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Fish and seafood from Philippines

Bagoong isda (and monamon, terong, dilis)bagoong isda

Bagoong isda is small fish such as anchovy, sardine or round scad mixed with salt and left in earthen jars for months until the flesh breaks down into a reddish-brown paste (Sanchez 1999; Wikipedia says usually pale gray to white and gives 30 to 90 days for the paste); the liquid that rises in a longer ferment is drained as patis, the Philippine fish sauce. Bacterial and fish enzymes, not lactic acid, do most of the work.

Fully documentedFish and seafood30 days – 3 months

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceSalt to fish 1:3 to 2:7 (table 2 of Narzary et al., which does not say weight or volume). Wikipedia says the mix is usually made by volume and each maker keeps a proprietary ratio.
Small fish (Stolephorus, Sardinella fimbriata or Decapterus species), well drained[sanchez1999][narzary2021][wp-bagoong]
SaltSalt to fish 1:3 to 2:7, depending on fish sizeNarzary et al. do not say whether the ratio is by weight or volume; Wikipedia says the mix is usually made by volume[sanchez1999][narzary2021][wp-bagoong]

Total time across the recorded steps: 30 days – 3 months

Start
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What changes: Starting material: small fish, washed and drained

Step 1 of 4
Wash and drain the fish
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Bacillus
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

Bagoong isda is small fish such as anchovy, sardine or round scad mixed with salt and left in earthen jars for months until the flesh breaks down into a reddish-brown paste (Sanchez 1999; Wikipedia says usually pale gray to white and gives 30 to 90 days for the paste); the liquid that rises in a longer ferment is drained as patis, the Philippine fish sauce. Bacterial and fish enzymes, not lactic acid, do most of the work. Made in 4 steps over 30 days – 3 months. The longest step, ferment in earthen jars in a warm place, takes 30 days – 3 months (Wikipedia 2026) and runs at 40 °C (Sanchez P.C. 1999). Salt is 22–25 % (Narzary Y 2021). Bacillus pumilus and Bacillus coagulans, B. megaterium and B. subtilis do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step30 days – 3 monthsReported[wp-bagoong]Ferment in earthen jars in a warm place
Temperature40 °CReported[sanchez1999]Ferment in earthen jars in a warm place
Salt22–25 %Reported[narzary2021]Mix with salt
AciditypH 5.9Reported[sanchez1999][narzary2021]Separate the paste from the patis

What makes this one different

Bagoong isda is the solid part of the same ferment that gives patis. Unlike burong isda or balao-balao it has no rice, so it ripens by protein breakdown under high salt rather than by lactic souring.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Bagoong Balayan (Batangas)A variant made in the town of Balayan, Batangas; Wikipedia gives no recipe.
  • Bagoong terongMade from bonnetmouth fish.
  • Bagoong from clams, oysters and roeIn rarer cases bagoong is made from oysters, clams, and fish and shrimp roe.

Safety

Bagoong is not soured, so its safety rests on salt. Histamine can form in fish while it is salted and fermented until the product is fully shelf-stable, and the US FDA sets a guidance level of 50 ppm histamine in fish flesh. Use fresh, chilled fish.

History and sources

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

Felice Sta. Maria's Philippine Food History site says that in 1609 Antonio de Morga wrote that the natives liked to eat "rotten fish", and that the earliest appearance of the word bagoong could be 1613, in Fr. San Buenaventura's entry for salmuera (brine), defining it as fish or shrimp fermented in salt. Wikipedia quotes José Rizal's 1890 annotation of Morga, which says the fish Morga meant is bagoong and that it is not, and should not be, rotten.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [sanchez1999] Sanchez P.C. 1999, Microorganisms and technology of Philippine fermented foods, Japanese Journal of Lactic Acid Bacteria 10(1):19–28, doi:10.4109/JSLAB1997.10.19paper
  2. [narzary2021] Narzary Y., Das S., Goyal A., Lam S., Sarma H., Sharma D. 2021, Fermented fish products in South and Southeast Asian cuisine, Journal of Ethnic Foods 8:33, doi:10.1186/s42779-021-00109-0 (table 2)paper
  3. [fda-ch7] US Food and Drug Administration, Fish and Fishery Products Hazards and Controls Guidance, chapter 7, Scombrotoxin (histamine) formationgov
  4. [wp-bagoong] Wikipedia, Bagoong (accessed 2026-10)wiki
  5. [phfoodhist] Sta. Maria F.P., Native Cooking by 1610 (Part D), Philippine Food History (online exhibit, last updated 2022)web