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Vegetables from Nagaland, India

Anishi (fermented taro-leaf cakes)anishi

Anishi is made from taro (Colocasia) leaves packed in gunny bags or banana leaves for a few days until they turn yellow, then pounded to a paste, shaped into cakes and dried by the fire or in the sun. The dry black cakes keep for a long time and are cooked with smoked pork. Bacillus species, not lactic acid bacteria, were the main microbes found in it.

Fully documentedVegetables3 days – 7 days

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sources used here give no fixed amounts; the leaf is the whole recipe. Plain anishi is usually dried without adding anything.
Taro (Colocasia esculenta) leavesHarvested from May to September[deb2020][morung2019]
Salt and chilli powderoptionalSome makers add them to the dough before drying[morung2019]
Starterspontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 3 days – 7 days

Start
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What changes: Starting material: taro leaves, picked from May to September

Step 1 of 5
Harvest the leaves
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Bacillus subtilis
Bacillus licheniformis

Output: fresh taro leaves.

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

Anishi is made from taro (Colocasia) leaves packed in gunny bags or banana leaves for a few days until they turn yellow, then pounded to a paste, shaped into cakes and dried by the fire or in the sun. The dry black cakes keep for a long time and are cooked with smoked pork. Bacillus species, not lactic acid bacteria, were the main microbes found in it. Made in 5 steps over 3 days – 7 days. The longest step, pack into a gunny bag and ferment until yellow, takes 3–7 days (Deb C.R 2020). Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus licheniformis does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step3–7 daysReported[deb2020][morung2019]Pack into a gunny bag and ferment until yellow
AciditypH 5.8Measured[deb2020]Shape into cakes and dry by the fire or in the sun

What makes this one different

Unlike gundruk or other Himalayan leaf ferments, anishi is baked and dried as a pounded cake, and the main microbes found in it were Bacillus species, not lactic acid bacteria.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Salted anishiSome makers add salt and chilli powder to the dough before drying.

Safety

Taro leaves contain calcium oxalate, whose needle-like crystals are considered a cause of acridity in taro. In leaves of Vietnamese taro cultivars (Colocasia esculenta and Alocasia odora), total oxalate was 433.8–856.1 mg/100 g wet matter, about 65 % of it insoluble (Hang et al. 2017). The authors say oxalates can lock up calcium, iron and magnesium and raise the risk of kidney stones, and that taro leaves are not eaten raw. That study did not test fermented leaves, and no oxalate measurement of anishi was found.

History and sources

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

The Morung Express (2019) says anishi is particularly popular among the Ao Nagas, and that some villages in Mokokchung have ventured into commercial production but find it hard to meet demand by the traditional method.

  1. [deb2020] Deb C.R., Jamir B. 2020, Ethnic fermented food products of Nagaland, India, Journal of Food Chemistry and Nanotechnology 6(1):18–27 (full text via the Internet Archive)paper
  2. [morung2019] Longkumer L. 2019, Anishi, a Naga culinary delight, The Morung Express, 20 December 2019web
  3. [s1] Wikipedia, Anishi (outline only)wiki
  4. [hang2017] Hang D.T., Hai P.V., Hai V.V., Ngoan L.D., Tuan L.M. and Savage G. 2017, Oxalate content of taro leaves grown in central Vietnam, Foods 6(1):2paper