Sauces and condiments

Also called 액젓, 멸치액젓 myeolchi-aekjeot, 까나리액젓 kkanari-aekjeot, Korean fish sauce, eojang 어장.

fish sauce used in kimchi, guk and jjigae

1. Salt fish
2. Ferment12 months – 2 years
3. Draw and filter liquid

• Wikipedia, Jeotgal and Fish sauce (Korea)
• Narzary et al. 2021

Also called 鮎魚醤, sweetfish fish sauce.

new fish sauce (2001 project) sold as 'Ayu gyoshō'

1. Mince sweetfish with salt and selected enzymes; ferment

• Oita Industrial Science and Technology Center, 平成13年度研究報告 (via search summary), https://antique.oita-ri.jp/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/2001_37.pdf

sharp, acidic chilli sauce

1. Grind with salt the same day8 % salt
2. Barrel agingup to 3 years
3. Strain and mix with vinegar30 days

• Wikipedia, Tabasco sauce. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabasco_sauce

sour liquid seasoning

1. Collect liquid from fermenting shoot pits or baskets

• Review cited in round-1 search (North-East India fermented bamboo shoots)

shrimp sauce, 2-3 times the price of fish sauce, used at about 1/10 its volume. A 1982 'Super Quality' Dawei sample: pH 7.1, NaCl 28.8 g/dl, water 63.8 g/dl, total N 1.10 g/dl (Mizutani et al. 1988).

1. Salt shrimp at the coast and ripen in concrete tanks
2. Separate liquid, remove solids, heat to 105 C, bottle105 °C

• Ishige and Ruddle 1987, p. 283
• Mizutani et al. 1988, table 5 and appendix sample B/SS/M/1

Also called 老抽, 草菇老抽.

longer aged, thickened with caramel or molasses; mushroom version adds straw-mushroom broth [WP-Soy sauce, SIC-shoyu]

Made like Koikuchi shoyu (Japanese dark soy sauce, honjōzō brewed) — reference process.

• English Wikipedia, Soy sauce
• Shurtleff W., Aoyagi A., History of Soy Sauce, Shoyu and Tamari, SoyInfo Center

Also called 辣椒酱, 发酵辣椒.

salty, sour chilli mash (base for doubanjiang-type and hot-pot pastes)

1. Chop/mash with salt, seal15–22 % salt
2. Ferment45 days · 40 °C

Safety: Low salt raised conditionally pathogenic Enterobacter and Klebsiella; salt suppresses them.

• Dai L. et al., 2026, Effects of controlled water activity on microbial community succession and flavor formation in low-salt chili mash fermentation, Foods 15(2):360, PMC12840632

~10 % of market; brine 17–20 %, 15–30 °C, 90–180 days [WP-Soy sauce]

Brine

17–20 % salt

Moromi temperature

15–30 °C

Moromi time

90–180 days

Made like Koikuchi shoyu (Japanese dark soy sauce, honjōzō brewed) — reference process.

• English Wikipedia, Soy sauce

Also called 生抽, 头抽, 双璜.

first drawings are best (tóuchōu for dipping); shuānghuáng brewed using light soy instead of brine [WP-Soy sauce]; traditional sun-fermented vats stirred daily, 3–6 months, bamboo strainer drawing, 3–4 successive drawings of declining grade [SIC-shoyu]

Made like Koikuchi shoyu (Japanese dark soy sauce, honjōzō brewed) — reference process.

• English Wikipedia, Soy sauce
• Shurtleff W., Aoyagi A., History of Soy Sauce, Shoyu and Tamari, SoyInfo Center

~90 % of Chinese market; brine 13–15 %, koji mixed with equal weight brine, 40–55 °C, 15–30 days; from defatted soy meal + wheat bran (6–7:3–4); method adopted in PRC after 1958 (from USSR) [WP-Soy sauce, SIC-shoyu]

Brine

13–15 % salt, mixed with an equal weight of koji

Temperature

40–55 °C

Time

15–30 days

• English Wikipedia, Soy sauce
• Shurtleff W., Aoyagi A., History of Soy Sauce, Shoyu and Tamari, SoyInfo Center

Also called cơm mẻ, mẻ, me, fermented rice vinegar-paste.

Sour rice paste used to sour fish soups, bún riêu broth and to tenderise dog and pork dishes.

1. Add cooled cooked rice to the mẻ jar24 h – 3 days

• No scholarly source found this round. Use as a gap marker; search Vietnamese terms 'cơm mẻ vi sinh', 'men cơm mẻ'.

Also called conôro, conoro.

dark-brown, strong-smelling, sour seasoning balls sold at 25–100 FCFA (50 FCFA most common); kept 6–12 months (46.6–72.8 % of users); used to season sauces and in remedies for high blood pressure and post-partum abdominal pain [Adaye2017]

1. Crush dried fruits, extract, wash and sort seeds
2. Sun-dry, pound and sieve to flour
3. Mix with water and ferment the dough in a closed container2–7 days
4. Dry, then mould into balls3 days

Safety: No cooking step is reported, so the seed flora is not killed before fermentation; no microbiological or toxicological data (raw kapok and okra seeds contain cyclopropenoid fatty acids, general knowledge).

• Adayé Y.K., Faulet M.B., Dan C.G., Fagbohoun J.B., Yao K., Kouamé L.P. Endogenous knowledge and importance of 'conôro', fermented condiment from seeds of baobab, kapok and okra by Bondoukou department populations (North-Eastern Côte d'Ivoire). Asian J Agric Rural Dev 2017;7(12):244–261, doi:10.18488/journal.1005/2017.7.12/1005.12.244.261, https://archive.aessweb.com/index.php/5005/article/view/1654

Also called 담북장, damsujang (reported), dambuk-jang.

quick doenjang mainly for stews (jjigae)

1. Split (not pound) meju, soak in warm water, ferment in a hot room3–4 days
2. Saltat day 3–4

• Maeil Shinmun series on Korean jang history (2013-01-10, 2013-01-17, 2013-01-24, 2013-01-31). (read via search summary)
• Segye Ilbo 2025 (search summary)

Also called 등겨장, 시금장, deungge-jang.

quick, slightly sour barley jang

1. Make barley meju or mix barley with meju powder; quick fermentshort (quick-jang class); value not found

• thewiki.kr 토장 (weak, search summary)

Also called 剁椒.

bright red, salty-sour chopped chilli; classic with steamed fish head

1. Chop chillies with salt, garlic and ginger; pack tightly in jars; seal (often a water-seal jar)
2. Lactic fermentation7–14 days

• Foods 2026, 15:1970, chopped chili variety study (pH 4.07–4.26)
• thewoksoflife.com, How to make Hunan salted chilies

tangy, thin honey and mellow garlic

1. Cover garlic in raw honey
2. Fermentweeks to months

Safety: Garlic in a low-acid medium is a classic C. botulinum risk; it relies on the pH dropping. Do not give to infants (honey).

• Typical; verify against food-safety guidance (e.g., university extension) in round 2

salt reduced 50 % (gen'en) or 20 % (usujio), usually by removing salt after brewing (typical) [WP-Soy sauce]

Made like Koikuchi shoyu (Japanese dark soy sauce, honjōzō brewed) — reference process.

• English Wikipedia, Soy sauce

Also called 米酸, 白酸, mẻ, rice-water sour, fermented rice souring agent.

souring agents for sour fish soup (suantang yu) and Vietnamese canh chua/fish dishes

1. Ferment rice water/soup with old sour (baisuan) or cooked rice in a jar (mẻ)days, kept going by topping up

• FAO 1999 ch.3 (Me, Vietnam), https://www.fao.org/4/x2184E/x2184e09.htm

Also called 红酸汤, 酸汤, Kaili sour soup, tomato-chili sour soup.

red, sour, spicy fermented paste diluted as a hot-pot and fish-soup base

1. Primary ferment, tomato acid and chili acid made separatelymonths (whole process 1–12 months)
2. Blend and secondary fermentmonths; post-fermentation studied over 0–180 days

• Liu N. et al., 2024, The quality characteristics and microbial communities of three components in traditional split-fermented red sour soup, Food Sci. Nutr. 12(10):7287–7305, PMC11521710
• Frontiers in Nutrition 2022, fnut.2022.1007164 (LAB dominant; secondary fermentation source of volatiles)
• China Brewing 2023, 10.11882/j.issn.0254-5071.2023.09.019; 2025 review 10.11882/j.issn.0254-5071.2025.07.005

local production from 1905; Aloha Shoyu sweeter, more delicate [WP-Soy sauce]

Made like Koikuchi shoyu (Japanese dark soy sauce, honjōzō brewed) — reference process.

• English Wikipedia, Soy sauce

Also called 法論味噌, ほろみそ, 飛鳥味噌, 論議味噌, Asuka miso, rongi miso.

dry roasted lick-miso nibbled by monks during doctrinal debates to stay awake

1. Blend and simmer miso with seeds and spices
2. Sun-dry, then roast in a hōroku pan

Safety: low water activity after drying (typical)

• Japanese Wikipedia, 法論味噌
• Weblio/Daijirin entry 法論味噌 (search summary)

Also called いかなご醤油, sand lance fish sauce.

fish sauce; production lapsed and was revived (typical)

• Wikipedia, Fish sauce (Japan)

Also called いしる, いしり ishiri, よしる yoshiru.

fish sauce; the squid-liver version (ishiri, Uchiura side) is richer

1. Salt fish or squid livers
2. Ferment in wooden tubs or tanks1 to several years (MAFF)
3. Filter

• MAFF Japan, suisan hakkō page
• Wikipedia, Fish sauce (Japan)

Also called 즙장, 집장, jibjang, Jeonju jeupjang.

quick, sweet vegetable jang eaten as a side dish

1. Make jeupjang meju and let it bloom~7 days, until a yellow mould coat forms
2. Sun-dry, crush, sieve meju powderdays
3. Layer vegetables with thick meju powder in a crock, sealhours
4. Bury crock in fresh horse manure, compost heap or grass7–14 days

• Jeong ST, Park YK. A review on preparing methods of traditional jeupjang. J Korean Soc Food Culture 1999
• Maeil Shinmun series on Korean jang history (2013-01-10, 2013-01-17, 2013-01-24, 2013-01-31). (read via search summary)

Also called かんずり, 寒造里.

red, mellow, citrus-scented fermented chilli paste

1. Salt chillies and spread on snow (yuki-sarashi) in the coldest seasona few days (typical)
2. Mix with koji, yuzu and salt; ferment and age3 years

• MAFF うちの郷土料理, かんずり, slug kanzuri_niigata (history only; process durations are typical)

asin: salty, thick, darker than Japanese shoyu; sedang: medium-sweet, thinner, saltier than manis. Kecap inggris is Worcestershire sauce, not soy [WP-Soy sauce]

Brine

Usually 17–19 % brine; salt added at 20–23 % in small-scale kecap

Brine fermentation (baceman)

Compared at 0–1 month against 2–4 months in small-scale kecap; industrial kecap needs only 1 month

Safety: At low salt, film yeasts grow on the baceman brine and coryneform bacteria beneath them eat amino acids and acids, raising the pH; keep the brine salty [Roling].

• English Wikipedia, Soy sauce
• Pasundan Food Technology Journal 2018;5(3), kecap asin from jack bean and tofu dregs (citing Hidayah 2014)
• Röling W.F.M. et al. 1994 (baceman stage of kecap); Röling, Apriyantono, van Verseveld 2010, Comparison between traditional and industrial soy sauce (kecap) fermentation in Indonesia (abstracts)

Also called kecap Majalengka, kecap Maja Menjangan, Majalengka soy sauce.

medium-sweet black kecap

1. Sort, wash, boil black soybeans until softuntil soft
2. Sun-dry~1 day
3. Mould fermentation indoors, stirred often to avoid overheating; then sun-dry and clean off mouldnot given (general kecap koji 3–5 days)
4. Brine soak (moromi)7–10 days (longest stage)
5. Re-boil beans, filter, reducereduction up to 12 h on a low fire
6. Cook with melted gula aren and spices; cool in wooden vatscooling ~2 days

Safety: Palm sugar that is too dry contains lime and makes the boil foam (maker's note).

• detik.com Intermeso, Nasibmu Kecap Majalengka, 16 June 2018, https://news.detik.com/x/detail/intermeso/20180616/Nasibmu-Kecap-Majalengka/
• Journal of Sustainable Agribusiness (UNMA) 2023, value-added analysis of CV Maja Menjangan (process list; founded 1940; black soybeans, palm sugar, salt, eggs), https://www.ejournal.unma.ac.id/index.php/jsa/article/download/5171/3186/25621

Also called こじょうゆ味噌, こじょうゆ糀 (ばな).

all-purpose chunky seasoning; on grilled rice balls (yaki-meshi), sashimi, stir-fries; with chilli as 'kosho-miso'

1. Make kojōyu koji (bana)
2. Add salt, mirin, sugar; stir daily2 months

• MAFF, にっぽん伝統食図鑑 (Japan's traditional foods), kozyoyu_miso

by-product of doenjang; haet ~1 y, jung 3–4 y, jin >5 y [WP-Soy sauce]; see doenjang-ganjang-hansik entry

Haet-ganjang

about 1 year old

Jung-ganjang

3–4 years old

Jin-ganjang

more than 5 years old

Made like Hansik doenjang and hansik ganjang (joseon ganjang) — made together from meju in brine.

• English Wikipedia, Soy sauce

Japanese-style koji brewing; gaeryang (modernised) category also includes acid- and enzyme-hydrolysed and blended sauces [WP-Soy sauce]

Made like Koikuchi shoyu (Japanese dark soy sauce, honjōzō brewed) — reference process.

• English Wikipedia, Soy sauce

Also called כותח הבבלי, כמכא (kamkha, Babylonian Aramaic), kutah, kutaḥ, kutach ha-bavli, kamkha.

sharp, sour, salty dip eaten with bread

1. Combine whey (or milk), salt and stale bread crumbs

Safety: The Talmud (Pesachim 42a) says the whey 'blocks the heart', the salt 'blinds the eyes' and the mouldy bread 'weakens the body'.

• Mishnah Pesachim 3:1 and Talmud Pesachim 42a, William Davidson edition via Sefaria API, https://www.sefaria.org/Pesachim.42a
• he.wikipedia, כותח, https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/כותח ; en.wikipedia, Kutach
• Dafyomi background notes, Pesachim 42, https://dafyomi.co.il/pesachim/backgrnd/ps-in-042.htm

Also called 九州醤油, 甘口醤油, さつまの甘口しょうゆ, Kyushu sweet soy sauce, amakuchi shoyu, Kagoshima soy sauce.

sweet, umami-rich, lower-salt soy sauce for sashimi of oily fish, pork dishes and simmering

1. Brew base soy sauce (koikuchi type)as shoyu-koikuchi
2. Blend amino-acid liquid and sweeten
3. Pasteurise and bottle

• Fukudome N., Utsunomiya Y. 郷土料理からみた醤油の地域特性. キッコーマン国際食文化研究センター FOOD CULTURE No.26, pp.8–25
• Japan JAS shoyu classes (honjōzō, konkō-jōzō, konkō) as summarised in [KIKKOMAN-26]

Also called 막장, bori makjang (barley).

dark, strong paste (no separate soy sauce drawn off)

1. Grind meju whole into makjang meju powder
2. Mix with salt water (and saccharified barley in the barley version), pack and ripen7 days – 12 months

• Maeil Shinmun series on Korean jang history (2013-01-10, 2013-01-17, 2013-01-24, 2013-01-31). (read via search summary)
• 10000recipe.com (weak)
• koreascience Chuncheon meju study (search summary)
• Lady Khan (Kyunghyang Shinmun) 2009, quick makjang recipe
• Seoul Shinmun, 28 Mar 1994, Hongcheon makjang producers

lemak: rich, like kecap manis with much less sugar; cair: like kecap asin [WP-Soy sauce]

• English Wikipedia, Soy sauce

Also called mắm nêm, mắm cái, mam nem, Vietnamese anchovy dipping paste.

Small fish, mostly anchovies, are salted and left to ferment until the flesh breaks down into a thick, cloudy paste, with or without the bones. At the table it is mixed with roasted rice powder (thính), pineapple, sugar and other seasonings into a dipping sauce.

1. Salt the fish
2. Let the fish ferment
3. Mix with thính, pineapple and sugar

• Thuy D.T.B., Nguyen A.T., Khoo K.S. et al. 2021, Optimization of culture conditions for gamma-aminobutyric acid production by newly identified Pediococcus pentosaceus MN12 isolated from 'mam nem', a fermented fish sauce, Bioengineered, doi:10.1080/21655979.2020.1857626
• Wikipedia tiếng Việt, Mắm (outline only)

Also called miti hue, mitihue, mitihue, hami (Tonga), samilolo (Samoa).

Strips of coconut flesh are softened, covered with liquid squeezed from crushed raw prawn heads and sealed for a day, so that the coconut sours. The liquid is thrown away and the coconut is shaken hard with fresh water into a sour, pungent white sauce.

1. Cut the coconut flesh and soften it
2. Crush the prawn heads in water and strain
3. Seal the coconut under the prawn liquid24 h
4. Discard the liquid and shake with fresh water10 min

Safety: Raw freshwater prawns in French Polynesia can carry larvae of the rat lungworm, which causes eosinophilic meningitis. A study of 981 cases in Tahiti in 1957–1964 linked many to raw prawns or prawn juice in taioro and mitihue, and 16 of 42 cases in 2000–2012 had eaten taioro. French Polynesia's culture service tells cooks to freeze the prawns for at least 48 hours before use.

• Direction de la Culture et du Patrimoine (DCP), Polynésie française, La préparation du mitihue, "Le saviez-vous ?", 2022
• Turck H.C., Fox M.T., Cowie R.H. 2022, Paratenic hosts of Angiostrongylus cantonensis and their relation to human neuroangiostrongyliasis globally, One Health 15:100426
• Wikipedia, Miti hue (outline only; cites Aitken 1930, Serra-Mallol 2010, Fatiaki 1991, Pritchard 1866)

Also called مري (murrī), بوذج (būdhaj), قمن (qamn), murri naqi, almorí (Andalusi), Byzantine murri.

Murri was a dark, salty liquid seasoning of the medieval Arab world, made from barley dough that was left to rot (budhaj) and then fermented with salt and water in the summer sun. It has been compared with soy sauce for its savoury taste. It was used in most dishes and died out after about the 14th century.

1. Make budhaj (rotted barley)40 days
2. Dry and grind the budhaj
3. Knead with salt and ferment in the summer sun40 days
4. Soak in water and strain

Safety: No period source gives salt as a percentage, and no modern study has measured a reconstruction, so its safety cannot be judged from the sources. Mouldy grain can carry mycotoxins.

• Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Baghdadi 1226, Kitab al-Tabikh, tr. A.J. Arberry, A Baghdad Cookery Book; murri recipes as quoted, with Charles Perry's correction of "penny-royal" to budhaj, in D. Friedman's notes to An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the 13th Century
• An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the 13th Century, tr. Charles Perry, web edition with general notes by David Friedman (murri, budhaj, Byzantine murri, weights and measures; says murri vanished some time after the fourteenth century)
• Perry C., The Death of Rotted Barley, and More Rotted Barley, Petits Propos Culinaires (abstract pages; full text not read)
• Wikipedia, Murri (condiment), citing Davidson et al. 2002 and Jayyusi 1992 (outline only)
• Chevalier L. 2025, Lost tastes of medieval Andalusian cuisine, Medievalists.net (123 recipes)

Also called catchup, catsup, mushroom catsup, walnut ketchup, oyster ketchup.

thin, dark, umami sauce

1. Salt mushrooms and stand3–9 days
2. Strain, spice, boil, bottlehours

• Smith A.F. 1996. Pure Ketchup. Univ. South Carolina Press.
• Wikipedia, Ketchup. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketchup

Also called น้ำปู, nam pu, fermented rice-field crab paste.

thick black paste, very strong aroma; for nam prik; keeps 1 year

1. Pound live crabs with leaves and a little water
2. Press through woven bamboo; repeat 2-3 extractions
3. Ferment the liquid overnight1 night
4. Add a little salt, cook slowly to a black paste

• JIRCAS, Nam-poo, https://www.jircas.go.jp/en/database/thaifermented/nam-poo

dark, savoury fish-sauce-like liquid from any protein

1. Blend protein, koji, salt and water12 % salt
2. Hold warm2.3–2.8 months · 60 °C
3. Strain and press

Safety: Held at 60 °C, above the highest growth temperature of Clostridium botulinum (48 °C for proteolytic strains) and of the other common foodborne pathogens [fda-a1]; the 12 % salt is a second barrier.

• Redzepi R., Zilber D. 2018. The Noma Guide to Fermentation. Artisan.
• Noma Projects shop (Mushroom Garum, Peasos). https://www.nomaprojects.com/
• Wikipedia, Noma (restaurant) (2023 innovation-lab pivot). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noma_(restaurant)
• Noma Projects journal, "Garum: Got to Have the Funk"
• US FDA 2022, Fish and Fishery Products Hazards and Controls Guidance, 4th ed., Appendix 4, Table A-1 (limiting conditions for pathogen growth)

Also called 大野醤油.

light-coloured, gently sweet umakuchi soy sauce for Kaga cuisine

1. Koji43 h
2. Moromi with cooled brine6 months
3. Press slowly, filter, pasteurise

• MAFF, にっぽん伝統食図鑑 (Japan's traditional foods), ono_syoyu
• Fukudome N., Utsunomiya Y. 郷土料理からみた醤油の地域特性. キッコーマン国際食文化研究センター FOOD CULTURE No.26, pp.8–25

Also called 泡椒, 泡辣椒.

sour pickled chillies (for yuxiang dishes and paojiao chicken feet)

1. Submerge whole chillies in brine in a water-seal paocai jarfrom 2–3 days (lightly pickled) to months

• themalamarket.com, Making Sichuan pickled peppers
• see round-1 sichuan-paocai

Also called patis, Filipino fish sauce.

fish sauce; total N 2.26%, NaCl 26.1%, pH 5.85 (Narzary 2021 table 2, bagoong/patis)

1. Salt fish as for bagoong
2. Fermentlonger than bagoong; patis is skimmed once bagoong is ready
3. Skim liquid

Safety: high salt.

• Narzary et al. 2021, J. Ethnic Foods, PMC8579182
• Wikipedia, Fish sauce (Philippines)

bottled soybean sauce from home industries in Lashio

1. Roast soybeans, boil in excess water, cool, mix with wheat flour
2. Dry in shade about 1 week, then sun about 1 week, as a dry mould fermentation14 days
3. Mix with brine in glazed earthenware jars and set in full sun2.3 months · 5 % salt
4. Extract, filter, boil with wheat bran (10 gallons per jar) and jaggery until concentrated; cool, filter through muslin, bottle

• Swe Mar Tin, Thida Aung, Kay Thi Aung, Nang Mya Oo 2008, Study of Glycine max Merr. on its productions and uses in Lashio Township, Universities Research Journal 1(1):145-149, https://meral.edu.mm/records/2661

aged mash for blending with vinegar

1. Grind with salt and seal in barrels or tanks14 days – 3 years
2. Natural fermentationat least 18 months

• Watts E., Janes M., Prinyawiwatkul W., Shen Y., Xu Z., Johnson D., 2018, Microbiological changes and their impact on quality characteristics of red hot chilli pepper mash during natural fermentation, Int. J. Food Sci. Technol. 53(8):1816–1823, doi 10.1111/ijfs.13792

Also called 再仕込み醤油.

About 0.8 % of output. The koji is mixed with raw soy sauce instead of brine, so it is brewed twice; darker and stronger [WP-Soy sauce]. Makers in Ibaraki also brew it with raw, unpasteurised shoyu and long ageing [MAFF-TF-ibaraki_no_syoyu].

Made like Koikuchi shoyu (Japanese dark soy sauce, honjōzō brewed) — reference process.

• English Wikipedia, Soy sauce
• MAFF, にっぽん伝統食図鑑 (Japan's traditional foods), 茨城の醤油 (Ibaraki shoyu)

Also called 白醤油.

~0.7 %; mostly wheat with very little soybean; pale, sweet [WP-Soy sauce]; short low-temperature brewing to avoid browning (typical)

Made like Koikuchi shoyu (Japanese dark soy sauce, honjōzō brewed) — reference process.

• English Wikipedia, Soy sauce

Also called šiqqu (Akkadian), siqqu, shiqqu.

salty, savoury fish or insect sauce used in the Yale culinary tablets

1. Salt and ferment

• Bottéro J. 2004. The Oldest Cuisine in the World: Cooking in Mesopotamia. Univ. Chicago Press.
• Aramco World, Mar/Apr 1988, 'Mesopotamian Menus'. https://archive.aramcoworld.com/issue/198802/mesopotamian.menus.htm
• Wilson S., condiments paper (UT Austin), 2025. https://sites.utexas.edu/swilson/wp-content/uploads/sites/3975/2025/10/Wilson-condiments-925.pdf

Also called ซอสพริกศรีราชา, sriracha sauce, Si Racha sauce.

Sriracha is a Thai chilli sauce from Si Racha in Chonburi, made from ground red chillies with garlic, vinegar, sugar and salt. Some recipes ferment the chillies first to deepen the taste. In one home method chopped chillies sit under salt brine for one to two weeks, then are simmered with garlic, sugar and vinegar and blended.

1. Chop the chillies
2. Cover with salt brine and ferment7–14 days
3. Simmer with garlic, sugar and vinegar5–10 min
4. Blend, strain and bottle

Safety: No source found gives a salt percentage or pH for sriracha mash or for the finished sauce.

• Chonburi Provincial Office of Agriculture and Cooperatives (Office of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives), local wisdom sheet, Sriracha chilli sauce (ซอสพริกศรีราชา), 2026
• Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute, University of California Irvine, Fermented Sriracha Sauce (recipe sheet), 2024

Also called 蔭油, 黑豆醬油.

black soybeans only, coarse salt; koji then dry-salted jars sun-aged ~4–6 months (typical); yìnyóu made from soybeans only [WP-Soy sauce]

• English Wikipedia, Soy sauce

Also called たまり醤油.

~1.5 % of output; little or no wheat; soybean miso-dama koji (A. tamarii named); thick, dark, rich [WP-Soy sauce]; originally the liquid pooled in mame miso (miso-damari) [SIC-miso2]

Made like Mame miso / Hatchō miso (soybean-only koji miso).

• English Wikipedia, Soy sauce
• Shurtleff W., Aoyagi A., History of Miso and Soybean Jiang, SoyInfo Center

Also called ซีอิ๊วขาว, ซีอิ๊วดำ, ซีอิ๊วหวาน.

kǎao (white/light) regular; dam (black) for colour; wǎan (sweet) for dips [WP-Soy sauce]

• English Wikipedia, Soy sauce

soybeans, wheat, salt, caramel; thinner and saltier than SE Asian counterparts; closest to koikuchi but saltier/darker; toyomansî with calamansi [WP-Soy sauce]

Made like Koikuchi shoyu (Japanese dark soy sauce, honjōzō brewed) — reference process.

• English Wikipedia, Soy sauce

Also called ទឹកត្រី, tik trei, teuk trey, Cambodian fish sauce, Kampot fish sauce.

Anchovies or other small sea fish are layered with coarse sea salt in large wooden vats and left for months, up to two years, while the fish break down into a clear brown sauce. The liquid is drawn off, and Cambodian sources describe a final ripening in jars in the sun.

1. Layer the fish with salt in wooden vats
2. Ferment in the vatsup to 2 years
3. Draw off the liquid
4. Ripen in jars in the sun

Safety: Codex requires fish sauce to hold at least 200 g/L salt and no more than 40 mg histamine per 100 g, and to be made from fish fit to sell fresh. Cambodia's fish sauce standard (CS 005:2003) is mandatory, but a 2015 UNIDO review found that it did not set a histamine limit.

• Gillett R. 2004, The marine fisheries of Cambodia, FAO/FishCode Review No. 4, FAO, Rome, section 7 (processing and marketing)
• UNIDO 2015, assessment of Cambodian standards for fish and fishery products (lists CS 005:2003 Fish sauce, mandatory, and its 2014 draft revision)
• Codex Alimentarius Commission, Standard for Fish Sauce, CXS 302-2011 (amended 2012, 2013), FAO/WHO
• Hom Phanet 2021, 'Kampot Fish Sauce' mulled as possible geographical indication product, Phnom Penh Post, 31 December 2021 (via Asia News Network)
• Wikipedia, Fish sauce (Cambodia section; outline only)

Also called tương, tương Bần, tương Cự Đà, tương Nam Đàn, tuong ban, tuong cu da.

Steamed glutinous rice is left on trays until a yellow mould covers it, while roasted, ground soybeans soak in water in a jar until they turn sweet. The two are mixed with salt in clay jars and set in the sun for weeks, stirred often, into a thick dipping sauce.

1. Grow the rice mould (mốc)2–3 days
2. Roast, grind and soak the soybeans7 days
3. Mix with salt and ferment in the sun15–30 days

Safety: No source gives the salt or acidity of tương. Jars are covered against rain, and the sun and regular stirring drive the fermentation.

• Shurtleff W., Aoyagi A., History of Miso and Soybean Jiang, Soyinfo Center (online chapter; summarises Bùi Quang Chiêu 1905 and Hoang Van Chi 1981)
• VietnamPlus (Vietnam News Agency), Tương Bần Hưng Yên, từ nghề truyền thống đến sinh kế bền vững, 14 October 2026