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Meat from Kumaon Himalaya, northern India

Arjiaarjia

Arjia is a goat-lung sausage of the Kumaon Himalaya, made the same way as jamma. Goat meat and lungs are mixed with salt, wild pepper, chilli, water and blood, stuffed into goat large intestine, boiled and dried above the kitchen oven for 15–20 days. Its lactic acid bacteria count is the highest of the three goat products Oki et al. studied.

Fully documentedMeat15 days – 20 days

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sources read give no amounts for the mix.
Goat lungs mixed with goat meat[teixeira2020]
Salt, wild pepper, chilli powder, water and fresh bloodAs for jamma[teixeira2020]
Goat large intestineThe casing[teixeira2020][tamang2016]

Total time across the recorded steps: 15 days – 20 days

Start
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What changes: Chopped goat lung and meat are mixed with salt, wild pepper, chilli and blood

Step 1 of 4
Mix lung, meat, spices and blood
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
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

Arjia is a goat-lung sausage of the Kumaon Himalaya, made the same way as jamma. Goat meat and lungs are mixed with salt, wild pepper, chilli, water and blood, stuffed into goat large intestine, boiled and dried above the kitchen oven for 15–20 days. Its lactic acid bacteria count is the highest of the three goat products Oki et al. studied. Made in 4 steps over 15 days – 20 days. The longest step, dry above the kitchen oven, takes 15–20 days (Teixeira A 2020). Lactic acid bacteria, the main microbes (7.8 ± 0.1 log cfu/g in arjia, higher than in jamma or chartayshya); Enterococcus faecalis, E. faecium, E. hirae, Leuconostoc citreum, Leuc. mesenteroides, Pediococcus pentosaceus and Weissella cibaria does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step15–20 daysReported[teixeira2020]Dry above the kitchen oven

What makes this one different

Arjia uses goat lungs and the large intestine, where jamma uses goat meat and the small intestine. Of the three goat products Oki et al. studied, arjia had the most lactic acid bacteria.

Related ferments

Safety

The mix starts raw, with fresh blood, lung and meat. Boil until the filling is fully cooked. CDC's toxoplasmosis advice for ground meat is at least 71 °C. No safety study of arjia was found, so nothing shows that 15–20 days of hanging keeps it safe after boiling. It is cooked as curry, so do not eat it without cooking it again.

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.
Temperature, salt and pH
The sources we found give no temperature, salt or pH figure for any of its steps.
  1. [rai2009] Rai A.K., Palni U., Tamang J.P. 2009, Traditional knowledge of the Himalayan people on production of indigenous meat products, Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge 8(1):104-109paper
  2. [cdc-toxoplasmosis] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Toxoplasmosis (safe cooking temperatures)gov
  3. [oki2011] Oki K., Rai A.K., Sato S., Watanabe K., Tamang J.P. 2011, Lactic acid bacteria isolated from ethnic preserved meat products of the Western Himalayas, Food Microbiology 28:1308-1315 (abstract)paper
  4. [teixeira2020] Teixeira A., Silva S., Guedes C., Rodrigues S. 2020, Sheep and goat meat processed products quality, a review, Foods 9(7):960 (Arija and Geema paragraph)paper
  5. [tamang2016] Tamang J.P., Watanabe K., Holzapfel W.H. 2016, Review, diversity of microorganisms in global fermented foods and beverages, Frontiers in Microbiology 7:377, Table 6paper