Nongkhai Province (Thai), Khon Kaen University Research Journal (วารสารวิจัย มข. (บศ.)) 16(2), tables 1 and 2paper
  4. [chanprasert2010] Chanprasert N. 2010, Growth inhibition of foodborne pathogens by crude bacteriocin produced from lactic acid bacteria isolated from pickled Garcinia schomburgkiana Pierre products, MSc thesis, Suranaree University of Technology (abstract and chapter text, in English and Thai)paper