Fish and seafood

Also called 酸鱼, 腌鱼, 鱼酢, Chinese sour fish, Miao and Dong sour fish.

sour, red, chilli-coated fish eaten without cooking or steamed

1. Gut and salt fishdays (typical)
2. Pack in wooden barrels or jars with rice-chilli meal
3. Fermentmonths to years (some Dong households keep fish for decades) (typical)

• Li et al. 2024, Foods 13:2565, table 1 (suanyu, yucha starter trials)

Also called सुकाको माछा, sukako maacha.

smoked dried fish for curry with tomato and chilli

1. Catch in a bamboo basket (bhukh); gut, wash; rub with salt and turmeric
2. Hook on bamboo strings and hang above the earthen oven to smoke7-10 days
3. Store in a bamboo basket (perungo)3-4 months at room temperature

• Thapa N., Pal J., Tamang J.P., Phenotypic identification and technological properties of lactic acid bacteria isolated from traditionally processed fish products of the Eastern Himalayas, Int. J. Food Microbiol. 107:33-38, 2006, https://dspace.cus.ac.in/jspui/handle/1/1348
• Bhutia M.O., PhD thesis, Sikkim University, 2020 (pH and moisture)
• Thapa N., Ethnic fermented and preserved fish products of India and Nepal, J. Ethnic Foods 3(1):69-77, 2016, doi 10.1016/j.jef.2016.02.003 (abstract)

Also called सुकुटी, sukuti, sun-dried fish (Eastern Himalayas).

Sukuti is small fish, sold mostly as dried Bombay duck, that is salted and dried in the sun, then kept and cooked into pickle, soup and curry in the Eastern Himalayas. It is a boundary product, a salted, sun-dried fish rather than a true ferment, although lactic bacteria do live on it.

1. Wash and rub with salt
2. Dry in the sun
3. Keep dry until used

Safety: Sukuti is cooked before it is eaten, and drying is its main protection. Lactic strains from these products did not form biogenic amines in a lab test (Thapa et al. 2006). Store it dry, since moisture lets bacteria and moulds grow again.

• Thapa N., Pal J., Tamang J.P. 2006, Phenotypic identification and technological properties of lactic acid bacteria isolated from traditionally processed fish products of the Eastern Himalayas, Int. J. Food Microbiol. 107(1):33–38, doi:10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2005.08.009 (abstract)
• Bhutia M.O., Thapa N., Shangpliang H.N.J., Tamang J.P. 2021, High-throughput sequence analysis of bacterial communities and their predictive functionalities in traditionally preserved fish products of Sikkim, India, Food Res. Int. 143:109885, doi:10.1016/j.foodres.2020.109885 (abstract)
• Thapa N. 2016, Ethnic fermented and preserved fish products of India and Nepal, J. Ethnic Foods 3(1):69–77, doi:10.1016/j.jef.2016.02.003 (abstract)
• Atlas research round 3 notes, fish_meat_r3.md (species and method, citing Thapa et al. 2006 and Bhutia 2020)

Also called 수느레젓.

salted fermented seafood (jeot)

1. Salt, pack in a jar and age2–3 months

• Suh H.K. and Yoon S.S., A study on the regional characteristics of Korean chotkal (1): kinds and materials, J. Korean Soc. Food Culture 2(1):45-54, 1987, https://koreascience.kr/article/JAKO198703041498512.page (scanned PDF read page by page)
• Lee C.H. et al. 1986, J. Korean Soc. Food Culture 1(3):267-278 (jeotgal ripening and microbes)
• Jeotgal review table, J. Ethnic Foods (salt range; seen only in a search summary)

Also called 숭어새끼젓, 모치젓.

salted fermented seafood (jeot)

1. Salt, pack in a jar and age2–3 months

• Suh H.K. and Yoon S.S., A study on the regional characteristics of Korean chotkal (1): kinds and materials, J. Korean Soc. Food Culture 2(1):45-54, 1987, https://koreascience.kr/article/JAKO198703041498512.page (scanned PDF read page by page)
• Lee C.H. et al. 1986, J. Korean Soc. Food Culture 1(3):267-278 (jeotgal ripening and microbes)
• Jeotgal review table, J. Ethnic Foods (salt range; seen only in a search summary)

Also called tambadiang.

salted fermented dried fish

1. Wash and layer with dry salt in concrete vats1-3 days fermentation
2. Descale, wash and dry on platforms3-5 days

• FAO FTP 329

Also called 털게젓.

salted fermented seafood (jeot)

1. Salt, pack in a jar and age2–3 months

• Suh H.K. and Yoon S.S., A study on the regional characteristics of Korean chotkal (1): kinds and materials, J. Korean Soc. Food Culture 2(1):45-54, 1987, https://koreascience.kr/article/JAKO198703041498512.page (scanned PDF read page by page)
• Lee C.H. et al. 1986, J. Korean Soc. Food Culture 1(3):267-278 (jeotgal ripening and microbes)
• Jeotgal review table, J. Ethnic Foods (salt range; seen only in a search summary)

Also called tepa, stinkheads, fermented fish heads.

soft, pungent fermented heads eaten raw

1. Put heads and guts into a grass-lined pit or wooden barrel, cover with burlap and bury5–15 °C

Safety: Alaska has more foodborne botulism than any other US state. Switching from grass-lined pits to sealed plastic bags and buckets made conditions fully anaerobic and raised risk; people have gone back to ground pits.

• Wikipedia, Stinkheads, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinkheads

Also called terasi, trasi, Indonesian shrimp paste, terasi udang, terasi ikan.

dark block or powder; colour varies by village

1. Salt shrimp23 % salt
2. Sun-dry, pound, ferment7 days
3. Form blocks

• Narzary et al. 2021
• Wikipedia, Shrimp paste

Also called tinabal.

whole fermented salted fish, the large-fish form of guinamos

1. Salt and ferment whole larger fish in jars (bagoong method)

• Wikipedia, Bagoong, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagoong

Also called 토애젓.

salted fermented seafood (jeot)

1. Salt, pack in a jar and age2–3 months

• Suh H.K. and Yoon S.S., A study on the regional characteristics of Korean chotkal (1): kinds and materials, J. Korean Soc. Food Culture 2(1):45-54, 1987, https://koreascience.kr/article/JAKO198703041498512.page (scanned PDF read page by page)
• Lee C.H. et al. 1986, J. Korean Soc. Food Culture 1(3):267-278 (jeotgal ripening and microbes)
• Jeotgal review table, J. Ethnic Foods (salt range; seen only in a search summary)

Also called 토하젓, freshwater shrimp jeot.

red, sweet-savoury shrimp paste; royal tribute food in Joseon

1. Salt live shrimp whole
2. Age60 days at 4 °C in the study; free amino acids rise to day 50; chitin breakdown products after day 75
3. Season with glutinous-rice porridge and spices (yangnyeom tohajeot)

• Seoul Shinmun, 한국의 토종 (19) 토하, 2009, https://m.seoul.co.kr/news/2009/01/21/20090121018004
• KoreaScience records on toha-jeot ripening (JAKO199611921348321; JAKO199703042291568), abstracts via search

Also called ត្រីប្រហើម, trey proheum, trey praherm, short-time fermented salted fish.

lightly fermented salted fish, cooked before eating

1. Light salting and short fermentation

Safety: highest hazard of the Cambodian group: E. coli in 60%, Proteus in 40%, Citrobacter in 20%, Salmonella enterica in 1 of 5 samples

• Chrun et al. 2023, JARQ 57(4):311-320

Also called tungtap.

paste eaten as pickle or chutney

1. Dry fish and mix with salt
2. Pack in earthen pot and seal4–7 days

• Narzary et al. 2021
• Thapa 2016

Also called 우럭식해, 깍저구식해, 깜바구식해.

sikhae (salted seafood lactic-fermented with grain)

1. Lightly salt and drain the seafood
2. Mix with cooked grain, chilli and radish; pack and age

• Suh H.K. and Yoon S.S., A study on the regional characteristics of Korean chotkal (1): kinds and materials, J. Korean Soc. Food Culture 2(1):45-54, 1987, https://koreascience.kr/article/JAKO198703041498512.page (scanned PDF read page by page)

Also called うるか, ayu shiokara.

bitter, astringent, savoury sake snack

1. Salt fresh innards (salt only)
2. Ageikiji uruka over 3 years

• MAFF, うるか, https://www.maff.go.jp/j/keikaku/syokubunka/traditional-foods/menu/uruka.html

Also called 우스레젓.

salted fermented seafood (jeot)

1. Salt, pack in a jar and age2–3 months

• Suh H.K. and Yoon S.S., A study on the regional characteristics of Korean chotkal (1): kinds and materials, J. Korean Soc. Food Culture 2(1):45-54, 1987, https://koreascience.kr/article/JAKO198703041498512.page (scanned PDF read page by page)
• Lee C.H. et al. 1986, J. Korean Soc. Food Culture 1(3):267-278 (jeotgal ripening and microbes)
• Jeotgal review table, J. Ethnic Foods (salt range; seen only in a search summary)

Also called wadi, Kalimantan bekasam.

sour-salty fish; IPB notes bekasam is called wadi in Central Kalimantan

1. Gut and wash, salt, add carbohydrate, pack in jars (as bekasam)

• IPB University, A group of researchers of IPB analysed microbial characteristics of bekasam of common carp, https://www.ipb.ac.id/?p=56431

Also called yeet, yet, fermented sea snail.

chewy, very pungent dried snail used as a flavouring

1. Remove flesh, separate from guts, split into 2 or 4
2. Ferment in tanks, jute bags or polysacks2-4 days
3. Wash and sun-dry on platforms2-4 days

• FAO FTP 329

brown paste; the farm example budgeted 5 viss per adult per year (about 22.4 g a day), eaten as ngapi-bout (roasted over straw fire with raw onion and sesame oil) with rice and tea

1. Catch fish at the end of the rainy seasonlate October to November; one year's supply made at once (Ishige and Ruddle 1987)
2. Clean, split larger fish, sun-dry half a dayhalf a day (Rangoon farm example)
3. Pound with salt in a foot-operated rice mortar, dry, repeat3 poundings and 3.5 days total drying (Rangoon farm example)
4. Pack into a lidded jaredible at once; keeps up to 5 years in the jar (Rangoon farm example)

Safety: Kobayashi et al. 2016 found C. botulinum-like sequences in Yangon market yegyo ngapi. Cook before eating.

• Ishige and Ruddle 1987, pp. 277-279
• Kobayashi T. et al. 2016, Diversity of the bacterial community in Myanmar traditional salted fish yegyo ngapi, World J Microbiol Biotechnol 32:166, PMID 27565776
• Rizaldo Q., Aung H.M., Akester M. 2024, Quality of fermented fish in Myanmar, WorldFish, annex 6.1, https://digitalarchive.worldfishcenter.org/items/676381f3-e2a5-43ad-b80f-bdf49d77730b

Also called 열치젓.

salted fermented seafood (jeot)

1. Salt, pack in a jar and age2–3 months

• Suh H.K. and Yoon S.S., A study on the regional characteristics of Korean chotkal (1): kinds and materials, J. Korean Soc. Food Culture 2(1):45-54, 1987, https://koreascience.kr/article/JAKO198703041498512.page (scanned PDF read page by page)
• Lee C.H. et al. 1986, J. Korean Soc. Food Culture 1(3):267-278 (jeotgal ripening and microbes)
• Jeotgal review table, J. Ethnic Foods (salt range; seen only in a search summary)

Also called 魚鮓, 魚鮓 (yú zhǎ), fish zha, Yu zha (fish fermented with rice, Qimin Yaoshu), Chinese narezushi ancestor.

sour fish-and-rice ferment

1. Cut skin-on pieces
2. Salt and press out water (逐水)overnight is fine
3. Layer with rice, spices and wine
4. Fermentuntil 'red liquid' comes out (poured off) and then 'white liquid' that tastes sour

Safety: Best in spring and autumn: in cold it will not ripen; in heat it needs so much salt it loses taste and breeds maggots.

• QMYS ch. 74 作魚鮓
• Qimin Yaoshu, ch. 74 作魚鮓 (Chinese Wikisource). https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/齊民要術
• Ishige N. 1993. Cultural aspects of fermented fish products in Asia. In: Lee C.-H. et al. (eds) Fish Fermentation Technology. UNU Press.

Also called 鲊, 鮓, zha fish.

sour rice-fish; ancestor of narezushi

1. Salt, press and pack fish with cooked rice
2. Ferment in sealed jars

• Wikipedia, Narezushi
• Wikipedia, Chinese sausage (Qimin Yaoshu)

Also called 鱁鮧, Chinese garum, fish-maw sauce.

fish-gut sauce eaten with ginger and vinegar

1. Wash viscera, salt until slightly salty
2. Seal and sun-agesummer 20 days; spring and autumn 50 days; winter 100 days

• QMYS ch. 70

Also called 醉蟹, 蟹酱, 蟹糊, drunken crab, crab paste.

raw wine-marinated crab or salty fermented crab paste

1. Soak live crabs in wine-salt brine (zuixie)days (typical)
2. Pound raw crab with salt and age (xie jiang)weeks (typical)

Safety: Paragonimus and Vibrio risk from raw crab (typical).